Termites in the United States each cause over five billion dollars worth of harm to property in a single year. In some termite damage cases, the harm was caused by homeowners who refuse to pay for pest control services or pest control companies who carry out ineffective work.
In one instance, an Alabama termite and pest control company gets caught by regulators for falsifying records concerning document warnings to customers that were never actually provided. In another case, a pest control company might have short-batched a chemical application, skipped the inspections it was supposed to do, or even issued a clearance report on a property with an active infestation still going on. The homeowner who trusted a professional but still suffered from structural damage might have some legal options.
The type of claim will depend on what went wrong and the relationship between the homeowner and the pest control company. You can better understand the steps to take if you are informed about the legal framework involved.
Let’s discuss how to legally file claims for improper termite treatment.
Three Types of Claims That Arise From Termite Treatment Failures
Most termite-related legal claims fall into one of three broad categories. The first is negligence, usually a claim against a pest control company for failing to carry out treatment in a way that matches the applicable industry standard.
The second is breach of contract, where a company had a written agreement, like a termite bond, and just didn’t honor its terms. The third is fraud or misrepresentation, which shows up when a company, or a property seller, provided false or misleading information about termites being present or about how well earlier treatment supposedly worked.
Each category then has distinct elements, unique evidence needs, and even different possible defendants. For example, a homeowner may have a potential claim against the inspector if they bought a house based on a Wood Destroying Insect Report that later stated everything was clear, but the property turned out to have extensive existing damage.
Another example is when a homeowner who paid for annual treatment under a service contract still later found structural damage. This may end up with both a negligence claim and a breach of contract claim against the pest control company.
For these cases, the claims can overlap, so both may be pursued in the same case.
Negligence: When Treatment Falls Below the Standard of Care
According to the federal law, pest control companies must apply termiticides following the label instructions on every single product they use. When a company does a liquid barrier treatment using a diluted mix, uses an insufficient volume to form a real perimeter, or flat-out skips the required drilling and injection points, the company is said to have violated the established legal standard.
It’s important to prove negligence in this case. You must show that the company had a duty to perform at that standard and breached their duty through a specific act or omission. It must also be proven that the breach caused the termite damage and that the homeowner suffered measurable losses.
The causation part is often the most difficult to establish. Pest control companies often claim the infestation was new, or that some condition on the property voided coverage, or even that the treatment was done correctly, but termites found a way through an untreated area. You’ll need expert testimony from an entomologist or a structural engineer. The testimonies from these experts help establish when the infestation started and whether the damage lines up with the treatment failure the homeowner is alleging.
Termite Bonds and Breach of Contract
A termite bond is a service contract between a property owner and a pest control company. It commonly has things like annual inspections, retreatment if termite activity is found, and a guarantee to fix damage that shows up during a certain coverage period. So when a company has a bond set up and the homeowner later spots live termites and structural damage, the company is often the first, and most direct, go-to for getting some kind of compensation.
When pest control companies face breach of contract claims, they typically lean on exclusions tucked into the contract wording. Often, these exceptions tend to reduce the extent of the coverage to certain types of termites, specific areas of a building, and even certain architectural styles.
Some contracts stipulate that parties resolve disputes through arbitration instead of litigation. The enforceability of such exclusions and clauses depends on the applicable elements of state law and the actual wording of the agreement.
The most important document in a bond dispute is the contract itself. Homeowners should try to get and keep the full service agreement, all inspection reports, all treatment records, and all communications with the company. When the company side has incomplete or missing paperwork, that is sometimes already evidence of the poor or inadequate service being argued about.
Pre-Purchase Inspections and Seller Disclosure
Majority of termite-claim situations come up right during real estate deals. Many states ask sellers to disclose known problems, like past termite infestations and resulting structural damage, using those standardized forms.
At the same time, pest control companies that provide Wood Destroying Insect Reports around a sale are expected to do real inspections and accurately reveal what they find. In practice, people often breeze past both parts, sometimes almost as if they don’t matter.
If a seller actually knew about existing termite damage or there was an ongoing infestation but decide to conceal this fact, they might get pulled into a fraud or misrepresentation-type claim. Likewise, if a pest control company signs off with a clearance report after an inspection that wasn’t truly adequate, they can be hit with negligence and professional liability claims.
Since buyers usually lean on these clearance reports heavily to decide if they’re going to move forward, a careless or misleading report that nudges a purchase decision can create a direct link between the professional misstep and what the buyer later pays for.
For more information about real estate contracts, visit the website: Suisman Shapiro Attorneys-at-Law
The Environmental Protection Agency regulates pesticide-related activities on a national scale. In addition, within each specific state, each state’s pesticide licensing board regulates these activities, including all forms of pest control. Whenever a person informs the regulators of violations, they can always write down a complaint that may be used in a lawsuit.
What Damages Can Be Recovered
In most termite cases, the main way to figure out damages is to identify the cost of repairing the structural harm caused by the infestation. That means you usually need a professional look to figure out what got damaged, what needs to be put back, replaced, or reworked, and what the rework actually costs.
If the harm also lowers the property’s market value, then a diminution in value claim might also be possible. You can sometimes recover money for temporary living expenses, costs to store belongings, and even the costs of re-treatment.
For situations that involve fraud or misconduct, some states may permit punitive damages. These damages are meant to punish the responsible party, not just make the homeowner recover their losses. Whether punitive damages are available and which standard is used can vary a lot. It depends on the state where the case is filed.
The Claim Exists. The Evidence Determines Its Value.
Homeowners who spot live termites after treatment often just think the pest control company will conduct another treatment free of charge. Some contracts do have re-treatment language in them, but re-treatment isn’t really the same as paying for the harm that already happened. The legal case usually focuses on the structural damage that builds up between the point the treatment failed and when the problem is finally noticed.
How strong a termite claim feels to a court or insurer really hinges on what paperwork exists. The contract itself, inspection and treatment logs, infestation records, independent expert evaluation, and expert opinions from industry experts should be collected. Keep these documents secure before starting any other treatment or repair work. Failure to obtain these pieces of evidence will make it more difficult to claim causation clearly.
