If you tripped on a wire ...

 ... across a sidewalk, fell, smashed your face, broke a wrist or arm, or hurt your shoulder or back, whom would you sue?

The homeowner?

The HOA?

The County?

AT&T?

In my neighborhood, when AT&T laid cable for a fiber-optic upgrade, it strung a cable across a sidewalk in two places. It didn't tape it down or cover it with any kind of mat. Anyone walking along could easily catch one of the wires with his toe and fall head-first onto the cement sidewalk.

On November 20 I emailed the Summit HOA's office and suggested they contact AT&T and request that the wire be secured and pedestrians protected.

There was no acknowledgement or reply.

Today I emailed the board and asked them to ask the office to take care of it. I also asked if there was a reason that the office had not replied to me.

Now, read this response from the HOA:

"I don't consider this a risk to the association nor [sic] the association's responsibility. If anything, the responsibility is all on the homeowner. It's their service, their line. This is normal procedure to lay out the line and hook it up and then have a third party bury the line. No amount of calling from the office will speed up that process."

If I were a Risk Manager or a fidiciary of the HOA, I'd see things differently. I'd be asking, "What could I/we/the HOA do to mitigate the risk and avoid a claim?" I'd send the HOA maintenance guy over with a roll of duct tape and tell him to tape those wires down.

Sure, it's somebody else's responsibility. And the board members aren't going to have to fork out any of their personal money for a claim. The HOA insurance will cover it; right?

But if the insurance company found out that the HOA knew about the risk and did nothing, either the premiums would go through the roof or the insurance company would cancel the policy.

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