Legal Question in Personal Injury in Illinois

We have a problem with some neighbors. There have been a couple of conflicts with the neighbors in the last year or so over basic disrespect for our property and safety issues with them letting their kids play in the street, making it hard to maneuver getting in and out of our driveay. We live in a cul-de-sac, and they play baseball in it and will even play right by parked vehicles. We have tried to discuss this with them, but there is no listening going on. In fact, we feel they go out of their way to try to provoke us into further conflict. Now, that it is winter, when the city plows, they pile the snow up right in our front yard and our next door neighbors, who we actually get along well with. This, of course, attracts all of the neighbor kids, as the snow pile ends up turned into a fort. This is all good and well, but we are concerned about liability on our part if one of the kids gets hurt while playing on the snow pile. We feel like the two dad's, with whom we have had a conflicts, would just love to take any opportunity to sue us or cause us problems in any way. Do you have any thoughts or advice on how to handle this? Talking to them would do no good, as it will just cause a verbal altercation. We do get along with some of our neighbors, so we don't want to totally alienate everyone, but we are worried about liability and two men who would try to take advantage of that liability. Thanks!


Asked on 12/05/10, 2:29 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Messutta

If your community doesn't have some kind of neighbor dispute mediation service, you'll have to rely on the police. If your OTHER neighbors feel as you do, however, you can always try a neighborhood meeting or petition. AND, if as you say you are in a cul-de-sac that was privately developed, there may be land restrictions and use restrictions.

The response given is not intended to create, nor does it create an ongoing duty to respond to questions. The response does not form an attorney-client relationship, nor is it intended to be anything other than the educated opinion of the author. It should not be relied upon as legal advice. The response given is based upon the limited facts provided by the person asking the question. To the extent additional or different facts exist, the response might possibly change. Attorney is licensed to practice law only in the State of Illinois. Responses are based solely on Illinois law unless stated otherwise.

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Answered on 12/11/10, 5:27 pm


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