Neighbour taking friend to court

[Clappingforjoy]

My friend had a fire in his garden last April and it caused damage to some neighbouring gardens especially the one neighbour. My friend didn't and still doesnt know how it started so that remains a mystery and the fire brigade could only say that it started in our garden but they didnt know how.
Now several months later we have been made aware that the neighbour that suffered the most damage is taking him to court and is getting all the others on his side and got witness statements off them and gave them to his solicitor to say my friend was burning rubbish the day before he denies this and says the only thing he did was get a weed burner out from his shed st the side of the house and take it to the front garden to burn weeds then he put it back ensuring it was out.
After this he went out and on arriving home abt an hour later the fire had already started way at the bottom of the garden far from the side shed.
His son was there and had noticed the fire from his bedroom window and had already called the fire brigade.
All neighbours have since few months ago had all repairs done so I can only think they are claiming for thier excess.
What should he do friend is dismissing saying he is totally innocent and despite the fact he has a burner he hadnt used it for several weeks but claims he has smelt burning before from somebody else's garden in the past and there is no proof of anything except probably some made up statements from neighbours trying to get money.

You need to pay up! The fire started in your garden and damaged their property. It doesn’t matter how it started but you reallly have no defence and it will cost you more if you don’t pay now.

I have a gas powered weed burner (from Lidl). It's brilliant, I do the weeds growing between the paving slabs at the front. The only way the week burner could set fire to something is if it were put away while left on and I'm pretty sure your ex would notice that immediately.

However, I do know that fires can travel underground prodigious distances and if there is a way through from your front garden to your back garden then it's perfectly possible for the fire to have travelled, unlikely as that seems.

OTOH maybe someone else was using a burner of some sort which went underground and came up in your garden. Perhaps the fire actually came from a huge magma lake which found a teeny tiny way up through the Crust to your back garden.

Would that count as an Act of God?

Your friend your neighbour, not your problem keep out if it.

When it's in the court, both sides will be free to provide the details (hopefully previously put into correspondence) and the magistrate will decide where the blame is

OP isn’t up for criminal prosecution in a magistrates court!!

I believe a UK garden weed burner is a hand-held device that you hold over weeds(still growing in the ground) to burn them. I do not believe it is a container that you burn weeds inside of. I could be wrong as I live in another country.

Does he have a compost heap? These need turning over or can ignite.

www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/threads/my-compost-heap-just-caught-fire.48811/

Your 'friend' (who is totally not you) clearly started this fire and should pay up.

Our neighbour had a fire that was due to a faulty tumble dryer last year. He had rented his home out. He’s not happy. The fire literally devasted the whole house. His children (teenagers) had to be rescued by our other neighbour. It caused untold damage.

The insurance are sorting it though. The house is still not liveable. It’s been over a year now.

The court will decide. His insurance is there for a reason

Unless he didn’t have insurance?

He shouldn’t be lose everything finically because of this.

You're gonna have to accept liability and pay up! Now things have gone to court it will all cost you more, as well. We can all see through the story and we're not surprised that everyone else can too! Why do people even try with this sort of thing.

Is your ex called Edgar?

It's all coincidental, but unfortunately it looks to me like, if firemen state in writing, that it did start in a particular garden, that the owner of that garden, regardless of how it happened, pays up, preferably before it goes to court as costs could work out far higher.. if you're not insured, then I would definitely just pay up before it goes to court..if friend is insured, leave it to them to sort it, and pay the excess...

It may well have been an accident, or negligence, or whatever, but as long as your friend informed his insurance company immediately, he's not going to lose everything, OP: the neighbours will be taking his insurance company to court (or their insurers will) - he won't be personally liable for any costs in this scenario.

If, though, he's not informed his insurers, and has refused to make payment, then it's possible that he's personally being taken to court. But as you've said, he's gone through his insurers from the beginning, so this isn't a concern.

This thread is 🦇 💩

@katzenellenbogen Brilliant 😂😂