No question there. The problem is if the company goes out of business, didn't have insurance and then files bankruptcy, so they don't have any money to give the lady for her house.
@@nleem3361 Indeed. Instead the Remedy should be the hit the GOVERNMENT for this. THEY should be held Liable. Cause they control what Businesses are Legal or Not, permits to make those companies legal, and if they fuck up to THIS high of a Degree, it should fall onto the State. If the STATE doesn't want to get Sued, they should be more PICKY about what demolishing companies are legally allowed to work in their state, and HEAVILY REGULATE the business so these Accidents DO NOT HAPPEN or else the government is FULLY LIABLE for damages these companies do to Citizens.
@@nleem3361 The CEO/Owner of the Business should also be PERSONALLY Liable, along with EVERY SINGLE EMPLOYEE. And Lawsuits like this, MASSIVE Harm being done to Citizens or Property, should be a Debt that can NOT be waved away through Bankruptcy. AND Failure to pay, should be IMMEDIATE Jail for Life, till they work in jail and pay off the debt.
BY the details we have any court should find the company totally liable. The issue will be how much they or their insurance company wants to fight it. (Assuming they have insurance) Further the city could also go after them if they were supposed to pull a permit and did not have one for THAT property. Since they destroyed the wrong house then we know they didn't have a permit for the house that they actually demo'd. Double trouble there. Just saying "oops" will not work on the city they can't dodge the city and could lose their license, again, assuming they had one.
In Grand Rapids, Michigan. A few years ago a company destroyed a house with everything in it but the workers took all the valuable out. Approximately $30k worth. When the homeowners showed up half the house was gone. The house was across the street from the one they were demolishing. All four workers were charged for several crimes and the company had to pay hugely
but the company being ordered to pay and ACTUALLY paying are two different things, like Lehto mentions here, it depends in the company has liquid assets (or any assets) or not... i bet more often than not they just torch the business and come back as a new entity elsewhere. did the company in your story actually end up paying ? hope so!
Here's an idea if you are in the demo business or a SWAT team. Contact a 19 year old pizza delivery guy who smoked a bowl before each delivery. Somehow they can find the right addresss
My next door neighbor is a widow in her 80’s and doesn’t speak much English. Her children usually text me if anything is wrong and I check on her. Anyways, one day her daughter calls me and says, “can you go next door and see what’s going on? My mom says someone is on the roof and she’s scared”. So I go outside and there’s a roofing company there doing the prep work for a new roof. I talked to them and we figured out they had the right address but in the wrong town. Thankfully we were able to stop it before any damage had been caused but it was a close call.
.................... At least they were at the right street address.......... that is not quite as bad as some...... Thank you for helping your neighbors.
Which individuals will be criminally and civilly liable if the company is an LLC that declares bankruptcy and dissolves itself? A simple demolition company doesn’t need many assets- just a backhoe.
There certainly is more "breaching the corporate veil" lately. But you can be sure that I'd name the company, and every involved individual. and fight it out in court.
We were a simple Demo Co we had million dollar policy we always looked up owner Had someone steal and change Deed to their name.We refused the job after reporting.
This is another reason, if you are a homeowner, make sure anybody doing work on your home or property is bonded. I had a guy who offered to cut some trees down on a property i owned. And these were very close to the house. I asked if he was bonded for that kind of work, and he looked at me funny. I had to tell him, "if you damage the house, my insurance company is going to sue you for the damages." He quickly retracted the offer. There's a lot of people out there who just don't know how liable they are for damages they cause.
They don't want to be liable, but that also tells you if someone is skilled or not, because a person who cuts down tree's professionally, know techniques to avoid issues. If they are unwilling to back up their skill with liability, then they have no skill worth purchasing, and probably leave a long line of mistakes in their wake for customers to deal with. If they want to charge the big bucks, then they need to stand behind their work.
A neighbor of mine hires questionable contractors, and refers them to me. I always ask if they are bonded and insured. And he is like, they are just getting going. I am like, well they can do that on someone elses house! I am not weathly by any means, but I have some assets and really don't want to have to defend them.
Craziest reply I heard to that very question after the initial "yes" was "I have a driver's license and I am insured!" 😛 Legitimate tree companies / arborists charge big money because their insurance is VERY expensive. Not to mention if they own all of their equipment that cost can be in the millions!
good practice to put yourself as" additionaly insured" when a contractor is doing work on your home etc...anyone contractor that asks why or gives you a hard time about that do not hire them..
Police rarely check to see if they’re at the right address. My neighbor was a military policeman, active duty and his wife was also active duty military. The police broke in their door at 2 am on a Wednesday night 3 successive weeks. Each time they were at the wrong address. The neighbor on the other side of the street was selling drugs and they had complained and their address, as well as mine, were odd numbered. They were looking for an even numbered address across the street. Both they and the drug dealer across the street eventually moved. The couple next door moved to get away from incompetent cops and the drug dealer moved because the cops might someday get it right. The cops raided the vacant house at the odd number address twice more before they gave up. After five tries and still not getting the right house, I’d say the drug dealer was plenty safe.
