Posted on 04/28/2022 6:02:48 AM PDT by billorites
A Kingston, Massachusetts, family was awarded nearly $5 million after golf balls caused thousands in damages to their home.
The Tenczar family has lived near fairway 15 on the golf course located on the Indian Pond Country Club since 2017.
Their attorney says it didn't take long for golf balls to wreak havoc on the house.
"There's 26 windows that need to be replaced," Tenczar family attorney Robert Galvin said. "The entire siding of the home has to be replaced. There are portions of the deck that were damaged that need to be fixed."
In the four years of living there, Galvin says nearly 700 golf balls have landed on their property.
"This was so extremely upsetting to them and they were so completely powerless to really fix the problem," Galvin said.
A Plymouth Superior Court judge awarded the family $100,000 in property damage and $3.5 million in emotional distress. Fees and interest bring the total awarded to nearly $5 million.
"The problem had to be fixed from the golf course side," Galvin said.
NewsCenter 5 contacted the attorney representing the owner of the golf course, and he said part of the risk of living on a golf course is the potential for damage by golf balls. He also said the course has insurance to cover damages, like what's seen at the Tenczar's house.
The Tenczars' attorney says they declined that action saying they were looking for ways to prevent such a large number of golf balls from entering their property.
The owner of the golf course does plan to appeal the decision.
In the meantime, Indian Pond Country Club has temporarily changed the hole the Tenczar family lives near from a par-4 to a par-3 while working to find a positioning that will not lead to as many golf balls hitting their home.
If the golf course owner loses the appeal, they will have to pay the Tenczar family damages.
When asked why the family does not move out of the home to avoid the potential for damages, their attorney says, "it would be impossible to sell the house with that type of situation. The problem had to be solved."
Did they have to wear helmets?
I guess the golfers skate on this. I once hit a ball onto an adjacent road and winced while watching it safely hit the road instead of a car.
Have they no nets?
We have golf oriented subdivisions all over Florida that have NETS put up just for these things.................
The club should build a huge orange net infront of the house so balls don’t hit the house AND hurts their property value of these clowns
The club should build a huge orange net infront of the house so balls don’t hit the house AND hurts their property value of these clowns
We have golf nets that are near invisible.
This should never have gotten to court....................
I was always told that if you live on a golf course, you assume the risk and responsibility for any ball that hits your property.
This used to be a big problem in Ohio too. But I finally stopped golfing several years ago.
I say this because I lived in MA for decades and private properties usually have tall poles with netting as a barrier between them and the golf course.
You see it all the time.
When you buy a house on a golf course, golf balls are going to hit your property. Unless this course was built after the house was built, this case should’ve been thrown out IMO. I’m sure there are other homes that get hit in this same neighborhood. Wonder what they’ll do now that this is public knowledge?
They bought a house on golf course. Kinda obvious that the house may be hit by a golf ball sometimes. The people should not receive a dime.
It is the same as buying a house near an airport.
Read an article about this and the homeowners investigated putting up a net but we’re told based on where the tee box was (elevated) there was no way to put a high enough net to provide enough protection.
Beautiful!
“Fore”
I used to do some contract work for a poultry farm. It was a family farm that was started in the early 1900’s way out in the country. Now if you have ever had the opportunity to experience the aroma of chicken manure, you know that it has a special kind of foul odor (pun most definitely intended). Well, over the years, this ‘country’ became the new upscale suburb. People moved in, built high end houses, and got the local authorities to make the chicken farm build special processing tanks to alleviate the smell. I always thought that was not right. But there you go.
“I didn’t read the whole article so I’m just curious.”
It’s in the article.
If you get hit by a golf ball, you might wake up and find yourself in bed next to Suzanne Pleshette, lol.
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