- Jurisdiction
- Georgia
Good evening, I am new here so please move this thread if it is within the wrong sub-forum. My apologies in advance!
My apartment community installed a new "Gate Arm" yesterday morning, prior there was just a gate.
Upon coming home to our community, we notice this new gate arm and that the arm is facing straight up towards the sky and not down blocking the gate like most gate arms would. I proceed to use my remote gate opener(which is an optional $75 more than the card key they normally give) and as I'm proceeding through the gate the gate arm slams down on the cab of my truck. It then bounces 2 more times off my roof and leaves 3 large dents in the outer edges of the roof.
So I call the manager of the community after inspecting the damage to the truck in an attempt to get this resolved. She goes on to tell me that any damage to residents vehicles caused by the gates are not covered by the community and that there is a sign posted before the gates, which she is right, the sign is there. However she continues to disown the situation and asks me to bring my remote gate opener to the leasing office the next morning to compare to the "Gate log" to see if I actually clicked the remote to open the gate. (Apparently the gate arm is in place to stop other vehicles from "chasing vehicles through the gate behind them").
So I do just that, I get a call a couple hours later and she confirmed that my remote gate opener was used to open the gate and they can't seem to replicate the events that caused the damage to my truck and the management corporation that owns this property and many others in this area will not cover the damages unless they can replicate the events, at which point it would be a malfunction of their property.
She also goes on to tell me that the reason the gate arm was pointing straight up was that another vehicle had opened the gate and never went through the gate. She explains the gate arm is programmed to close after each vehicle passes under the gate arm and the vehicle is clear. So this vehicle not passing under the gate through the electronics powering the gate arm out of it's normal pattern.
As far as the damage goes on my truck, because it is a Ford F-150 with an aluminum body and the place at which the gate struck the truck, it will require attention from a body shop to get the dents out and repaint/blend the roof. So the simpler, more cost efficient and much less hassle solution of taking the truck to a Paintless Dent Removal business is completely out of the question.
I'm now looking over my options of taking this to a small claims court through my county and seeing what I can get done. My questions to you all is that do I have a case worth pursuing in this situation?
My apartment community installed a new "Gate Arm" yesterday morning, prior there was just a gate.
Upon coming home to our community, we notice this new gate arm and that the arm is facing straight up towards the sky and not down blocking the gate like most gate arms would. I proceed to use my remote gate opener(which is an optional $75 more than the card key they normally give) and as I'm proceeding through the gate the gate arm slams down on the cab of my truck. It then bounces 2 more times off my roof and leaves 3 large dents in the outer edges of the roof.
So I call the manager of the community after inspecting the damage to the truck in an attempt to get this resolved. She goes on to tell me that any damage to residents vehicles caused by the gates are not covered by the community and that there is a sign posted before the gates, which she is right, the sign is there. However she continues to disown the situation and asks me to bring my remote gate opener to the leasing office the next morning to compare to the "Gate log" to see if I actually clicked the remote to open the gate. (Apparently the gate arm is in place to stop other vehicles from "chasing vehicles through the gate behind them").
So I do just that, I get a call a couple hours later and she confirmed that my remote gate opener was used to open the gate and they can't seem to replicate the events that caused the damage to my truck and the management corporation that owns this property and many others in this area will not cover the damages unless they can replicate the events, at which point it would be a malfunction of their property.
She also goes on to tell me that the reason the gate arm was pointing straight up was that another vehicle had opened the gate and never went through the gate. She explains the gate arm is programmed to close after each vehicle passes under the gate arm and the vehicle is clear. So this vehicle not passing under the gate through the electronics powering the gate arm out of it's normal pattern.
As far as the damage goes on my truck, because it is a Ford F-150 with an aluminum body and the place at which the gate struck the truck, it will require attention from a body shop to get the dents out and repaint/blend the roof. So the simpler, more cost efficient and much less hassle solution of taking the truck to a Paintless Dent Removal business is completely out of the question.
I'm now looking over my options of taking this to a small claims court through my county and seeing what I can get done. My questions to you all is that do I have a case worth pursuing in this situation?