What should I do?

[hottamaly 1]

There was an accident outside my house a few weeks ago with the drunk driver hitting a tree at my next door neighbors house, flying upside down and into one of my trees (knocking it down from the roots) and the car landing between my neighbors yard and mine.

If it hadn't been for my 30 year old tree, the car would have come sliding into my bedroom wall.

My tree is gone and now there is nothing there to keep some other fool from crashing into my house.

It looks like he's 24 with no insurance. What would you do? I'm thinking about putting in a cement post to keep the next guy out but how am I to collect for whatever I put there, clean up etc? I don't have actual bills for anything yet to take him to small claims court.

Would you just drop it or sue for damages?

Skydiving gave me a reason to live
I'm not afraid of what I'll miss when I die...I'm afraid of what I'll miss as I live

[Broke 0]

Teach the fucker a lesson

Divot your source for all things Hillbilly.
Anvil Brother 84
SCR 14192

[taylor.freefall 0]

Quote

Teach the fucker a lesson

I second the motion. I hate drinking and driving, there's never an excuse for it.

[hottamaly 1]

I agree but how does one go about it with no money out of pocket yet? How do I know I'll get it back from him?

Skydiving gave me a reason to live
I'm not afraid of what I'll miss when I die...I'm afraid of what I'll miss as I live

[Amazon 7]

Check with a local nursery that sells full size BIG trees.. GEt a value for it. use that as a basis for your small claims court numbers

And take LOTS of pictures... before pics possibly can help too.

You can always replace it with some BIG boulders in the front yard with tastefull landscaping around them...Concrete posts are fairly worthless unless they are HUGE..

[Broke 0]

Most Laywers will just take it off the top of the winnings

Divot your source for all things Hillbilly.
Anvil Brother 84
SCR 14192

[Squeak 17]

Hi stranger long time no see
I reckomend putting a ramp to detour thje next asshat arond your home

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[diablopilot 2]

Here's an unfortunate line of thought.

If you put up some sort of artificial barricade, and another drunk idiot hits it, and is injured, his lawyer could very possibly launch a suit against you for exacerbating the situation and his injury level.

Sucks, huh?


I like Amazon's idea of buying a mature tree, small claims might get it done for you, and the cost to file will be pretty low (less than $200). Be sure to go after him AND his insurance company. (Name both in the suit)

----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[DavidB 0]

Since the one that did the damage is uninsured, IMHO you have two chances to collect for the damages: Slim & none. I'd explore filing a claim to your home owner's insurance (& hope they don't raise your rates, or drop you). You need to explore this with your agent first!

When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

[hottamaly 1]

I don't want to go through home owners ins because the amount I'd have to pay down would cost me $500+ and they probably would increase it.

JP, you're probably right, some ya who lawyer would come after me. This is why I put it out there to get some ideas of what to do.

Keep them coming my friends. There's got to be a solution.

Skydiving gave me a reason to live
I'm not afraid of what I'll miss when I die...I'm afraid of what I'll miss as I live

[taylor.freefall 0]

To be honest if he's got no insurance he's probably got no money anyway. I guess chasing it would only because it was a matter of principal for you as financially I doubt it would go far. It just depends how important is it to you.

[chuckakers 370]

Quote

If it hadn't been for my 30 year old tree, the car would have come sliding into my bedroom wall...

It looks like he's 24 with no insurance. What would you do?

Thank the tree and chop wood.

[kschilk 0]

Quote

Here's an unfortunate line of thought.

If you put up some sort of artificial barricade, and another drunk idiot hits it, and is injured, his lawyer could very possibly launch a suit against you for exacerbating the situation and his injury level.

Sucks, huh?

I like Amazon's idea of buying a mature tree, small claims might get it done for you, and the cost to file will be pretty low (less than $200). Be sure to go after him AND his insurance company. (Name both in the suit)

Yeah, a buddy of mine is in the same situation. His house is on a bad turn, his house has been hit several times. He was informed that he cannot install any barricades, trees or anything....exactly the same reasons as mentioned above. He can't even sell the place, everybody knows it's history. The city and state won't even install guide rails, because of the liability...he's been fightin' with both, for 10 years or so.

"T'was ever thus."

[taylor.freefall 0]

I'd do it anyway and believe I'd win that argument if it ever went to court.

[Shotgun 1]

Yikes, glad you weren't hurt Linda! Are you on a street where something like that is likely to happen again?

If the guy has no insurance (and he's probably looking at a lot of $$ for his new DWI), then you probably won't get any money from him. But it might be worth contacting him to make sure he knows how much damage he did. Who knows, he might feel responsible and try to help with repairs.

But I have no experience with small claims court or anything like that, so I'm not sure how that would work.

[happythoughts 0]

My friends live on the worst corner that I have ever seen.
Clearly marked, 20mph, very sharp curve.

For years, they had skidding tire marks through their lawn.

They put up little stakes with reflectors and those were distributed across their lawn.

Easy to see hedge bushes... bushes crunched.

Nice 3-ft diameter decorative boulders with hedge bushes in between... rocks with scratches. Problem solved.

[mamajumps 0]

I owuld sue for damages, but it might cost more in the long run and odds are if he doesnt have insurance, he wont have any money to pay a lawsuit either. So best case scenerio however is that he has a judgement on his credit file. I would however put big bolders or something else that would do some major damage on some fuck wads car should it happen again. I live right on a "S"curve and if I owned this place, I would have put big boulders in the ditch along the "S" curve along time ago... why b/c the inbreed stupid fuck rednecks around here like to haul ass around the "S" curve and often loose control and go thru the chain link fence. The fence is down now b/c it happened a fe months back. My landlord however doesnt want to risk hurting anyone by putting boulders in the ditch. Glad he has enough money to continually replace an acre of chain link. This made the 6th time in 10 years that it has happened.

[Broke 0]

Another option is to give him a chance to help fix what he broke. A nice hedge row would be in order. Once it grows thick enough it could easly conceal a concreate post

Divot your source for all things Hillbilly.
Anvil Brother 84
SCR 14192

[NickDG 23]

>>Would you just drop it or sue for damages?
Nobodies dead - he most likely learned his lesson - let it go in shit happens fashion . . .

NickD

[Programmer 0]

If nothing valuable fell out of his car while it was in your yard, you're not going to get anything. Don't lose sleep or time over it. Do you have a mailbox next to the street? Is it attached to a railroad rail sunk three feet into the ground? Just asking.

[NewGuy2005 51]

Never ask your friends for legal advice. See an attorney.