Utility won't pay for damage to car...
March 8, 2017 5:58 AM Subscribe
Tool fell from street light onto the roof of our car, responsible utility won't pay for damages. Suggestions?
As the title suggests, a drill bit fell on the roof of Mrs. Photo Guy's car as she was driving under a streetlight last week, denting her roof and leaving large gouges in the paint. The streetlight in question has obviously been worked on lately - it has a large black strap holding the light cover in place, as though they were having issues getting it to close. I think it's extremely likely that the bit was left on top of the light by a careless worker (perhaps trying to drill new holes to hold the light cover shut?), then rolled off and hit the car. She found the bit nearby and the marks on her car match up perfectly with the bit, leaving no doubt what caused the damage.
After numerous phone calls, we finally figured out that the responsible party is our local electric company (Dominion - we're located in northern Virginia), who is refusing to pay one cent. I sent numerous pictures of the streetlight, damage, etc and their claim office effectively responded "not our problem, you can't prove we're at fault" despite the fact that the bit obviously came from their light - it's a relatively quiet suburban area with no tall buildings nearby, nowhere else it could've come from.
Mrs. Photo Guy does have comprehensive insurance (we had considered cancelling the policy as it's an older car but thankfully hadn't done so yet), but our deductible is $1000. Doubly annoying as we were considering selling the car soon. Any suggestions to get the utility to pay up? Should we threaten small claims court (I've never done this, I'm not a lawyer)? Perhaps contact the media? Or are we SOL?
As the title suggests, a drill bit fell on the roof of Mrs. Photo Guy's car as she was driving under a streetlight last week, denting her roof and leaving large gouges in the paint. The streetlight in question has obviously been worked on lately - it has a large black strap holding the light cover in place, as though they were having issues getting it to close. I think it's extremely likely that the bit was left on top of the light by a careless worker (perhaps trying to drill new holes to hold the light cover shut?), then rolled off and hit the car. She found the bit nearby and the marks on her car match up perfectly with the bit, leaving no doubt what caused the damage.
After numerous phone calls, we finally figured out that the responsible party is our local electric company (Dominion - we're located in northern Virginia), who is refusing to pay one cent. I sent numerous pictures of the streetlight, damage, etc and their claim office effectively responded "not our problem, you can't prove we're at fault" despite the fact that the bit obviously came from their light - it's a relatively quiet suburban area with no tall buildings nearby, nowhere else it could've come from.
Mrs. Photo Guy does have comprehensive insurance (we had considered cancelling the policy as it's an older car but thankfully hadn't done so yet), but our deductible is $1000. Doubly annoying as we were considering selling the car soon. Any suggestions to get the utility to pay up? Should we threaten small claims court (I've never done this, I'm not a lawyer)? Perhaps contact the media? Or are we SOL?
Definitely take it to social media. On Facebook you can write a detailed post with pictures and make it public, and on Twitter you can tweet at the company and at local officials and media, and link back to the detailed post. Be outraged about the brush-off response (don't they care they might be dropping metal objects on people?), but be as objective as possible about the cause-- don't call the worker careless, for example.
I'd also look into whether it's possible to file a police report about the incident.
posted by zennie at 6:24 AM on March 8, 2017 [2 favorites]
I'd also look into whether it's possible to file a police report about the incident.
posted by zennie at 6:24 AM on March 8, 2017 [2 favorites]
Your local consumer affairs reporters, newspaper or TV, love stories like this.
posted by BlahLaLa at 6:25 AM on March 8, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by BlahLaLa at 6:25 AM on March 8, 2017 [3 favorites]
Best answer: BlahLaLa is right. NBC 4 is particularly good at consumer affairs stuff, Susan Hogan is in charge of it. You can find all the info here. Good luck!
posted by whitetigereyes at 6:46 AM on March 8, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by whitetigereyes at 6:46 AM on March 8, 2017 [1 favorite]
I would also start with the insurance company. It's their job to pay for it or get someone else to pay. They know how to do that.
posted by alms at 7:06 AM on March 8, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by alms at 7:06 AM on March 8, 2017 [1 favorite]
If it were me, I would file in small claims court. A large utility is not going to be swayed to suddenly pay for the damage by social media. The cost is not much to them in actual dollars, but it would set a public precedent and they would have every person with any tangential claim asking for money. The message they want to send is "this is too much of a hassle and not worth the time and effort to go after us".
The $1,000 deductible is a lot. I would file the police report so that you can file the claim later if the threat of small claims court does not work. Or actually go to small claims court.
The social media stuff they would respond to would be the old person without heat that they were able to get the electric hooked back up. That is good publicity.
(Also, the person doing the work on the pole could have been a contractor and not employed by the utility directly. Not sure if that is relevant, but a lot of utility work is sub contracted out.)
posted by AugustWest at 7:11 AM on March 8, 2017
The $1,000 deductible is a lot. I would file the police report so that you can file the claim later if the threat of small claims court does not work. Or actually go to small claims court.
The social media stuff they would respond to would be the old person without heat that they were able to get the electric hooked back up. That is good publicity.
