Legal Question in Insurance Law in Texas

I live in Austin, TX. I had a small fire in the metal fire pit in my back yard. The fire lasted less than 30 minutes and was composed only of twigs too small to be bundled. During the fire, I had my garden hose at the ready and at the end of the fire I filled the entire metal fire pit with water. The next day, 18 hours later, I felt the fire pit and the still-wet, sludgy ash with my bare hand and it was not warm. I dumped the sludge into a small hole in my yard that the dog had dug. I scraped the sludge into the pit, again, using my bare hand. It was not warm to the touch.

The next day, I spent the entire morning and early afternoon doing yard work near the sludge and visiting with a friend while our dogs played. There was no smoke, fire or indication of danger. I left the house, a full 48 hours after the fire was extinguished, and two hours later the fire department was called by a neighbor.

When I returned to the house two hours after the fire department was called, the fire inspector was waiting and asked me if there was anything I could think of that could have started a fire. In shock at the damage done to the wooden fence separating my yard from my neighbor's yard and the heat and scorching damage to both of our properties I told him about my small fire in the fire pit more than 48 hours before. He listed the fire as unintentional in the fire report with contributing factors being burning of debris.

My neighbor and I are friends. We rebuilt the fence together and split the costs.

His insurance agent came to my house while we wer fixing the fence and I gave the same answer, in front of my neighbor, as I did to the fire inspector. That I had had a small fire several days before but that it had been extinguished satisfactorily, dumped with no indication of heat and monitored for a full day after that before it could have even re-ignited. My neighbor offered that he, too,was in his back yard all of that morning and early afternoon and did not smell smoke or see any sign that there was danger.

Now the neighbor's insurance company wants me to pay the full amount they paid their client for damages, including their deductible, based on their claim that my negligence was the proximate cause of the fire. They sent their claim directly to a collection agency.

I would dispute that my actions, extinguishing the fire with water, dumping the resulting sludge a day later using my bare hands, and being in close proximity to the dump site for a full day after that would not be cause for a "reasonably prudent person acting under similar circumstances" to think that further action would be required in order to prevent the fire re-igniting. What is my best course of action?

Obviously, because of my good relationship with my neighbor, I don't want to drag them into this. However, the insurance company's itemized list of the claimed items that were paid out to their insured are also in question. Because we built the fence together and purchased the materials and rented tools together, I know how much the fence cost. The day we built the fence we added it up and I paid him for half that day. The amount that the insurance company paid out was more than $300 over the actual cost. This leads me to question the validity of other items on the list, but I don't want to get my neighbor in hot water with their insurance company either! That is a whole other issue.

According to the letter I received from the collections agency, I have until this Wednesday to submit in writing a dispute to their claim of negligence or the debt will be assumed to be good. I'm not sure what kind of information or how much information I should put in such a letter or if I should have it drafted by an attorney.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am a poor, non-profit worker who merely rents space in this house and had lapsed renter's insurance at the time of the fire. (THAT situation has, thankfully, been rectified.) Even though the full amount is just over $6,000.00 it would be a tremendous financial hardship to me.

1 Answer from Attorneys

Related Questions & Answers

More Insurance Law questions and answers in Texas

Looking for something else?