Should I persue this claim?

[mindthewall]

NC for this.

A few weeks ago I returned home to find that my front wall had been hit and severely damaged. The wall has a water tap on it and a light. The pillar also has a personalised name tile that was hand made to order Italy and is of sentimental value as a family member ordered it who has since died.

After lots of searching through our and neighbour’s cctv we found the culprit was a delivery driver who smashed into our wall. He pulled up afterwards and obviously sees what he has done but drives off.

We contacted the (very large national) company and after lots of back and forth, providing photos and cctv footage and two quotations for repairs, they have agreed to pay up for the repair to the wall.

They are refusing to pay for the tile as the van didn’t hit it directly, however the builder has told us that it will not be viable to use as it is attached with cement and tile adhesive.

We have gone back to them to explain the situation but they are adamant that they are not liable. Does anyone know where we stand legally? Thank you.

No expert but I would have said they are liable to put it back as it was.
Do you have legal cover on your house insurance? I have used this before now and it is excellent, I make sure it is always included.

As an aside, do you have a picture of the tile?
I know someone who makes this sort of thing (stonemason who also models terracotta and makes tiles) and they may be able to help.
PM me if you like.

I would say yes they are. You cannot reinstate the pillar to its former condition without the tile, and the tile cannot be used as it cannot be removed from the old damaged pillar. Their obligation is to put you back in the same position prior to the accident.
How much is involved?

As I understand it, the tile was fixed to the pillar and cannot be removed from it. Therefore, although not part of the pillar, if the pillar needs replacing then, as a consequence, the tile goes too, even though it was not damaged.

If that’s right then I think it’s unlikely you will persuade the company to compensate you for it and would unlikely find support from a court if you got there. As this is not direct damage but loss as a consequence of direct damage you can’t look at the tile in the same way as the pillar. Therefore question is whether the loss of the tile would be considered a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the accident. That’s a nuanced analysis but, at a high level based on the info you’ve shared, since (1) you wouldn’t necessarily expect a decorative tile to be fixed to a pillar and done so with cement such that it cannot be removed, (2) it isn’t integral to or even part of the structure in any way and (3) its value is essentially sentimental, its unlikely you have a case for the costs of / compensation for the tile.

Did the driver get done for 'hit and run?'

i wonder if the whole tile could be cut out of the cement with a border round it, and the whole chunk used?

How much are you claiming for this tile?

Their job is to say no, and yours is to get things fixed properly. So there's no reason not to argue.
Their argument that only things that the van hit directly makes no sense, as if it just hit a single brick at the bottom, causing the whole wall to collapse, are they going to say the rest is consequential damage so they'll only pay for the bottom brick? It's just they don't like the cost therefore are pushing back as it's their job.

Having said that I think they would not directly pay for sentimental damage, so they would only replace with equivalent.

Personally I would focus on finding a way to get the old tile moved across, if it's just stuck fast, then it's always possible to grind all the material off the back as a last resort. It's a fair bit of hassle and will be extremely messy with the dust, but it would be less likely to damage the tile itself. You might need to get someone to take it off site and do just that job, and get your builder to stick it back in the right place. Even a handyperson could do the grinding carefully if they had a cut off saw with dust suppression.

You are right that there is no downside to pushing back and trying to see if you can get any movement. That’s just a negotiation, although there’s no real leverage (not a customer, for example, where there are commercial drivers).

However you are not correct on the law and they are not just pushing back because they don’t want to pay (although I’m sure it’s also true that they don’t). As I already explained above, as the tile is not damaged nor is it an integral part of the structure it is a claim for consequential loss, unlike the loss of other bricks in a pillar that are a part of the same structure (although if there was damage that could be fixed without replacing the whole thing then you might be obliged to go down that route and mitigate your loss). Whilst consequential loss claims are possible, a decorative tile cemented to that pillar is highly unlikely to be reasonably foreseeable loss. The company are likely on solid legal ground.

Fair enough sorry I hadn't read all the posts I was just incredulous that they said they wouldn't replace it because they hadn't hit it directly!
Hopefully the OP can find someone prepared to either grind the base material off or remove it another way. Perhaps some photos on the DIY section would elicit some suggestions.