Lots of horror stories out there. Just this year the police showed up for a domestic violence call at the wrong house (you can even hear dispatch say the correct address on bodycam) They freaked out the owner of the home so much pounding on the door he woke up and answered the door with a gun. The man who was a father of young children was shot dead inside his home. I think this was in Arizona.
Knocking a house down without an owner on-site with identification, deed and verification of gas/water/electric means they're an absolute dogshit company. Don't expect a happy ending with a lawsuit, chances are this company won't exist within the next couple of months... they're probably painting a new name on the side of the equipment.
The company is apparently just a hauling company - not sure why they thought they should knock down a house in the first place. And the son of the owner may have been mixed up in a crypto scam (found an SEC filing). Not a good sign.
I wonder if someone thought the building was an eyesore and asked for a favor to get it torn down while they were gone by "accident" because they couldn't get it torn down legally. I mean, what are the chances that some demolition company accidentally came to a boarded up home while the owners just happen to be away? It just seems fishy to me.
I agree… it’s like cops kicking down the door of the “wrong house” with a different address on the warrant. Either they’re incredibly stupid or it’s totally on purpose.
Exactly. We've had a lot of "accidental demolitions" in an old neighborhood near a university. It's historic so a lot of those houses were protected but then a bulldozer shows up early one Saturday morning and "oops." $500 for unlicensed demolition.
the contractor onsite oopsed out though.. also that’s going to be one expensive favor to ask of a demo company.. because there’s no way the woman is not lawyering up for this a pursuing damages.
@@mintoo2cool The property will be condemned for having a demolished building on it, without the necessary permits. The legal fees from that alone will have the owner trying to sell to the first developer that pays cash.
"We're working to resolve the issue." -- We're in the process of declaring bankruptcy and leaving the state. This does remind me of an old Dilbert cartoon. Dogbert answers the door and the workman at the door says "I have a permit to tear this house down." Dogbert looks at it and says "This is 200 Glade Street. 200 Glade Drive is clear across town." The workman says "That would take me over an hour to get to. You mind if I tear this house down?" Dogbert "That would be a bother. Why not check with the Johnson's next door?" As Dogbert walks in, Dilbert asks "What was that crash?" Dogbert "Apparently the Johnson's aren't home."
The big difference is intent. A person throwing a rock at a house has an intention of malice whereas the demolition of the house in the video was an unintentional case of stupidity. It's kind of like a traffic accident. If it was actually an accident a different set of laws apply than when a person uses their vehicle to ram another vehicle. I'm not saying that the company is not responsible for making whole for demolishing the wrong house. It's just that they didn't actually have criminal intention in doing so.
@@robertsmalls3513 True to a degree. If it can be established that the yellow light was of insufficient time as to allow for a safe stop then you can beat the ticket. Trouble is that proving that in court would probably cost you more than the ticket. Let's say you caused an accident by running the red light. If it can be established that the yellow light was insufficient to allow for a safe stop then the controlling authority can be held liable for the accident. On the other hand, if the yellow light is sufficient for a driver going the speed limit to have ample time to stop, then the driver should be tiketed and if by causing an accident should be held liable.
@@DonFahquidmi there is something called criminal negligence. It usually kicks in with certain injuries or monetary losses. Pretty sure this exceeds the level which depends on state. In this case the question of intent and negligence would go to a jury. And it is above $500 so is a 1 to 5 year felony. If they did it maliciously or used an incidiary or explosive device it would be 5 to 20.
This is actually the second "wrong address demolition" story I have heard about from Atlanta this year. When you flee from Atlanta, don't use the airport because cops take your cash when you are boarding your plane so you can argue with them or catch your flight, but not both. If you are not in Atlanta, never go there. If you live in Atlanta get out and go anywhere except Florida, thats worse.
My family lives in the metro Atlanta area. Look, any large blue city is like this these days. Might as well just tell people to avoid Oppressive Regressive Progressive Leftist Democrat hell holes. We get it.🔥🤔🇺🇸
@@spooderdoggyStatistically, places that have conservative (“red”) leanings are far more likely to have asset confiscation and oppressive tactics. All the anecdotal liberal-blaming does not take away that fact.
