What to do if our 2 cars were parked in our driveway when a large branch from a tree in the city parkway fell and damaged both cars?
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What to do if our 2 cars were parked in our driveway when a large branch from a tree in the city parkway fell and damaged both cars?
I filed a claim with the city. Their adjuster called and wanted to pay half the claim. She sited that since cities have no money they now have resolutions stating that they are not liable but she was willing to meet me half way. I told her that I would take them to small claims court. I had a similar incident about 5 years ago; a branch fell when I was parked on the street and crushed the car. The city refused to pay. I took them to small claims court and won because the city could not show maintenance records. Is this a good defense? The judge just had a similar case new the law.
Asked on September 24, 2014 under Accident Law, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 9 years ago | Contributor
Their resolution that they are not liable is not itself a defense to tort (e.g. tree-branch-on-car) liability. However, a different judge may view the matter of maintenance differently and conclude that even if they can't show tree maintenance, unless they had some reason to know (or that they should have known) that this tree or branch was a threat (e.g. that someone had called in a complaint; or a different branch had recently fallen from tree, or from a nearby one so that they would have checked out this tree while investigating the other problem), that they would not be liable. You need to be prepared that you may have an adverse outcome.
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