Texas Property Damage Legal Questions

Without knowing what caused the fire, it is going to be very difficult to identify someone who may be legally responsible for any damage.  The fire might have been caused by the negligence of the mechanic; but then again, it might not have.  It might have been caused by a defective condition of the 18 wheeler.  It might have been caused by vandals.  It might have been caused by some dangerous condition at the storage yard.  It might have been caused by a third party visiting the storage yard where it was parked.  One bad thing about fires is they often--but not always--destroy whatever evidence may exist as to what caused the fire in the first.A business owner, like the mechanic, is not an insurer of your property.  That's why you should have gotten an insurance policy before taking possession of the 18 wheeler.  Ordinarily, a buyer would do this with his insurance agent at the seller's place of business.  You must have insurance in force to complete the registration of your new 18 wheeler.Most insurance companies offer a grave period from one week to one month if you replace a covered vehicle with a newly purchased vehicle.  But more than one month has passed since the fire, so that's unlikely to help you in this scenario.Before wasting the money to hire an attorney, you need to conduct a thorough investigation into what caused the fire that caused your truck to burn down.  A decent fire investigator can cost $15,00-25,000, but there is no guarantee that one will be able to determine the cause, especially this long after the fire occurred.... Read More

In Texas, our justice of the peace courts have jurisdiction over small claims where the amount of money being sought is $20,000 or less.  Because paying an attorney to file and prosecute a lawsuit almost always costs more than that, your best course of action in this case is to obtain a repair estimate for your spoiler (which I'm guessing will be less than $20,000), and then file a small claim lawsuit in justice of the peace court against the car wash company or car wash owner.  You may also want to ask for the cost of a rental car for the time period your car will be in the shop for the spolier to be fixed.... Read More