@@originaldcjensen All have sinned and have fallen short of the Glory of God. I never said Conservative places were perfect, or persons claiming conservative views were beyond repute. No, no. All I’m stating is I lived in Leftist California and now Red Alabama, and I love it here! In my ungated Alabamian subdivision I have left cars unlock dozens of times, my wallet in plain sight on the car dashboard overnight, left expensive items outside overnight, and even forgot to lock the back door to my house a dozen times, and you know what, still no crime. In the time I lived in California my wife and I have been hit from behind in our cars three times, multiple items stolen, not just mine but from neighbors, cars consistently stolen in the local area, break ins not uncommon, crazy People threatening people around me, etc, and I still lived in a more conservative area in East Southern California. Look, comparing apples to apples I am much safer in a Red State and red area then Cali. Yes cash confiscation is a unconstitutional scourge and should be banned everywhere. But having said this, don’t tell me about my “anecdotal liberal-blaming” and what is statistically better when I STILL GOT MY CASH and I’m not eating crime here. Thus, please realize if you love living up there in the great blue yonder, wherever that is, wonderful! As for me I’ll continue enjoying my high confiscation rate while not experiencing any crime. Bon appetit 😂🥰😉
I know of a roofing company in a city, that went to the wrong address and tore off the shingle roof, only to find out they went to wrong place. The roofing company did give the owners a new roof and an apology.
Now THAT is a good company. Even though they screwed up they fixed their mistake with no financial burden to the owners of the house. They took full responsibility for their mistake.
She needs to get a lawyer and file suit ASAP. This is an obviously slam dunk case for her, she can include legal fees in her suit. The company is obviously not going to make this right without a lawsuit.
I thought it was nuts, my next door neighbor and i discussed taking down MY tree, he was super nice and offered to pay for it down as it was shading his house, we agreed, he hired a tree company to take down a massive maple. The conpany never once asked who owned the tree and just did the job. Now we were all OK but my thought was like 'damn that could have been bad for the tree guys"
Holy crap that's serious. Tree law is no joke, in my area a 80 year old red maple is worth 64k We had some Amish folks log the back half of our farmland. Found out a month later, ended up being awarded 2.7 Million. We never saw 10% sadly. Got lumber for the next decade though.
@@FeedMeSalt I've talked to people before who were very suprised at the value of trees, in general they make the assumption that its valued based on lumber. If it is then yes a tree doesn't have much value, but if its calculated on replacement cost. Its a serious logistical nightmare to get an 80 year old tree of a particular type, clear out the land for its root system and transport the whole thing and plant it.
That gives me the Spooks I have a super old oak tree in my backyard that is quite literally bigger than my house. It would probably take five people to wrap arms around the trunk. The limbs sort of hang over into the neighbor's field... I don't think he is bothered by it or anything, at least he has never said anything about it, but it increases my pucker factor just a little bit 😅
If the company was dotting their I's and crossing their trees, they would have had paperwork on it. If your neighbor told them to cut it down and signed off on it presumably at least a portion of the liability would have been on them if they screwed up. My brother's neighbor actually offered to pay to cut down a tree on his property. My brother was okay with it in principle, but the lot is really narrow and he has a septic field. The only condition he set was that the tree guy check with him before he did it. The tree guy showed up, my brother showed him where the septic field was and the tree guy backed out. No good way to get in and do it. The town has plans to expand the sewer line in the fairly near future, and at that point my brother will probably get the tree dealt with. It's an old willow that has some health problems. Willows aren't the sorts of trees that outlive the houses they are near very often.
Years ago surgeons would very rarely perform an operation on the wrong limb (right vs left) or even the wrong patient due to an error somewhere along the line. They instituted a “time-out” procedure that makes everyone in the O.R. stop right before the surgery begins, read out loud the patient’s name, surgery to be performed, etc to confirm everything is correct. If there is any conflicting information the details are investigated before things proceed. An extremely simple address verification procedure could be performed before demolition or serving a warrant to reduce the chances of this kind of thing.
I was in the hospital for oral surgery shortly after news broke that a man with cancer had the wrong testicle removed by his doctor. So, before my surgery, a nurse came to my room, told me they had just instituted a new procedure and asked me if I would mind if she wrote on me. I told her to go ahead and she wrote "this side" on my face with a Sharpie pen.
@@robertawalsh2995 i had several surgeries. They always indicated the limb or area with marker and and used big red WRONG on the other side. For kindey surgery they marked front and back even though they went in through the penis.
I've needed several procedures done in recent times. It's now routine that they ask for your full name and date of birth as well as asking exactly what you're there for, right after bringing you into the surgery and before doing anything else.
Destruction of property should require at least full restitution. If that means the company is paying for a new home to be built there, of at least equal value to the one torn down, then so be it. Preferably I'd stick on a nice big pile of punitive damages as well.
There’s so many weird things about this story. First of all, if you’re gonna demolish a house in the United States you have to get an EPA permit. This is necessary because houses may contain lead paint, asbestos or some other hazardous material. If so, demolition has to be done in a way to avoid contamination. If not, the permit will clearly state that fact. Around here, if a property is going to be demolished, there’s a big red sign that’s either fastened to the property or put on a post in front of the property. If someone comes in to demolish and doesn’t see that sign, it’s time to double check the address. Then there’s the matter of utilities. They have to be disconnected and locator services have to trace out the gas line and anything else that might be an issue during demolition. If you don’t see those lines, it’s time to double check the address. The attitude of the crew is suspicious and I noticed that the supervisor didn’t let anyone see the permit. Just stopping and leaving is not the thing to do if you just accidentally knocked down a house if you are running a reputable business. This definitely seems fishy to me.
well it's in atlanta georgia. there are likely a bunch of fly by night contractors there . like steve said she better hope they have insurance and enough coverage. the insurance will also lowball the value . and hiring lawyers costs money . unless there is insurance to go after no lawyer will do this without a retainer up front.
