Arbitration Panel Sides with Defense in Neighbor Disputes

Obtained two defense verdicts from a Lancaster County arbitration panel in two separate neighbor dispute cases involving the same parties. In the first of the two cases, the plaintiff claimed that his neighbors had damaged his concrete driveway while using a boom lift on his property to install an air conditioning unit on the roof of their home. The plaintiff sued for trespass. At the arbitration, pre-loss photos established that the cracks in the driveway were pre-existing and were not caused by the boom lift. The arbitration panel unanimously ruled in favor of the insureds. In the second case, the plaintiff claimed that his neighbors had trespassed and damaged his wooden fence that separates the two properties when tree stumps were being removed and a retaining wall was being installed on their property. Pre-loss photos and testimony from the landscaper established that there was no trespass and that the damage to the fence was pre-existing. The arbitration panel unanimously ruled in favor of the insureds with respect to this case as well.