Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Maryland

Re: Vandal Smashes Car Window

Homeowner's policies typically cover the theft or loss of property when it is in a car. There are numerous exceptions to this aspect of coverage generally available under a

homeowner's policy.

However, there are a number of types of homeowner's policies and coverage varies. Without seeing the policy, nothing can be said. There are umbrella policies that may provide coverage under such a claim.

Your problem may be that the car was not situated on the premises and thus the loss is deemed a non-covered event.

Take note that you need not maintain comprehensive automobile coverage to gain the benefit for a loss occassioned by a vandal. Most insurers in Maryland offer scheduled coverage for glass, vandalism and fire and the cost

for this coverage is nominal (e.g., $50 a year). This is not comprehensive coverage but it is coverage for losses caused by certain limited events that are outside of your control (e.g., a stone being thrown and cracking your windshield). Note that

it you procure such coverage, make sure that your automobile policy lists a separate line and that you are billed accordingly for this separate line of coverage. Also ensure that you have the appropriate riders added to the index of your coverage under the overall policy.

Lastly, if the identity of the person(s) who vandalised the property is known and some evidence exists to support this then you should understand that proving this from the police's perspective is different than from a civil lawsuit perspective. The standard of proof is higher for the police and thus

they may be correct in saying that they cannot prove that the individual(s) were indeed the vandals. But this does not mean that you could not prove the individual(s) were the vandals and sustain a judgment to this effect because your standard in a civil trial is lower than the standard that applies to the criminal trial.

Nonetheless, if the vandal(s) are unemployed, or otherwise there is no way for you to reasonably collect for your damages, then the vandal(s) are what is referred to as being "judgment proof". This means to say that you may get a judgment that is worthless because the alleged vandal(s) cannot pay you in any event.

Re: Vandal Smashes Car Window

I don't think either the homeowner's policy or the homeowner's themselves should be responsible for this. You can ask the relatives who hosted the policy to check with their insurance company, but I think it's highly unlikely that they'll cover this, especially since the vehicle wasn't parked on their property when this happened. Certainly the relatives themselves aren't legally responsible for the criminal activities of people over whom they had no control. Had your son kept comprehensive coverage on the vehicle, he'd have a claim, but I assume it's an older vehicle and he didn't want to pay the premium.