Not true. I am a demolition contractor in California and none of that is required here. Rules are made by the individual city or county. There are some that give a permit over the counter no waiting at all. Only one I know of even asks for confirmation from the property owner. The epa has nothing to do with it. The local air resources board might ask for testing but usually only on commercial or multi family units. I have done many houses where they let me tear down the house with the gas still intact. Just move everything away from the pipe and cover it up to protect it. It takes the gas company 4 months to remove the pipe back to the main and if the new house is in the same place they just leave it. Your area might be different but your statement appeared to cover the whole country.
The other day one of my wife's friends baked some cupcakes for a baby shower they're attending. I had to go pick up the cupcakes from her friend's house. The first time I've ever visited her home. Before I got out of my truck and knocked on the door, I pulled out my phone to double check I had the right address. My brain can't comprehend this level of incompetence.
Companies shouldn’t be able to “pull the plug” in this instance. This is terrible whether or not they planned to live there. The demolishing company should be fined heavily enough for the woman to afford a similar house +
There absolutely needs to be exceptions made for corporations, LLCs, etc in the event of gross/criminal negligence. Ownership, executives, and board members must be held personally responsible for the financial costs associated with an event like this. Exempt gross/criminal negligence from the normal business protections and you'll see all kinds of crap quit happening!
In Germany the equivivalent of an LLC has a set ammount of money they have to hand over to the bank for teh very notion of liability, they also have to show they are insured, if not they can instantly be shut down if the bureaucrat finds their attitude bad enough in ragards to their duties. Alos in case of gross negligence, they may go after the person messing up, in this case the foreman of the workside I guess.
It’s obvious the company is civilly liable for tearing down the house, but could they also be criminally liable. I’d imagine that destroying someone’s property is a crime. If I caught someone tearing down my property, I’m not letting them pack up their stuff and leave. I’m calling the cops on them. Also, I’d imagine the company also faces fines from the city for tearing the house down without a permit. Maybe the homeowner can go after their license, if they have one.
Not based on the facts here, when Steve says, "Oh, we're at the wrong address" that makes it negligent not intentional. Now is that 100% dispositive? No, of course not, that's before any discovery or investigation and just based on news stories. Also I would also be reluctant to go after their license because you are then undermining the source of income for the entity liable for the judgment though I would hope there is also an insurance company around.
On a much smaller scale a few weeks ago I cut the wrong yard in my lawn care business. I’m convinced that the owners watched as I did this and waited until I was done to say something. Oh well. No harm no foul. A cheap way to learn a lesson.
For starters, I don't know how anyone could be in the demolition business without being a "Bonded" contractor. Especially, a contractor working outside their home state. They would have had to obtain a permit to tear down the house and they would've had to show proof of bonding to get that permit. So the funds should be available to cover this "mistake?". Here's the rub though. If she does not file suit against the company ASAP, they could quickly close the business, their bond could be returned to them, since there were no claims against it, and walk away scot-free! They would then be free to setup business in another state.
A permit to demolish or even partial demolition in prep for an addition is not required in many areas of the country. I have had to get a permit to remove a pool and fill hole while a quarter mile down the road in a different township built a duplex and not a single permit was required just had to ask County Health department come look that the septic leach field was far enough from existing water well.
Bonds are a joke. Not sure about Georgia, but in Washington the bond is $12,000 and is available to anyone who has a legitimate claim. This means the most you could get is $12,000 assuming there were no other pending claims. If there are then the bond is split among the claimants. It most cases the bond wouldn’t even cover a retainer to hire a lawyer.
Criminal trespassing, criminal damage to property. Gross negligence. Wonder what the assessed value of the house was, as per the Fulton County Tax Assessor's office. My guess is the company does not have liability insurance, and may not have even a business licence with the city..
My in-laws had a neighbor who wanted to take a tree down for years. The problem - it was on their property, not his. My in-laws go on vacation and my neighbor "accidentally" forgot whose side of the property line the tree was on. My in-laws come back home to find only the stump left behind. Apologies all around, but no tree was replaced. Some "accidents" are more accidental than others.
they could have sued and he would have been forced to replace the tree with an equivalent tree And uprooting and replanting a FULLY GROWN tree is no joke
@@drthmik My in-laws were far too nice and polite for that. I would have. Just on general principle. To me, it wasn't about the tree, it was the violation. That they thought they could get away with the violation simply because my in-laws were temporarily not there. People like that really need to get educated on the consequences of violating other people.
