Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
Serious Neighbor Harassment
I have been the victim of neighbor
harassment for almost 5 years now.
The harassment has reached
epidemic proportions now that my
neighbor has built a wall blocking my
ingress and egress from my garage.
It's on his property, but I cannot get
out of my garage safely and easily. I
cannot get any help from the City of
LA. Should I sue him for
harassment, etc?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Serious Neighbor Harassment
If you need to access part of his property to get in and out of your property, you may need to file what is known as an action to quiet title to a prescriptive easement.
I would suggest you contact an attorney to evaluate the situation, as a simple restraining order prohibiting harassment will not solve your problem.
Very truly yours,
Re: Serious Neighbor Harassment
I agree with the previous answer; suits for harassment don't produce much finality and any money damages you might get would be pretty small in relation to the costs of suit. An action for prescriptive easement has merit as to the garage access problem. However, there seem to be deeper problems here and an attorney looking at your question has to wonder what the neighbor's position is on this - does the neighbor have an equally-convincing argument that he or she has been harassed or victimized by you?
The bottom line is that giving really useful advice necessarily depends upon evaluating both parties' claims and positions, then giving advice based upon what a judge or jury would probably think after hearing both sides. You may indeed be 100% in the right, but proper advice requires knowing the roots of the problem.