A Property-Damage Claim: Basis and Architecture
Damage to property — the result of a road accident, fire, water damage, a construction error or another person's careless act — is legally the subject of a tort claim: a person who causes damage to another by an unlawful intentional or negligent act is obliged to compensate that damage. This simple formula requires establishing all three elements: the unlawfulness of the act, fault and damage — and each of them depends on evidence.
The architecture of the claim is as follows: first the fact and scale of the damage are fixed, then the person causing it and the connection of its act with the damage are established, and finally the compensable amount is computed. At every stage documentation — photographic material, expertise, assessment acts, valuations of repair — is the mainstay of the claim.