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Resolutions To Explore In The Wake Of Flower Garden Damage

21 June 2019

Cassandra Stone

When your neighbor's dog gets loose and digs up your flower garden, you might shrug it off and buy some new flowers to plant. Should such an event happen a second time, you might not be as keen on turning the other cheek. Ideally, you'll be able to resolve this issue person to person, but if it's clear that your neighbor shows little remorse or interest in coming up with a solution, you might want to hire legal representation and arrange some mediation sessions with the other party. Mediation is an effective way to resolve disputes without going to civil court. Your motives for doing so can be twofold — to recuperate the money that you've lost and to teach the neighbor a lesson. Here are some resolutions that you might be satisfied with.

Payment For The Damage

Annual and perennial flowers can be expensive, and if your neighbor's dog has destroyed many of them, you might be out a considerable amount of money. This can especially be the case if you have planted certain pricey shrubs that the dog dug up and that died from their roots being exposed. You'll want to tabulate the cost of everything that has been damaged and share this information with your attorney. You might be satisfied with the neighbor paying you the value of the damage as a way of resolving this matter.

Replacement Of Your Work

There might be a part of you that is highly resentful about wasting your time cleaning up the mess, shopping for flowers, and replanting them — especially if your neighbor's dog has destroyed your garden on multiple occasions. You may wish to pursue a resolution of having the neighbor do this work for you. Such a scenario may be favorable to him or her too, as a way of not having to pay you money. For example, you might buy the flowers and other plants that you want and have the neighbor plant them to your specifications.

Control Of The Animal

You might be satisfied with replacing the flower garden at your expense if you can get the neighbor to agree that something needs to be done to prevent this issue from happening again. For example, you might pitch the idea of the neighbor having a fence installed around his or her property, and suggest that if the neighbor gets this work done, you won't take any further legal action. Your attorney will present these various outcomes to the defendant and his or her attorney and you can collectively work to find a satisfactory outcome.

Reach out to an attorney who offers alternative dispute resolution to learn more.

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