Legal Question in Personal Injury in California
Invasion of privacy
Background: A carpet cleaning van caused major damage to my brand new van in the apartment parking lot. The driver doesn't have license, while the cleaning co. doesn't have car/bussiness insurance. I had to go through my insurance company, and the cost to repair is about $16000.
My Questions:
1. This happened in June 2003, can I still sue the apt manager?
2. During handling of the accident, the apt manager in charge released my work phone number to the van owner without my permission. The van owner called me in the work place which caused lots of harassment and frustration to me.
3. The apt manager moved our car without our presence(my wife was a moment late with the kids). The police was present, but a major damage to the muffler was concealed until in the bodyshop.
We thought we would give up but got lots of mistreatment from the apt manager later on, and wonder whether there is a lawyer out there who feels this is worth acting on. What is the cost? The apartment is a publicly traded company, would that make any difference? If no lawyer feels this is worth the effort, how can I file any suit/complaint by myself? Appreciate your help.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Invasion of privacy
You still have time to sue the apartment manager, but I'm not sure you have a worthwhile case against him. After all, he's not the one who damaged your car. The fact that your car was in the garage when a third party damaged it does not make the owners responsible for your loss. Even if the manager hired the carpet cleaners, he probably didn't tell specifically them to do whatever it was that caused the damage. If they are not his employees (and they must not be, since you say they are a separtate company) it will be difficult to hold him responsible.
The carpet cleaning company seems to be the one primarily at fault, and your question suggests that it doesn't have the money to pay you even if you win a judgment against it.
Also, you say you went through your insurance company. How much did it contribute toward the $16,000 damage to your van? You can't recover as damages any money that you have received from the insurer.
You may have a claim against the manager for moving your car, as long as it was parked where it belonged in the first place. The way you phrased your question suggests that it was not. Also, you don't say that moving the car damaged it in any way. You won't get much money simply because he moved it.
As to the manager giving out your phone number, I'm not sure you would have much of a claim there, either. Giving out your work phone number seems like a rather minor issue to me, and if the owner of the other van used that number to harass you then he's the one at fault and not the building manager.
Re: Invasion of privacy
Sue the cleaning company for the crash damage, they caused it; insurance is not required, they just have to pay out of pocket. You probably can only claim the muffler damage against the apt company. At attorney will take at least a percentage of recovery, so the choice is yours.
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