Member causes damage refuses to take responsibility!

Started by MikeD18 • 7 replies • 293 views

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MikeD18 (Arizona)
Posts: 11

Posted:

So a member of our community entered into our garage in a moving van. They were w9rried about clearence and stopped there vehicle to look at clearence and gate supposedly came down on vehicle and when they tried to get out caused major damage to gate. Gate was determined to be working by gate company, at least mostly. The date has a Lazer beam in front and van was pulled past the spot where the beam would pickup vehicle in area. Bottom edge detector of door was not working so when bottom bar was touched by vehicle gate didn't stop closing. It is our thought that driver is still responsible. Driver stopped their vehicle and left undwe open gate for ar least 45 seconds as that is the time it takes for gate to open and close. Resident states that they pulled in opened their door stepped on side step to check clearance and when they got back into vehicle gate was closing g on there vehicle. We think sitting g under an automatic gate for longer than 45 seconds is calling for problems and even though a mistake it is something that should be covered by their insurance. They don't want to take any blame and say to turn it into our hoa insurance. We don't want to turn it in to our insurance as we feel it is owners fault for parking under gate and we don't want our rates to be raised or possibly be dropped by insurance company. What are your thoughts on whom is responsible and how we should handle the situation?
Thank You In Advace!!!

CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299

Posted:

Your governing docs will determine how you must proceed.

* Do they give the association the right to pass on damage costs to individual owners? This is pretty common. What is the exact wording of this?

* Do you have evidence that this owner and no one else caused the damage? This is important.

* There are procedures that must be followed, and neither party has much choice about it. ** If the association chooses not to turn this in to the insurer, that doesn't mean that the owner is automatically responsible for the entire cost. It means that the association will repair the common elements out of pocket and then go after the homeowner. ** You could easily spend more money litigating than you would have spent footing the entire bill - and litigation can really do nasty things to insurance premiums.

I'd say talk to the association's insurer and see what they say before making any decisions. If the total cost to repair is close to your deductible, you may choose to pay out of pocket (we do this to keep premiums down). Another advantage to doing things this way is that if the owner chooses to fight about it, he will have to fight the insurance company, not the association (actually his own insurer will be fighting with the association's insurer). Insurance companies deal with stuff like this all the time, and I'd let them take care of it.

WendyM5 (North Carolina)
Posts: 1,522

Posted:

"Bottom edge detector of door was not working so when bottom bar was touched by vehicle gate didn't stop closing. "

your fault. be happy some person didn't get crushed to death by the gate and really raise your insurance rates.

vis ta vie

ElleN (Idaho)
Posts: 4,420

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MikeD18 on 04/15/2023 11:52 PM
Gate was determined to be working by gate company, at least mostly. The date has a Lazer beam in front and van was pulled past the spot where the beam would pickup vehicle in area. Bottom edge detector of door was not working so when bottom bar was touched by vehicle gate didn't stop closing.

I agree with Wendy that you need to give (1) more attention to the fact that the HOA was not maintaining the gate correctly; and (2) the cost of fighting an owner when the HOA may very well be partly to blame here. The costs to the HOA include the cost of attorney fees and the likelihood the insurer will raise premiums.

Legally the HOA may be obliged to report to the insurer that it was not maintaining the gate properly but has since fixed the problem. Else this may come back to bite the HOA via a denial of a claim.

Do this by the book. Report the facts of the incident to the insurer. Let the insurer rule on what, if anything, it will cover. If the insurer will cover nothing, then talk to the HOA attorney and see if the attorney agrees that you try to split the costs with the owner, to minimize the bill to the HOA.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

Report this to your insurance to deal with. They may or may not see it as a HOA issue. Plus get the name of the moving van people. I am sure they did not come out of this unscathed as well. The HOA insurance will need to make contact with their insurance or the owner's insurance in turn.

Part of the gate was malfunctioning. Which could have lead to this incident. However, that does not mean the moving van insurance should not be notified of the incident. That would be one of the things I would reach out to. Find out if they took out the damage insurance when renting... That may put a bee in their bonnet...

Former HOA President

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By WendyM5 on 04/16/2023 6:44 AM
"Bottom edge detector of door was not working so when bottom bar was touched by vehicle gate didn't stop closing. "

your fault. be happy some person didn't get crushed to death by the gate and really raise your insurance rates.

I agree.

LetA (Nevada)
Posts: 2,679

Posted:

All or part of your gate was malfunctioning which led to the whole gate malfunctioning. The gat should not come down when their is a vehicle in the gate's path.
You're going to be at-fault all day long. Hopefully you have the trucks insurance information. Contact your insurance carrier and let them duke it out with the
truck drivers insurance carrier.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

This is probably a case where each party is partially responsible.

How much is each side responsible for?

That can be settled upon or take the issue to court.

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