A few weeks ago, over Memorial Day wknd, we went to Tahoe. Rented a huge cabin with a bunch of friends and spent the weekend cooking, eating, drinking, and hiking around. It was a great weekend except for one terrible thing that happened. There was a big deck on the house that looked down into the yard of the property. Early on in the weekend, people noticed that the railing was a bit rickety and made sure to keep their kids from getting to close to the edge. Some one might have even commented on how large the gap between where the railing started and the deck. But we had no inkling how big of a problem that would turn out to be. So basically, its the horizontal gap between the bottom of the deck and where the railing starts. I'm not sure if you can tell how wide it is from this picture but that's the gap I'm referring to.
So Sun morning, we've just finished breakfast. We're all kind of scattered around getting ready to go out for the day, but taking our time. Our friends Liisa and Dave had brought their 4 month old absolutely adorable super mellow German Shepherd puppy. She apparently was out on the deck napping. I was downstairs, so didn't see it, but I'm imaging she must have been a bit like Mia when she's napping in the sun, all sprawled out, totally unladylike and totally passed out.
The next thing I know, I hear that she's fallen off the deck! I guess some one heard some whimpering and was wondering about it. Then the neighbor came by and told us one of our dogs was down on the ground. That poor thing hadn't even known what happened! She must have rolled and then wham! woke up 15 ft below. I still get a little teary eyed when I think about it. She couldn't even stand up after it happened.
So then our friends had to find an emergency vet that was open during a holiday weekend (in Carson City about an hour away). They ended up having to drop the dog off because the specialist wasn't in. And then even leave the dog there for a couple of nights because they couldn't perform surgery on her right away. So they had to go home at the end of the weekend, then drive back 3 hrs to pick her up after surgery. They could have found a vet closer to home of course, but that would have entailed taking an injured dog home and then waiting until they could find another vet surgeon who could fit her in. A couple of thousand dollars and a few extra trips back to the Tahoe area later, she seems to be doing well. As upset as I get thinking about it, it could have been a LOT worse. She fell onto this area of the yard that was kind of rocky and uneven. But in the end, she ended up breaking just one "arm." They have her in pins now, but once this is all over, she should recover fully. Which, especially since she's such a young puppy, is a huge relief.
So this is where the litigious part comes in. Liisa sent a very nice letter to the property manager for the property that I had primarily been dealing with asking that he submit their medical costs to his insurance policy. She told me that she didn't even care about the $, just wanted to make sure he was aware of the problem and fixed it. There were a lot of kids around over the weekend, and it could have been any one of them falling through that gap. Not to mention that the whole railing felt a little unstable to begin with. If he had sent her back a polite letter (even if he hadn't reimbursed her), she would have dropped it. Already pointing to a huge difference between me and other people. :)
But actually, he was nasty. His letter was completely unapologetic, and said that her mentioning the insurance policy was "beyond the pale" (which by the way means "outrageous" -- people I've told this story to seem to have not heard this expression before) and he wasn't even going to dignify her email with a response. So now, of course, its ON.
Liisa called the city. They went to go check out the property and it turns out that he's completely in violation of city regulations for how big that gap should be (4 inches -- he was close to 2x that probably). Plus, he doesn't have a permit for a hot tub that's on the deck. They're going to be sending him a letter informing him of these violations. Liisa wants to send him another polite email also; maybe after the city's letter, he'll be more responsive. And I suppose know that's probably the best way to go. But I got my lawyer letter already being composed in my head. Got some great tort liability law to throw in. And I'm dying to let him know that I'm an attorney. In his email to Liisa, he signed his name as an "Esquire." I think its just to scare her off. He's definitely not licensed to practice in California (I checked). And I certainly hadn't seen it in his signature during the whole time I was arranging all the rental details. Dude, he thinks he can play attorney and get away with it?
So basically, I'm just waiting to be let out of the gate. :) I wish the whole thing had never happened, but now that it has, I just want this annoying man to suffer. Is that terrible?
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