Can I File a Lawsuit for Negligence for Property Damage?
You may work tirelessly to make your property presentable and safe for your welcomed visitors. So it is understandable if you grow aggravated when witnessing them act carelessly on your premises. Even worse, such poor behaviors and actions may cause them to destroy parts of the property you wished to preserve. You may not want to take out your own insurance for an incident like this. Rather, please read on to discover whether you can file a lawsuit for negligence once damage is done to your property and how one of the seasoned New York City third party claim attorneys at The Law Office of Craig A. Blumberg, P.C. can help you take the appropriate action.
Can I file a lawsuit for negligence if there is damage to my property?
There are many ways a welcomed visitor can cause damage to your property. For one, they may leave their pet unattended, which leads to them damaging your furniture and flooring. Or, they may fail to turn the faucet off after using your facilities, resulting in minor flooding and flood damage. Lastly, if they are careless in using your electrical appliances and cause a small fire and fire damage.
Well, for cases like these, you may make a claim against the negligent party’s insurance policy. Or, if they do not have insurance coverage, you may file a lawsuit for negligence in a small claims court or regular court. Either way, to be awarded monetary compensation, you may have to prove the following elements as true:
- A welcomed visitor has a duty of responsibility to act carefully while on your property.
- A welcomed visitor failed to act with reasonable care and caused damage to your property.
- Your property damage caused you to incur economic damages as a direct result.
Under what circumstances should I file a third-party claim instead?
There are other sets of circumstances in which you might have incurred damage to your property due to no fault of your own. For example, your neighbor may have been negligent in repairing a broken pipe on their premises timely. And if there is water runoff from this pipe, this may trickle past your property lines and cause you damage as well.
In another example, your neighbor may have started a bonfire in their backyard that got out of their control. This open-air fire may have quickly spread onto your premises and caused damage to your house and/or landscaping. In either of these scenarios, you may sooner file a third-party claim against your negligent neighbor instead of a lawsuit for negligence.
Before you take any further initiative to file a claim, we urge you to consult one of the competent New York City third-party claim attorneys. Most definitely, the team at The Law Office of Craig A. Blumberg, P.C. is eager to work with you.
