Okay, so many of you guys know that my tail light got smashed early December during the bad weather/wind storm. For some of you attorneys or people in the legal profession, I'd appreciate any advice you could provide. So here's the rundown...

I'm visiting a friend at his apartment and parked in one of the buildings stalls (there is no visitation disclaimer posted on the property/rental agreement). The storm/strong winds come and blow a door covering the access to the buildings roof on my rear tail light. I assumed it was a cut and dry case and that the building owner's property insurance should have covered my repairs. It turns out that the insurance company denies my claim and states the insured could not have foreseen the storm blowing the door on my vehicle. I try to settle with the building owner who said he would take care of it and he's now acting like a total slum lord and tells me I'm out of luck!

I call the slum lord's insurance claims adjuster and he tells me the same thing over and over again about not being able to foresee the situation. However, he does leave a message on my voicemail stating that the claim was denied due in part to the owner's negligence. I would assume that this was because the door was not properly attached in any way to the building. I could just let it go and fix the darned tail light but I really didn't appreciate how rudely I was treated by this slum lord...who is a doctor BTW.

So my question is do I have a case in small claims court? I would think that the burden of proof lies with me and I feel that I have sufficient photos as well as the voicemail from the insurance adjuster to plead my case. I appreciate any advice (professional) that I can get.


Mahalo,
JT

Hey Joey,

I'll talk to my brother, he's a lawyer. I'm in insurance as you know, and I'm surprised that the condo owner's insurance company denied the claim. If they denied due to negligence on the building owner's part, then you 100% have a case. Either the insurance company or the building owner HAS to pay in this case. Most of the high winds claims are covered under the newer DP policies these days. How big is the apartment complex? Which company is the insurance with? That'll give me a better idea of what kind of policy they have and then I can get some answers from that.

Got the best insurance guy on the case Joey! Anyways..I'll pass this along to my brother in law tomorrow at dinner. He might have some insight on this as well.

Hey Rick, it's a 3 story 12 unit building and the insurance company is State Farm. They've been very difficult thus far.

Hey Reid, if the insurance claim doesn't go through as least I can get a good referral to a Sheriff to serve the papers.


Both efforts are much appreciated! The next sizzling one pound hamburger steak is on me!

Ok Joey I have a couple scenarios you could go through.

1. You can take the building owner to small claims if he doesn't pay you to fix the tail light. For the insurance company to deny a claim because he's negligent (which I still don't see) then he is liable to pay you to fix the damage. Either the company or the owner should pay you.

2. You can go through your auto insurance company (assuming you have Comprehensive coverage), you would have to pay the deductible, but your company will subrogate to the owner to get the money back and once they do they will pay you back the deductible. This will be less hassle, but it may take longer depending on how much back and forth they have to do with the owner.

Either way I would let the owner know first what I was doing and give him one less chance to pay up. To quote my brother, "If the guy's going to be an a$$hole about it, I'd definitely go after him."

Hope that helps, give me a PM if you have more questions and I'll give you my number, or we can talk about it tomorrow morning.

Hey Guys, my insurance company is going to go after the slum lord. Thanks for your help!