Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Florida

My upstairs neighbor's apartment's bathtub had a leak problem for 8 years, damaging my bathroom's ceiling. I got the damaged patch of ceiling replaced in 2008. The owner from upstairs refused to accept responsibility saying there was no proof the leak came from her apartment. 3 years later the problem started again. I got proof it was coming from her bathtub. She was slow to accept responsibility until i cent her a certified registered letter on the mail. She came to see the problem. Came over with a plumber. He broke my ceiling to access her tub's plumbing and drain and fixed the problem. However, she denied paying $200 to the handyman that successfully had repaired the ceiling 4 years ago, arguing that she didn't have $200, that if i had them I should pay them. That the plumbing repair had cost her more than she had thought. She insisted on her 70+ year old father in law do the work (all while yelling and screaming nonsense to me over the phone). Stupidly I accepted because her inlaw had just cut my ceiling while i was on the phone with her. Long story short. They did a very sloppy looking job, left stains, goo and dust all over my bathroom. She has come over twice to fix the problems her self. All of this has taken too much of my time and hers. I would like to sue her, but i would have to cough up the repair and court costs myself and it'll take forever to recover. What else could I do?


Asked on 10/17/12, 1:18 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Barry Kaufman The Law Office of Barry W. Kaufman

Not every problem should be addressed in court. This sounds like one of them. If you are at all handy, do it yourself. Write this off as a lesson learned, fix your ceiling and clean up the mess, and call it a day.

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Answered on 10/17/12, 5:12 pm


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