Legal Question in Administrative Law in Massachusetts

Can I charge someone storage fees?

Hello,

I hope you can help me. I lost my husband to cancer in 2005. He was 34. He had a friend that in 2002 asked if he could ''store'' his camper on our property (which goes on a pickup) for the winter of 2002-03 and then remove it from our property the next spring of 2003.

Well, after asking about twice a year for about 5 yrs now, he has and did not remove what became a deteriorated camper that was too close to my pool and about to fall off the two saw horses it was on.

Finally I had to pay $400.00 to have it removed from my property and in that process the company tore up my perfectly good lawn. Do I have any legal rights to collect on this ''storage''?

Many thanks,

--name removed--


Asked on 8/11/06, 8:48 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
George Davis Law Office of T. George Davis, Jr.

Re: Can I charge someone storage fees?

Unfortunately, I don't see a lot of good options for you collect on this. With respect to the owner of the camper, you agreed to store the camper without charging him. When he eventually abandoned it, you disposed of it. I think that's pretty much the end of the story. I don't see any basis for you to now charge him retroactively, nor do I see a basis for him to claim that you now owe him money because he wants his property back. With respect to the company that tore up your yard, I don't see much recourse against them either, unless you can establish that it was unnecessary and unwarranted to tear up your lawn in order to remove the camper, and that they were negligent in doing so. Furthermore, unless it's a really extreme case and they did a substantial amount of damage, I doubt it's worth the time or effort to pursue.

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Answered on 8/11/06, 7:41 pm


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