(Also, the person doing the work on the pole could have been a contractor and not employed by the utility directly. Not sure if that is relevant, but a lot of utility work is sub contracted out.)
posted by AugustWest at 7:11 AM on March 8, 2017
I'm with phunniemee on this. Go to your insurance company.
Modern insurance companies are essentially the legal, socially acceptable version of gangsters to whom you pay protection money. Normally this is a hassle, but in this case, it's to your advantage. Tell the bullies where the money is and turn them loose to get it. This is where they "shine."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:13 AM on March 8, 2017 [7 favorites]
Modern insurance companies are essentially the legal, socially acceptable version of gangsters to whom you pay protection money. Normally this is a hassle, but in this case, it's to your advantage. Tell the bullies where the money is and turn them loose to get it. This is where they "shine."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:13 AM on March 8, 2017 [7 favorites]
Best answer: All expected and necessary warnings about legal advice (IANAL, IANYL) aside, this sounds like a textbook example where the doctrine res ipsa loquitur ("the thing speaks for itself") might apply. The classic case involving the doctrine is Byrne v Boadle (1863), wherein a barrel fell from a second story building and hit the plaintiff on the head as he was walking by. The plaintiff couldn't provide direct evidence the defendant was negligent, but the fact that the incident happened and the plaintiff was injured by the defendant's barrel spoke for itself.
Not at all saying you have a case here, but it would seem to be (almost) comically similar to this scenario. Not familiar with Virginia law on this subject (the case above is from England and old and therefore not remotely potential precedent, although some jurisdictions in the US have historically adopted the rule through common law) and wouldn't necessarily advise you to pursue or do anything, but you should know that there is a strong legal tradition of finding the potential for negligence in certain situations where "you can't prove we're at fault."
posted by mnumberger at 7:15 AM on March 8, 2017 [4 favorites]
Not at all saying you have a case here, but it would seem to be (almost) comically similar to this scenario. Not familiar with Virginia law on this subject (the case above is from England and old and therefore not remotely potential precedent, although some jurisdictions in the US have historically adopted the rule through common law) and wouldn't necessarily advise you to pursue or do anything, but you should know that there is a strong legal tradition of finding the potential for negligence in certain situations where "you can't prove we're at fault."
posted by mnumberger at 7:15 AM on March 8, 2017 [4 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks all. We talked to the insurance company as soon as it happened, they were the ones that told us to contact Dominion (not surprisingly - they don't want to be the ones to pay if they don't have to). After Dominion brushed us off my wife called the insurance company again yesterday and they told us to go ahead and file a claim, but they didn't offer to contact Dominion on our behalf. We were planning to take the car in later this week to get the estimate + repair work done.
Will try to contact insurance again, hopefully with better luck. Failing that I'm tempted to go the small-claims route, although I've never done it before. Maybe the threat of court will be enough.
posted by photo guy at 8:12 AM on March 8, 2017
Will try to contact insurance again, hopefully with better luck. Failing that I'm tempted to go the small-claims route, although I've never done it before. Maybe the threat of court will be enough.
posted by photo guy at 8:12 AM on March 8, 2017
Supply your insurance company with all of the photos you have detailing the damage (copies) + a notarized statement something fell on her car as she drove under the light on X date.
It's your insurance company's respinsibility to recover your deductible from the utility company. Have their lawyer request work history on that light. Don't pay the $1000 out of pocket.
You also due "loss of use" during the tome the vehicle is being fixed, usually the daily cost of a rental car if they don't provide one. This is also billed to the utility company. Google for your area, in my jurisdiction you must specifically ask in writing for loss of use reimbursement in order to get it.
Save the drill bit if you go to small claims court. Good luck.
posted by jbenben at 8:57 AM on March 8, 2017
It's your insurance company's respinsibility to recover your deductible from the utility company. Have their lawyer request work history on that light. Don't pay the $1000 out of pocket.
You also due "loss of use" during the tome the vehicle is being fixed, usually the daily cost of a rental car if they don't provide one. This is also billed to the utility company. Google for your area, in my jurisdiction you must specifically ask in writing for loss of use reimbursement in order to get it.
Save the drill bit if you go to small claims court. Good luck.
posted by jbenben at 8:57 AM on March 8, 2017
Response by poster: For anyone still following - We ended up taking it in for repairs, and of course the estimate ended up being $900 (just under our $1k deductible). At least we're getting coverage for a rental car so not a total loss. Unfortunately it looks like neither of us can get the time off work (nor the time to arrange paperwork) to file a court case right now so might just have to bite the bullet on this one :/
posted by photo guy at 6:27 AM on March 10, 2017
posted by photo guy at 6:27 AM on March 10, 2017
I would expect my insurance company to be attempting to recover the deductible from the liable party; if they don't, I'd be finding a new insurer. That's why you pay for collision coverage.
posted by TheNewWazoo at 12:22 PM on March 10, 2017
posted by TheNewWazoo at 12:22 PM on March 10, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by phunniemee at 6:20 AM on March 8, 2017 [20 favorites]