@@jdlech by "Nice and polite" you mean that they were doormats that let him walk all over them and didn't defend themselves or their property And the best way to educate the guy would have been to make him pay for his crime since people who get away with a crime once are more likely to do it again
Just like the cops that escorted the locksmith to the wrong house and started drilling the locks due to a foreclosure. The lady caught them on her doorbell camera and said, "WTF?" The correct house was next door.
Sometimes when there is a vacant house within a family, it’s easier to leave it vacant rather than renting it out. After my grandfather passed away, we had a family friend live in the place as a care taker for no rent. BUT, when we went to sell it later the IRS claimed it as a rental even though we didn’t collect any fees. So, it kicked us in some nasty tax brackets and had to re-apply the proceeds to another rental property or make a generous donation to Uncle SAM.
In Italy we have a legal cathegory: "comodato d'uso gratuito" "free use" wich is a contract where you allow someone to use your property for free, and of course it doesn't raise your income taxes, since you don't get any rent money. I'm quite sure that there's something similar in the US legal system, wich is what you should have done. You're lucky that the IRS didn't think you were tryng to evade taxes by not registering a rental.
@@MM12684 Exactly. We are only renting our land and the ultimate owner is the US Govt. Not to mention the number of times they are allowed to tax $1 of our money is outrageous. We are living in an illusion of Ownership and Freedom. It really doesn't exist.
We are considering forming an investigative committee to determine whether a committee is the proper course for examining a potential remedyto the situation we may or may not have caused.
No no no. First you need a requirements study to identify trends in how others have set requirements for the requirements. And once that study is complete, you do another study to evaluate the results of the study and identify potential similarities between prior results and possible outcomes. The results from that study will need to be studied and examined before any determination is made about proceeding with any next steps.
Found the article Steve mentioned, had the name of the company with a link, website shows their name, number and logo, with a 'coming soon' message. Did a search of the company name, looks like they had been in business for 30 years.
That very same thing happened to a company that I worked for. The demolition operator couldn’t read or write tore down the wrong house. They just finished hauling the debris away as the owner returned from work. That was expensive.
@@ThatOpalGuy City of San Antonio Texas demolished an old woman's fire damaged home without her knowing about it and filed a lien on the property to pay for demolition.
Something like this should be where you do multiple checks to ensure you have the right address. And there are many ways to check, compare the actual street signs with the paper work, Google Maps GPS location, etc.. This could of been a major issue if this was a lived home with all the utilities still connected and flowing. Broken gas lines and sparks from electrical would of caused a big explosion.
Old houses in the Lakewood area are now worth $500,000 and up for nothing houses built in the 40s and 50s. I grew up not far from there and live fairly close even now. Her little pile of rubble was probably worth a small fortune. I hope you do an update.
Crooked police department and other kinds of crooked government officials are known to pull phony "mistake" conduct. Whether an otherwise illegal search is conducted, or something like this, a government connection should be explored. My instincts tell me someone in government wants this property and knows they can get it WAY cheaper as raw land, so they arranged for this "mistake".
I do not think this "land" will become cheaper. If we go down that road: Having a piece of land with a family owned house, that is emotional. Take down the house, compensate for the nominal house value and the land comes on the market, because it is land without any use or emotional connection. So, maybe it was about getting the property on the market in the first place and the price even being secondary?
@frankhoffman3566• this is a known tactic of crooked people in official positions that want to steal property. This is also the very same tactic known as Imminent Domain deprivation as a big oopes.. and we are protected by qualified immunity.
@@unoriginalname4321 ... Very true. Neither private nor government are a higher form of life. I base my analysis on the permits required to demolish a house and what promises might be made to the demolition company. Essentially, a private company would more likely do this if it were acting under color of law.
We had a land developer in Memphis, TN that was going around burning down houses so he could buy the land at bottom dollar. He finally got caught because my family was working on closing on a home when he burned it to the ground.
@@r1nc3w1nd7 The Banks that owned the land sued him. He filed for bankruptcy, dissolved his company and started a new company doing the same thing. We would see him around driving a BMW from time to time. I heard he filed for bankruptcy again and started a new company again later. He died in the 1990s.
The house on a hill we were trying to buy he bulldozed that hill and used the dirt to level the land he was developing. With the hill gone it got rezoned to commercial is a strip mall now.
somebody is going to get a new house. a plumber friend one day went to right address but wrong street for a tub drain leak, no one was home so he went around back and in thru a window, filled the tub no leak, checked everything no leaks so he left the house and the tub he left full of water to "show" the people it was ok. bet they were surprised when they came home.
The owners of that company would be wise to work with the woman while she's still asking. An apology and cleaning up the site is nothing compared to what they're going to face if she sues. Any court will almost certainly award substantial punitive costs for the pure negligence and lack of remorse displayed on top of the value of the house and the costs of removing the debris.
