Question regarding resident and power surge

I had a power surge due to faulty electric pole etc… in park.

Resident claims the surge fried her computer and powerstrip.

She is demanding the park buy her a new computer.

Please advise on what to do.

As many suggestions as possible are welcome and appreciated.

Brian -

This sounds like an ‘act of God’ - which is not your fault. Insurance is to pay for occurrences such as this.

Do not allow residents to put their problems on you. While you do need to investigate and cure any power surge problem (and/or call the electric utility to straighten it out), your residents are responsible for having renters insurance for accidents exactly such as this.

The only exception would be if you knew about the problem and willfully ignored it. But you are clearly not that sort of person, or you would not even be asking the question in this forum.

So encourage your resident to file a claim with their renter’s insurance company, or encourage them to get renter’s insurance if they don’t have it. But now that you are aware there is some problem with the electric lines, do what you can to make certain it never happens again.

-jl-

Thanks for the info and advice,

Greatly appreciated.

I’m hoping you insurance agent is Kurt Kelley because, in that event, he can tell you exactly what to do and not to do. That’s what we would do. But if you’re not using Kurt, then my opinion would be that she’d have to prove it was a power surge from your pole and not just a dollar store power strip, or possibly that the whole thing had been staged to shake you down for a new computer. She’ll have the same burden of proof if she goes to court. Even then, as Jefferson pointed out, she’ll have to prove it was due to your negligence and not the power company. That’s a pretty impossible case. The tenants don’t seem to understand how the court system works, because they watch too much court TV. In real court, you have to have proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and the average judge is pretty negative on trailer park tenants to begin with. If the question is, would you buy her a new computer over such a claim, I’d say not a chance. But get the evidence and see for yourself. If it really was 100% your fault, then it’s easier to pay her now than later plus attorney’s fees, if it comes to that.

Thanks Frank. Yes we have Kurt Kelly as our agent.