If my neighbor’s contractor consented to the theft of my personal property and dumped garbage on the corners and I am fined for his actions, can I sue?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
If my neighbor’s contractor consented to the theft of my personal property and dumped garbage on the corners and I am fined for his actions, can I sue?
Over the summer, my neighbor hired a contractor to renovate an apartment in their 2-family home. At the very end, rather than requesting a dumpster and dumping all the garbage from his work into it, he hires some random persons off the street and they put the garbage on the corners at the end of our block.They put this garbage in front of two businesses. While we are away, the 2 people used our garbage cans and filled them and deposited then at the corner. A city agency is called, and they get our building number. The city official
comes fines us for the not having our weeds cut on a city-owned street, a plot where a tree had once been, which the city was required to fill in immediately after removing a dying and rotting tree. The city official leaves a summons for me and my wife to appear in court. This has escalated, and it will hopefully not cost us too much to fight. The contractor and his actions are directly responsible for what we have to deal with now. I also have a grievance with the judgment used by the city agent to target us for what happened. Can I sue the
contractor? Can I also sue the city agent for his poor judgment?
Asked on December 12, 2018 under Real Estate Law, New Jersey
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 5 years ago | Contributor
1) Yes, you can sue the contractor: an employer or business is responsible for the actions of those whom he/she/it hires, which actions are done in the course of their work or employment, and so the contractor is responsible for what the people it hired did. They acted wrongfully in taking and using your property (garbage cans), and their wrongful actions are causing you to incur costs and losses; therefore you can sue the contractor employing them for this.
2) Municipal employees are not responsible for poor judgment--only for deliberately wrongful acts or acts outside their power/authority. You must likely cannot sue the agent.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.