Yes, in the other story you were referencing in ATL, the guy's home was demolished. The city sent warning letters to Lawton Ave while the guy's address was on Lawton Street, in a completely different zip code. Atlanta is one of the worst in the country when it comes to street names like that. There are 71 roads in Atlanta named Peachtree.
Check the Address can be used with every facet of life when interacting with a property. The police have raided, searched, and seized at the wrong address. They have also during raids over the years killed innocent people because they did not check the address. Banks have seized properties that have not belonged to them and had all the belonging hauled away. Check the address is getting a little old, Steve Lehto. How about at some point we say stop being stupid, dumb, irresponsible. Toughen up the penalties especially when its government because they keep saying that they are qualified to do what they are doing. Add a test to see if they can read addresses. This problem keeps coming up.
I don’t know why this isn’t criminal house breaking. You don’t have to have a criminal motive. Maybe because nobody was in residence there? They literally broke the door down. I once made a complaint against a cop who came up to my door and twisted the door knob. The police department who had been ignoring me for years finally took this seriously. All of their ridiculous BS stopped after that. House breaking is no joke, even in a PD that is entirely a joke.
"We're working to investigate the issue" = "We f**ked up and are going to delay this as long as possible, so we can come up with a game plan and try to place blame elsewhere so we don't have to fork out any $$$."
7:17 in a case like this, you can ask the judge to pierce the corporate veil. (You go after the company’s officers and shareholders) The concept of limited responsibility cannot be used as a protection for criminal activity.
Only if there's been comingling of assets. If the owner properly kept their personal finances and the finances of the business completely separate, only drew a paycheck as outlined in the bylaws of the company, and didn't do anything that would make them personally liable for the company's mistake, then they are protected. It won't save them from losing every penny that they put into the business along with any collateral the banks required for the loans, but it will stop them from having their savings accounts raided
I happen to agree with the owners attitude. I, too, would want an apology... then get the company to fix the mistake. The apology goes a long way in how negotiations are carried out. No apology? Sue them till they are on their butts in the street. 😠
@@JMelissaMc So, in your world, the value is based on what? You have no clue. Steve mentioned they kept the property in good shape. But you think it's OK to just rip it down and that's the end of it? Wow. I hope it happens to you so we can all claim it's OK because we think it's of no value. 😂😂😂
Should be able to hold the individual accountable that demolished it otherwise you could just go around demolishing houses and hide behind the corporate shield.
Oh, yeah, it’s easily destruction of property, theft, vandalism, and a bunch of others where recklessness or negligence will fit the criminal intent…. Plus all the civil penalties.
How do you have it backwards like that? How much money do you think the _workers_ have? How much does hte company have? Who is more able to pay the damages?
@@christopherg2347 it is possible that if the margins are too tight nobody can pay. Nothing wrong with going after the person who actually screwed up as well as any potentially deep pockets upstream. As Steve often says you can always sue the tort feasor. I’d go after criminal penalties for the peon too because you might not get civil damages if everyone goes bankrupt. For moneybags upstream, if he gets out of both civil and criminal penalties, there’s always extrajudicial remedies.
I had a relative that created a construction company. At some point he stopped paying the insurance because he thought it was too expensive. He ended up losing everything (his own home included) when one of his employees hit a gas line and blow up a house.
a few years ago we had a construction company here doing repairs on the apartments. One of their jobs was to re-level the buildings. The way they decided to do this had me scratching my head. They would raise each section 6+ inches at a time which cracked the walls and separated the roof in spots. As I ran around telling people this was not the right way to do this, they would look at me and say "they must know what they are doing". 5 years later management is still fixing the walls as the company is out of business.
I came home about an hour ago to a delivery of gutters unloaded on my footpath. I'm not replacing the gutter on my house. The invoice had my address on it. Thankfully the truck was still here and the driver sorted it out and undelivered the gutters.
The owner of the "right" property already gave the company the correct address. We know that because the idiot worker pulled out the permit and finally realized he was at the wrong address.
Just specifically HOW would the owner of the “right” property be responsible for the demolition company tearing down the wrong house? They gave the demolition company the correct address and they went somewhere else and tore down somebody else’s house. It’s not the original customer’s fault in any shape, form, or fashion.
@@anonymousnearseattle2788 "The owner of the "right" property already gave the company the correct address." Where did he say that in the video? To paraphrase NEO, You still haven't answered @georgeadams1853 's question.
@@platinumfalconm3891 @anonymousnearseattle2788 3 hours ago The owner of the "right" property already gave the company the correct address. We know that because the idiot worker pulled out the permit and finally realized he was at the wrong address.
Thing like this, with such finality, like cops breaching a house or tearing one down like here etc. Needs to be met with extreme amounts of checks and balances and double checking. NO WAY this sort of thing happens without purpose. Even negligent or incompetence shouldn't have this happen.
I recently saw a video where LAW ENFORCEMENT managed to go to the wrong address, for an eviction, and was drilling out the key locks when the resident opened the door. Cops went oops?!
