Rental insurance coverage for stolen TV.

by Guest » Tue Oct 08, 2013 10:12 am
Guest

My husband had to leave due to deployment in 2012 for 8 months. Before he was deployed, he took a storage unit on rent. The storage unit was full and there was no room left to put our 46 inch TV into that. We kept the TV with one of his colleagues who was also deployed with him at his garage. During their deployment, the colleague claimed that somebody stole the TV along with some of his personal belongings.

Now, he says that he isn’t legally bound to pay for the loss and even his rental insurance does not cover such incidents. How do we make him pay for our loss? What responsibility should he take for the stolen TV? We have rental insurance that would cover the loss of the TV, but then we don't have any proof of police complaint, the colleague says he filed.

Total Comments: 3

Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 01:25 pm Post Subject:

How was he negligent in the theft of your TV? Did he not take reasonable actions to prevent it's theft? Did you have some type of contract that states he would be responsible for it if it were stolen? Your friend doe you a favor and not you want to hold him responsible for something beyond his control?

Why would this "friend" not give you a copy of the police report? Go down to the police or sherrif dept and explain that you either need a copy of the report or need to file a report for your stolen TV.

Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 01:29 pm Post Subject:

As a matter of fact, your husband’s colleague is only liable for ordinary care of your TV and nothing beyond, including other things that he has got in his garage. Being a victim himself, as you’ve mentioned in your post, that his own belongings too got stolen along with your TV, he isn’t liable to pay you for that matter.

However, if you have doubts to what he has to say about the incident, then you can drag him to the small claims court. But then you’ll only receive the used value of the TV as entitlement, provided you are successful in proving your point to the judge, that is, he’s lying. The interesting part is, how are you going to prove that he’s actually lying?

In such a scenario, wouldn’t it be better if you get the police report? Did you verify with the police department about the complaint filed by the colleague? If possible, get a copy of the report. You need to do your part before initiating any kind of lawsuit against that person.

If at a later stage, you find that the colleague did not care to file a police complaint and you need one for your own insurance, you’ll have to file a complaint yourself to get everything on record and to obtain a case number.

Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 09:31 pm Post Subject:

We have rental insurance that would cover the loss of the TV, but then we don't have any proof of police complaint, the colleague says he filed.

As tcope has said, your husband's friend is not liable for your lost TV if he used reasonable care in storing the property. If a police report was filed, you can pay the few dollars for a copy of it. Your renter's insurance might cover the loss.

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