Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Texas

I was slowly exiting my apartment yesterday. The complex has a security gate and when you are leaving, you get close to it and it sensors to open. Once it was open and clear for me to go, I started to go and got half way through as the gate closed on me hitting the back door passanger side. Now, to me, it seems like the gate just malfunctioned as in the sensor was not working. The gates in our complex are always broken. They always have people working on them and so on. Sometimes they are lef open because they are broken. Anyways, the apt says they are no liable and want me to file an insurance claim. It would go under my collision, so it will impact my claim history and I would have to pay $500. Can I sue them?


Asked on 9/16/09, 1:01 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Mark Dunn Mark D. Dunn

Sue them. Go into Google and type in "small claims court texas" and find out where to file the lawsuit.

The filing fee will be less than $100, and you don't need a lawyer.

You'll need to find out the name of the parent company that owns the complex - it's probably a corporation. That will be your defendant.

You should start NOW documenting your situation: Photographs of your car, photographs of the defective gate (especially if there's a sign on it that says "Careful - this gate frequently malfunctions"), notes about your phone contacts with management (remember to keep records of your contacts).

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Answered on 9/22/09, 12:44 pm


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