Court overturns $5 million verdict against country club for errant golf balls hitting house
A couple who won a $5 million lawsuit against a country club for errant golf balls hitting their home have had the verdict overturned.
A Massachusetts jury awarded Erik and Athina Tenczar $4.93 million last December, concluding that Indian Pond Country Club was at fault for not protecting the Tenczar’s home from a constant barrage of shots coming from the club’s 15th hole. The house is at the bend of a dogleg hole, with many players hitting the house when trying to cut the corner. The Tenczars claimed their house had been hit over 660 times in a four-year stretch. The country club planted trees near the Tenczar’s home and made minor alterations to the hole but didn’t install protective netting as wished by the Tenczars.
“The continuous threat of golf ball strikes occurring at any time prevents the Tenczars from the use and enjoyment of their property,” which was purchased for $750,000 on April 27, 2017, according to the original complaint.
However the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court earlier this week said the original verdict has been vacated due to a “clear error” from the previous judge. The error prevented the jury from answering a critical question in the case, according to justice Scott Kafker: Whether the country club’s 15th tee boxes and fairway were reasonably operated.
“Errant golf balls are to golf what foul balls and errors are to baseball. They are a natural part of the game,” Kafker wrote. “They demonstrate the difficulty and challenge of the sport even for the very best players. Despite practice, instruction, technological improvements, and even good golf course design and operation—disputed in the instant case—golf shots go awry, as a matter of course.”
The suit has now been sent back to state superior court for a new trial. The couple’s attorney expects a new suit to be filed next month.
Article originally appeared on: GolfDigest.com
These are the types of people that really piss me off. You bought a home on a golf course. Golf courses are known for golfers hitting golf balls. Duh! You thought it would be nice to be around a place that has manicured lawns, nice scenery and everything else that goes with living in, on or around a golf course. Nice, peaceful, occasionally an errant golf ball. But you KNEW when you moved in that the course was there, what it was used for and bought the house anyway. It’s the same as people buying a home under a commercial jet runway approach and complaining about jet noise. If the airport was there first, buyer beware. Same with the golf course. You could have bought a street of so back and not had a single golf ball your entire existence. But, nope, you wanted the view. Well, you got the view, and a few hundred golf balls. Put the fence up yourself if you don’t like balls hitting your backyard. They were there first. Or, here’s an idea, move to a place that doesn’t have a golf course for your backyard.
This is the dumbest post ever..shame on the club, just put up a net and problem solved,,what idiots!
It’s the homeowner’s responsibility to protect their property, buying on a golf course is still no different you knew the risk & still bought there so the homeowners on golf courses are no different than building in a low flood plan or on an oceanfront where snow & ice & high winds will damage your property.
I live on a golf course in NY and this is a really difficult issue. The opinion that says it’s all the homeowners fault is NOT reality
Luckily I live about one block off any hole so in my 15 years here, zero troubles
But, I do have friends that are on a hole and just as this couple, at the bend in a dog leg that’s a magnet for balls.
Sure they knew or should have known the potential for trouble but the golf course is partly culpable as well.
Spend the big bucks and put up netting it truly resign the hole to make the problem go away
Fix the issue the correct/permanent way and make the risk of another multi-million judgement go away.
Which was there first, the golf course or the house? If the golf course was first, buying that house was taking a known risk.
Who built the house, they should have installed the netting at the time!!
I play a course that has houses surrounding many of the holes. There is a sign at that he first tee that states that we are responsible for any damage to a home by an errant shot or words to that effect. Does that sign absolve the golf course from damages as well as the homeowner? Which begs the question, is the golfer now responsible for damages?