fire on the house

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vaio

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My jurisdiction is: california

hello, I'm living in a house where the landlord rent me a 1 bedroom place ( they rebuilt the garage as a kitchen, dinning room area, plus 1 bedroom) and I am allow to use the pool/garden area that i'm sharing with the couple living in the actual house. I did a barbecue party a couple of months ago and a fire started the same night, on the big trash can ,on the other side of the house (i think someone cleaned the barbecue and left some ashes who was not off in it)..A main wall and part of the roof was destroy..The couple who live on the main house didn't have rental insurance and asking me to pay ~$5,000 for their losses( tv,furniture..) , cause i'm the one who host the barbecue who is the result of the fire.I feel sad and of course a little bit guilty cause I'm the one who did the barbecue/party but i think that 's a accident.Do I need to pay ? Can they go after me if I'm not ? And Should I be worry about the landlord owner's insurance ? Can they go after me as well ?there was $ 80,000 of damage (the place"basement" i'm renting is not legal)..I'm foreign and doesn't know a lot of people to ask this questions to :(!! so thanks a lot for your answers.:nuts
 
Vaio - you hosted the bbq so you should have foreseen that an accident could have happened if safety measures were not taken to prevent anything from happening. The answer is yes, your neighbors can come after you in small claims court for their losses since they would not have lost their property had you taken the necessary steps to prevent an accident from happening. As far as the damages to the house, the homeowners probably had insurance so their insurance covered the damages. However, you can be sued for their deductible. The legality of the premise is not the issue here. The damages caused by your negligence are.
 
I think you should ask him for some deduction in claim...I think it is the case of a mistake so you should compromise.
 
Yes, the insurance companies can sue you for their losses. Welcome to my world of misery ($60,000 in suit, payed $3000 settlement, $4000 in legal fees and climbing, $50,000 left in court) and I had nothing to do with the damn fire.

Try to compromise with your neighbor....its better then my life.
 
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