Does the Contractor's Insurance pay for it, or does the Homeowner's Insurance have to pay for it ?


100 + year old house was MISTAKENLY torn completely down. Why???? Because the demolition contractor had the last 2 numbers on the house address mixed up. He should have torn the house down , that is down the street.

So a few questions....


1. Which insurance covers it ? If it is the Homeowner's insurance , they are likely to give less than full value for their items, due to depreciation

2. If it is the contractors insurance , would they even cover it, due to pure negligence of the contractor not reading the correct address ?

3. Would the Homeowner be able to sue for specific performance for items destroyed in the demolition?

Contractors pays in the end his mistake you would think.

Home owner is in the drivers seat I’m sure . Will likely gain all he lost plus mental anguish and anything else his lawyer can think of !

Not the homeowners insurance

this ain't good

Contractor is responsible to his ability to pay and anything extra will be on the homeowners insurance.

Poor home owner, can you imagine the sick feeling when you came home. I can't, our lake place burned and it sucks when things that can never be replaced are gone.

I have a feeling that contractor has bad trouble. License trouble as well as getting anybody to sell him any more insurance.

One thing I can guarantee, only winner will be the lawyers.

How can this mistake even happen? The home torn down would have been full of possessions, the power and gas on. Makes no sense too me!

Chris

I would believe this house was also unoccupied and empty, just a guess. I have demo'ed a few in my time and you always do a walk through immediately before starting. If for nothing else, checking for homeless vagrants. I would think anyone capable of getting to work would recognize an occupied house.

https://kluv.radio.com/blogs/miles-in-the-morning/100-year-old-house-in-dallas-wrongly-torn-down

if this is the one it says the house was empty except for a few tools

I knew a drywall contractor in WA several years ago. He sent one of his crews to stock a new house one day and started hanging rock the next day. Three days later they completed the job. HOWEVER.......it was the wrong house.

The one the crew had rocked had no wiring or insulation. Wouldn't you think that would be the first clue that something wasn't quite right?

The contractor ate the costs.

A series of unfortunate events in all cases like this I guess!

Chris

X2

That's the one. It looks like they paid $385,000 for that house in 2019.

Didn't have to cut out for the plug ins or the light switch s.

You would think... Yes

The contractor actually saved money LOL

In this case, the contractor mistakenly tore the wrong house down. That's negligence. It was his responsibility to make sure he had the correct house. If he had a general liability policy, it covers negligent acts for bodily injury and property damage.