We had a property owner spend extended time in Europe only to come home and find his house gone. He didn't care about the house but he said he had a marble collection worth $30,000 in that building and he wanted $30,000 to buy a new marble collection. In that day the house was probably worth $30,000 in good repair. His house was in very bad repair.
IMO, not only is the house valuable, but depending on the furnishings like a cast iron bath tub from the 1900s is an expensive item to replace IF one can be found. That raises the price of the house significantly. I have seen this done in the 1990s in Norfolk VA while at ODU. A boarded up house, but immaculate interior, was demolished within one day of a claim filed on the property in a (sleazy) realtor land grab. Note, the claim was filed, but not adjudicated.
What was the outcome of the incident? From your telling of the story it seems as though there may have been criminal intention whereas in the story we just heard it was a case of stupidity. Different laws would apply to each case.
I once worked with a builder who built a house on the wrong block! 😅 Fortunately it was a newly developed estate and the block he built on had not been sold. Some sweet talking with all parties sorted it out sensibly and no one lost out! Could have been expensive though!
Get the house plan from the county along with all the permits registered over the years. Get in front of a judge and sue the company to return the property to its original based on the plans and permits. And wait for them to make a counter offer. Bear in mind that the price of a 30 year old home is WAY LESS than the cost to build an identical home today.
Replacement value is what you are owned in situations like this. The full amount of money it costs to replace the house with similar square footage and amenities. There aren't really valid used construction materials, so at best the only corner cut is used appliances. The house is going to be brand new because there is no other way to do it. It will have to follow today's code, there is no way around that. All fees to build, file paperwork, any professionals involved, etc. It all has to be paid for in order to replace the house. The homeowner does not have to pay a dime to fix this, he is entitled to every penny it costs to rebuild and move into a similar sized home. Of course, if the contractor is fly by night, it may be impossible to get paid, that said, a customer paid these guys to do this, so that is another party to add to any pursuit of recovering these damages. The customer hiring people with no insurance for mistakes was a bad choice.
@@MonkeyJedi99: What the property owner is owed should be at least 3 X the value of the destroyed house. PS: That's above, and beyond the fines, and court "costs"!
The company is obviously not reputable and she should immediately sue them. If they were reputable they would have been falling over themselves to apologize and try to make amends. Since they are not it is pretty obvious they are not going to do anything that they are not forced to do.
This must be criminal. It is insane that police call something like this civil. This is willful ignorance or pure negligence. Either way, its deliberate and someone should be sitting in jail with court ordered restitution.
The biggest problem with Atlanta, is that it's not just one city, it's a bunch of cities pushed together. And every city has 5-6 versions of the peachtree name. So you have to KNOW with town/city YOUR peachtree is in, and the exact street name (I.E. Blvd, St, Ave, whatever).
I saw this one a few days ago. THIS IS INSANE!! 😮😱🤯 The company is going to be found liable for this and a bunch of other fines. I suspect that the company has a WHOLE HOST of other violations and problems. 🤬🤦
“I hope this company has insurance.” Not for long. No insurance company is ever going to touch these guys with a 10 foot pole again. “Oops. Wrong address” will not go down well with anyone.
I knew of a painting contractor that had men go to a house told the people that they were there to paint the house person said okay let him do it because the foreman wasn't paying attention and didn't make sure they knew where they were going they painted the wrong house and the guy say thank you he got his house painters for nothing because somebody didn't pay attention
Looks like the company that came and destroyed it doesn't even have a proper website up right now, maybe because of everyone seeing the articles, but from my search, their about me sections shows they've been in business for over 30 years. So, you'd hope they would at least have insurance and will own up to their mistake.
I used to be a window and siding installer. I have known many a contractor that have put siding on the wrong house. I had a fellow contractor actually show up and start working on a house and the home owner came out and thanked them and then paid them for doing it. He said he was going to have it done and just hadn't gotten around to it. I will say he got it done for cost. Most wernt so lucky
I guess she gets a new house now ? The bond should cover it . We had painters show up to our house and start prepping it for a paint job I stopped them before it got to be a problem. We also had a green house on the end of the street just as the other people who paid for a paint job.
Good question It had JUST been repainted a few months before and the first thing I thought is that the men were there to fix some thin spots on the eves that the old color was showing thru The new paint job had a warranty that I did not want to void. And we lived in Ventura where there are plenty of smells from the orange groves and lemon groves with their poisons and frankly we did not want more smells and being silent when other people are spending their money by mistake would be an unkind thing to do. But we were asked by our neighbors "why not take the free paint job"? @@hxhdfjifzirstc894
I was in Atlanta back in the 90's, and was following directions to go somewhere. We came to a 5 way intersection where every single street was Peachtree.
I don't buy it -- this sounds like the kind of "accident" that happens when someone has designs on a property that isn't for sale or has an axe to grind with the owner. I think as soon as litigation starts, she's going to find that the "demolition company" is a shell corporation with rented equipment, pseudonymous employees, and zero assets.
