Neighbor from hell - legal advice wanted?

Okay, this is the set-up and is 100% true:


My family and I have moved to our current home in Northern California, and have been living here for about 5 -6 years. There are two palm trees in the front of our home.


Since this time, we have been constantly harassed by one of our next door neighbors. He lives there with his equally hateful wife, and small dog, who likes to use our lawn as its bathroom when it is sick.





We have never done anything to him or his wife since the day we moved into the neighborhood. And yet:





-He has called the police on us twice because of ';excessive noise'; at out *indoor* celebration at nine o'clock on a weeknight.


-He has called the police on us three more times because my father (my parents live with us), parked his car on the side of our driveway, where is it unpaved. We received heftly fines, one of those *twice* in the same day, for the same reason.


-He puts out our garbage/recycling cans onto the street and the next day, I when come home I find them strewn about the sidelawn haphazardly.


-He collects the palm tree leaves that wind blows off and falls into his side of the fence. When we are not home, he drags his big, collected pile out to our driveway and leaves it there, so that when we arrive, we are not able to park.


-If that! Sometimes I'll hear him cursing and then hear a big bang from his throwing them angrily over our fence, and at our house.


-I suspect that it is he who is constantly trying new ways to deflate the tires to my car, causing me to pay hundreds of dollars for new tires that I didn't need.





I feel as if these are all his sneaky way of trying to 'punish' us if we do something, or don't do something, that displeases him, such as mow our already-short lawn every other week as he does.


He has cost us *a lot* of money, and even more grief.





I have tried talking to him on more than one occasion: ';Please, if you have a problem, come talk to us.'; ';Please stop throwing branches over our fence.'; ';Why did you mow *half* our lawn - and then leave the clippings all over the sidewalk?';





Talking, peacefully, has not helped. I've only been called a ';stupid fool'; as I'm walking away from just discussing this with him, and what's worse, he keeps messing with our property.


Yelling - as last time (a few months ago) I got into a heated altercation with he and his wife - does not help either. ';So sue me,'; he said, two inches from my face.





I'm writing to you all now because one week ago, my aging mother (who recently had surgery because of her shoulder pain) had asked me if I could move her rugs to the driveway in order for them to dry. I did, and left in my car to run an errand. When I returned, I found a big, dirty pile of palm tree branches blocking me from parking in my own driveway, but also soiling my mother's rugs that she had just cleaned earlier that day!


I removed the pile of leaves, and then tried to clean my mother's rugs as best I could.


This infuriated me. I'm upset just remembering how I felt when my sweet little mother, with all her constant shoulder pain, tried to keep herself busy by cleaning her rugs and leaving them out to dry, only to have my *sshole neighbor pile a bunch of palmtree leaves onto them when I had left...


And today, I come home from picking up my son from school and find my sidelawn, half-mowed, (he only mows the parts he can see from his property), and our garbage cans out in the street.





I feel that nobody has the right to touch any part of our property, and I also feel that I will not be able to withstand this anymore.


I've tried reasoning peacefully, walking up his fortified-with-metal-bars, video-camera-ed house, and talking. No changes in his behavoir towards my family or our property. Nothing.


I've lost my cool once and yelled about finding our lawn trimmings everywhere. We both yelled at eachother. Nothing. (I did *not* curse though; a fact I am very proud of.)


I've even tried simply being a push-over and trying not to do anything that might displease him. Nothing. He always finds some way to mess with us.


I've reached the end of my limit. I thought my last resort, the only remaining solution to this half-decade problem, is to use the court system.





Now that you know the background information, this is my question:





What legal advice can you offer me to put an end to all this?





Does this count as ';harassment?';


How do I go about calling the police?


Or do I go straight to a lawyer?


Neighbor from hell - legal advice wanted?
You need to tell this to the police. You could take matters into your own hands, and confront him, but my guess is that he would call the cops for you harrassing him. Call police. Free. Its easy. They'll know what to do. Just be nice about it. Get them on your side.





BTW this sounds very far fetched just to let you know. But if its true, Damn! thats a terrible neighbor!!!Neighbor from hell - legal advice wanted?
i would call the police then go straight to a lawyer
I can't stress this enough...';KEEP RECORDS!'; Write down everything he does, keep receipts of any expenses that he directly causes you to have. If you have a video camera, set him up! Catch him in the act of trespassing, vandalism, etc...it's easier than you think. Just set up the ';unknown'; camera when he knows you're not home, and wait. you'll get him. Then, take him to small claims court first with your proof.





Now, here's another thought. Some people have nothing better to do. Sound like a cliche? Yes, a sad and true cliche. Some people HONESTLY have nothing better to do! This is so sad. He may actually look forward to fighting with you because he is so lonely or needs the confrontation to feel alive and get his adrenaline going to feel young again. See if you can find out a little bit more about him.
All this would definitely be considered harassment. In order to take it to court, you must have documented evidence. Keep a journal %26amp; take photos. As many as it takes to prove your point. Don't try to hide the fact you're taking photos either. Let him see you. It won't stop him, it'll just p--s him off but you'll have evidence. Then contact a lawyer. It may just be a small claims matter but you need a lawyer's advice if nothing else.
I would call the police none emergency number and talk to someone there, better yet go in. Explain what has been happening and they will probably tell you this is a civil matter but if you see something happening to call the police right away and let them take care of the problem. Talk to them first, you may need a lawyer also.
Why don't you video him dumping trash on your property, then call the police. After that you can take him to court with your evidence and police report. If you let him get away with his bad behavior, it will only get worst. Send your lawyer to talk with him. That might be the best approach.
I am so sorry you are having to deal w this. The only advice I can give you is go speak to a lawyer.


Good luck and give your mom a hug from me.... i know how tough it is for elderly to care for that which they love and to have her hard work ruined is horrible
What can you prove? Do you have video, or witnesses to his ignorant behavior? If you do, take them to small claims court, and sue them for harassment. Find out what the phone number is to your State's legal aid, there is sometimes a small fee.


There is a principal in law, ';All the residents in America have the right to enjoy the quiet of their own home';. I know your not talking about a noise disturbance, but I think you catch my drift.