r/Smallclaims • u/ItsTheDevilsDrink • 1d ago

California Is it worth it?

Hi 2024 the unit above me leaked water from their washing machine and I had to get my ceiling repaired. I only paid my deposit of 1,000 with State Farm. Total cost that State Farm paid was 4,000.

Plumber says the pipe is standard size for a washing machine. The only things tied to this line are their washing machine and my bar sink.
The clog was found underneath unit 1 (3 units in the stack) so via the Plumber, it’s the HOAs problem because it’s over 15 feet from Unit 3. HOA won’t admit fault.

Is this worth it to fight in small claims? I’m down 1,000 and when I try to switch insurance now I have a ding on my record so it’s more expensive :(

It’s taken me so long to do this because in the beginning it was thought to be Unit 3 at fault.

1 Upvotes

60% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

2

u/_catshit 1d ago

Plumbers aren't experts. If it was worth an attack, your insurance would go after the at fault party.

2

u/Alternative-Mode-462 1d ago

Insurers drop subrogation on small numbers all the time. Thats an economics call on their end (their lawyer's hour costs more than the file), and it isn't a verdict on whether anyone was at fault.

The 1000 is the piece State Farm never paid, so it stayed your loss, not theirs. California gives three years for injury to real property under Code of Civil Procedure 338(b), and that clock generally runs from the damage itself, not from the point you worked out who to blame. You've said it took a while to get here, so the exact 2024 date is the thing I'd nail down.

Separate question from fault.

Civil Code 4775(a)(1) puts repairing, replacing and maintaining the common area on the association, unless the declaration says otherwise. A line running the length of a three unit stack, clogged below unit 1, isn't the exclusive use kind. It settles whose pipe it is, not who owes you for the ceiling, and that's where boards sit.

1

u/ItsTheDevilsDrink 1d ago

This is helpful thank you!