I had some roadside assistance gig dork come to my apartment complex and break into my car because someone driving the same color make & model (different year and trim level ) called for a lockout assistance .. they didn't contact their customer on site or confirm any further info such as license plate, i just heard my alarm going off and saw this dude outside standing by my open car door. Imagine how you might react in that situation... yall need to focus on your work; measure twice and cut once
So wait can the owner of the company just close down the company, liquidate the assets, start up a new ltd company under a different name, hire all the same staff and now you cannot sue them because it isnt the same company?
That's exactly what all the construction companies down here in Florida do after building a bunch of shoddy houses that don't survive the next hurricane.
Liquidating the assets won't do anything, because the proceeds from that sale have to stay with the company until the bankruptcy is resolved -- if they sell everything and transfer the proceeds to their personal accounts, they've commingled assets and made their personal assets potential targets of the lawsuit.
@@theheresiarch3740But how well would a WELL-built house survive a hurricane with, say, 120 mph winds? Or do most Florida hurricanes have that kind of strength? Asking because I don't live in hurricane country. . .
When I moved into an apartment in Palo Alto, CA, as a college student, I ordered phone service. Because the previous tenant had service, it should only have involved activating the line at the central office. A recent hire phone tech came out to confirm the activation. No dial tone. After some discussion with his office, he climbed the pole out front and checked all of the "unused" wire pairs. No luck. A supervisor finally came out to troubleshoot, only to find that the central office had activated the wires for the same street address and apartment number, but one town over.
Simple solution. The company is forced to pay for the reconstruction of a home on the property and fork over the tax coverage for the next 50 years. Oh, The company can't afford that kind of judgement? Then maybe they shouldn't have made that kind of mistake. Their company profits are garnished for the indefinite future until the judgement is paid in full with 1.5% yearly interest. Failure or refusal to pay judgement should result in company property being seized to pay the judgement. The lesson I am trying to impart is: Can't afford to fix the damage? Then you can't afford the mistake.
If the owner of the demolition company had any brains he'd get in front of this. Try to make things right. The more you jerk people around the more likely they are to take you to court and get every penny they can.
If I owned a company that did demolitions, I would require the crew to take a geotagged photo of the building address and text it to me before being allowed to proceed. There's no way I'm letting a little dyslexia ruin my business.
Whats even more stupid, most "contractors" who are licensed have too carry a "bond" or insurance but the limits are so stupid low that bond would barely cover a damaged driveway. In the Los Angeles area, contractors bonds are required and the minimum limit I believe is $25,000 ! Just like the state sets stupid low auto insurance liability limits of $15,000 and property damage limits of $5,000 per occurrence. What is the point in having coverage with "minimum" limits that darn low that can't help the damaged party? Most folks who are "poor" are capable of more than that when it comes to protecting their assets. The average low income person likely has assets in excess of $100,000 and for a business to only be required to have enough coverage to plant a front lawn and sprinklers is just plain stupid. Where is this country headed? The headline is "they are legal, they have insurance as required by law" but the policy isn't worth crap.
You saying the average low income individual has asset value of 100,000 dollars. I would think that the average low income individual would be 10,000 or less, and that's only if they get something out of everything they own, but I doubt you'll get much out of used undies, holes and skipmarks included.😮😮
@@keithgregory8982Probably not but I can say they have a lot of personal property that could easily add up to half that much. Regardless if they do or not, the insurance requirements haven't moved since the 1960's for California which when compared to then dollars, $5,000 of coverage in 1965 bought a ton more than it would today.
Ummm.. If I was the owner, I would be talking to a lawyer, and demanding they build me a new home, or give me the money for a new hose.. If the company was insolvent, then I would be going after the individuals that actually tore down my place on a personal level to get my money, AND I would be pressing charges for destruction of private property on top of it..
most police departments call it "vandalism" in this case its extreme.. often in vandalism cases full repairs are required.. if a person smashes the windows out of my house with bricks or slashes my tires.. police charge then with vandalism and the courts usually require full restitution.. new windows.. new tires.. seems reasonable the company could be charged similar and full restitution would be building the house back... I think I mentioned in one of your other videos about this of how demolition was started on an acquaintence's house that had been perfectly maintained (primary residence). damage to handmade cabinetry, vintage appliamces etc .. occured,. the costs were enormous to not the guy in the digger but the hiring company who provided the wrong address,.. apparently the "guy in the digger" didnt verify utilities and stopped when wires started sparking ...
I was a caretaker at an historic home living in a trailer with my friend Jeff. After I moved on the city decided to replace the trailer with a two-bedroom cabin, built by the vocational education guys. So Jeff was away at school and returned to find that some idiot city employees had cut the utilities and simply hooked a big truck up to the trailer and drove it off the blocks... “WHAM!” Literally. Destroyed his stereo and lotof other stuff. There was a payout involved.
