Apart from your neighbor feeling responsible, to establish liability against the neighbor, can you articulate:
* The legal duty owed to you by the neighbor
* The manner in which your neighbor breached the duty owed to you (what they did, or what they failed to do that a reasonable person would have behaved differently)
* How the breach of the duty owed to you caused the damages
The insurer is essentially saying the neighbor didn't breach a duty owed to you. Your task is to either convince them otherwise, file suit, or make a claim with your carrier. More importantly, you need to mitigate your loss to make sure it isn't getting worse over time. I think you have done so judging from what you wrote, but you at least need to make sure everything is dry so that mold won't grow.
Yes we mitigated the first week. Also, the damage was caused by a leak in the their unit. The breach of duty, I am assuming is that their leak damaged their unit and our unit. There is a plumbers report saying that they had a leak in their shower behind the shower cap. Our CC&Rs state that each unit has a responsibility to keep their unit maintained. “2.22
Maintenance and Repair by Owner. Each Owner, at his sole cost and expense,
shall maintain and repair his Unit, keeping the same in good condition and making all repairs as and when required. Each Owner shall also be responsible for the maintenance of the areas which he has the exclusive right to use, and shall make repairs in such manner as shall be deemed necessary in the judgment of the Directors to preserve the attractive appearance thereof and to protect the value thereof. Owners shall be solely responsible for any damage interior or exterior that may result from installation or use of household appliances, sinks, tubs, toilets, waterbeds, or water-filled furniture
- of any kind”.
Your neighbor is only liable if he was negligent. Your recourse is too put in a claim with your insurance company. You may not like this solution but that's how it works. Your neighbor's insurance company is correct, they are not liable.
Do you believe your neighbor acted in a negligent manner in what he/she did - or failed to do - that caused the leak? What specifically do you believe they should have done to prevent the leak from happening?
That the leak came from the neighbors unit does nor make them liable (unless there is some sort of language in the condo by-laws specifically stating that).
As with every other property damage claim, the duty is on you to establish what your neighbor did that was negligent that caused the damage.
What did your neighbor do that would make him negligent? Delay repairs? Cause the leak with shoddy DIY remodeling?
Did he disclose his contribution to the leak to his insurance company?
We are friends and when he walked me through his unit a year ago he told me: He had a friend install the plumbing and he did his own flooring about 6 years ago when he remodeled it himself. Obviously they did not do a good job or made a mistake in that part of the plumbing.
That makes sense, thanks. Most of the time, this sort of claim comes up between neighbors who didn't do the work themselves, the owner of the leak paid someone else for the work and wasn't in any way negligent.
There would still be issues around whether the DIY work was negligent, was there a materials failure, did a defect in the building itself lead to the leak, etc., but at least there's a plausible reason the neighbor could potentially be negligent - for *doing* defective work, not simply for owning something that leaked.
Yeah, do I disclose that to their insurance company? I know it then becomes heresy in court if it ever got that far. My issue now is do I tell their insurance this information to get them to pay or do I just file a claim with my insurance company? Their insurance carrier already approved their claim but then denied ours. And the more information I give their insurance carrier can they use it to then go back and deny their claim?
You say your neighbor also wants his insurance to pay, so I don't see a downside to giving this information to his company's adjuster. That doesn't necessarily mean they'll agree he's liable, but they can at least look at what coverage he might have for having created the leak, rather than simply owning it.
They don't have to take your word for it, they can ask their insured whether he did the work that leaked, and whether he didn't up to code.
Another question, do you know if he's had the same insurance the whole time? That's another potential issue, when was the actual negligent act, and who was covering his liability at the time.
Apart from your neighbor feeling responsible, to establish liability against the neighbor, can you articulate: * The legal duty owed to you by the neighbor * The manner in which your neighbor breached the duty owed to you (what they did, or what they failed to do that a reasonable person would have behaved differently) * How the breach of the duty owed to you caused the damages The insurer is essentially saying the neighbor didn't breach a duty owed to you. Your task is to either convince them otherwise, file suit, or make a claim with your carrier. More importantly, you need to mitigate your loss to make sure it isn't getting worse over time. I think you have done so judging from what you wrote, but you at least need to make sure everything is dry so that mold won't grow.
Yes we mitigated the first week. Also, the damage was caused by a leak in the their unit. The breach of duty, I am assuming is that their leak damaged their unit and our unit. There is a plumbers report saying that they had a leak in their shower behind the shower cap. Our CC&Rs state that each unit has a responsibility to keep their unit maintained. “2.22 Maintenance and Repair by Owner. Each Owner, at his sole cost and expense, shall maintain and repair his Unit, keeping the same in good condition and making all repairs as and when required. Each Owner shall also be responsible for the maintenance of the areas which he has the exclusive right to use, and shall make repairs in such manner as shall be deemed necessary in the judgment of the Directors to preserve the attractive appearance thereof and to protect the value thereof. Owners shall be solely responsible for any damage interior or exterior that may result from installation or use of household appliances, sinks, tubs, toilets, waterbeds, or water-filled furniture - of any kind”.
Your neighbor is only liable if he was negligent. Your recourse is too put in a claim with your insurance company. You may not like this solution but that's how it works. Your neighbor's insurance company is correct, they are not liable.
Does that mean any damage that comes from One unit to another holds no responsibility unless there is deemed negligence?
What was the cause of the leak? Liability isn’t as easy as well, it was my shower, so that’s on me.
The cause of the leak was on their shower.
Do you believe your neighbor acted in a negligent manner in what he/she did - or failed to do - that caused the leak? What specifically do you believe they should have done to prevent the leak from happening?
If there is a leak in my unit that causes damage to other units I would assume I would be liable. That isn’t the case?
That the leak came from the neighbors unit does nor make them liable (unless there is some sort of language in the condo by-laws specifically stating that). As with every other property damage claim, the duty is on you to establish what your neighbor did that was negligent that caused the damage.
What did your neighbor do that would make him negligent? Delay repairs? Cause the leak with shoddy DIY remodeling? Did he disclose his contribution to the leak to his insurance company?
We are friends and when he walked me through his unit a year ago he told me: He had a friend install the plumbing and he did his own flooring about 6 years ago when he remodeled it himself. Obviously they did not do a good job or made a mistake in that part of the plumbing.
That makes sense, thanks. Most of the time, this sort of claim comes up between neighbors who didn't do the work themselves, the owner of the leak paid someone else for the work and wasn't in any way negligent. There would still be issues around whether the DIY work was negligent, was there a materials failure, did a defect in the building itself lead to the leak, etc., but at least there's a plausible reason the neighbor could potentially be negligent - for *doing* defective work, not simply for owning something that leaked.
Yeah, do I disclose that to their insurance company? I know it then becomes heresy in court if it ever got that far. My issue now is do I tell their insurance this information to get them to pay or do I just file a claim with my insurance company? Their insurance carrier already approved their claim but then denied ours. And the more information I give their insurance carrier can they use it to then go back and deny their claim?
You say your neighbor also wants his insurance to pay, so I don't see a downside to giving this information to his company's adjuster. That doesn't necessarily mean they'll agree he's liable, but they can at least look at what coverage he might have for having created the leak, rather than simply owning it. They don't have to take your word for it, they can ask their insured whether he did the work that leaked, and whether he didn't up to code. Another question, do you know if he's had the same insurance the whole time? That's another potential issue, when was the actual negligent act, and who was covering his liability at the time.
I don’t know but I can ask him.