The Curious Case of the Trespassing House

On the morning of October 8, the land under the Hillsdale house of Dave and Katei Hendrickson gave way. The collapsing hillside sent the house sliding down into the home of Dr. Yuan Chou and his wife, Siuke Tong.

Both houses were destroyed and others above Terwilliger Boulevard and beneath Burlingame Place were damaged.

Now we learn that what happened that morning wasn’t — appearances to the contrary — a "landslide."

What happened is that the Hendrickson house “trespassed” onto the property of Chou-Tong property.

Moreover, the Chou-Tong house was the victim of a “flying object,” namely the Hendricksons' house.

And the resulting destruction was a “private nuisance” and is subject to a claim called “strict liability.”

You guessed it. The whole sad landslide (or is it "landslide"?) story has created a litigation landslide.

Chou and Tong are suing the Hendricksons, their own insurance company and the insurance company’s agent for a total of $1.7 million.

And yes, you guessed again, the insurance company, Farmers, maintains that the Chou-Tong policy doesn’t cover landslides, which, insists Farmers, is what precisely happened on the morning of Oct. 8.

Oh, and Farmers also insures — and is defending — the Hendericksons. Flying house? Trespassing? Private nuisance?

Tell it to the judge!

You can read Shasta Kearns Moore’s mind-boggling account of the legal back-and-forth here on the Southwest Community Connection’s web site.

Day 11 after the Burlingame-Terwilliger landslide

The devastation caused by the Oct. 8 slide between Burlingame Place and Terwilliger Parkway is sinking in.

The City had the wisdom to step up and stabilize the area instead of shoving the responsibility on to the slide's victims. The beleaguered, displaced families were simply unable to assume that additional burden.

The streets remain closed. Thousands of commuters are being detoured around Terwilliger.

The seven affected families now know that insurance policies don't cover the damage. The losses will be in the millions.

Neighbors have stepped up to help. One of the first things they did was establish a web site that leads to other sites dedicated to helping individual families.

I've taken the photo from the main web site page and posted it here because it graphically puts the names on the losses.

The local press is doing a good job of covering the slide and its aftermath. I'm planning to augment that reporting where needed in the on-line The Hillsdale News.