Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Moisture from our neighbor's flower bed, which is located right next to our exterior wall, seeped through the wall into our house floor, and caused mold on the wall area and damaged our antic oriental rug beyond repair. The affected area on the wall and a part of the antic Persian rug were covered by a furniture, so the damage was not discovered until a few days ago. It appears that the moisture damage has been progressing slowly for an extended period of time before the discovery.

Our home insurance company informed us that our insurance has no coverage for damage due to ground water or water from a flower bed.

The property owner of the neighbor told us that they will pay for the costs of stopping the moisture from the flower bed on their side. However, they asked us to pay one half of the costs for repairing the molded inside wall of our home. They also informed us that they will not share any costs for the damaged antic Persian rug. We suggested our neighbor to contact their home insurance company to find out whether their insurance will cover their liability, but they are not willing to do so.

Our neighbor owned their home for about three years. We don't know the exact time when the damage started. The neighbor claims that they are not fully responsible for the damage because the damage might have started before they owned the house.

Our questions are: 1) which party is responsible for the damages including the rug. 2) whether the repair costs should be shared. 3) if shared, to what extent.

We will appreciate an prompt response to our legal question.

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