wildfire set

Our five acres of heavily wooded land was in the path of a 3800 acre wildfire set by a 10 y.o. boy. We lost over 600 trees, some 26 inches in diameter, many over 50 ft tall. Our house and barn, which were foamed by the firefighters, are untouched, but we have lost all trees in the front yard, and all but 30 or so on the formerly heavily wooded 5 acres. We neighbor 850 acres in conservation easement, so their burned trees will never be taken down, drastically affecting our view. The loss in value to our $600,000 house and barn is hard to quess - I doubt we could sell at any price right now. Of course, our insurance is paying 5% of the cost of the house for landscaping (the policy limit), and paying to have most of the trees remooved, but do not cover the value of the trees or the loss of value to the home.

The state/county have decided not to pursue criminal charges against the 10 y.o. or his parents. They were from out of state and staying at a cabin on the 850 acres of conservation easement land (which also has 2 houses and a barn on it near the cabin) for a few days. The conservation land was forested and had cougar, deer, wild turkey, golden eagles, on it. The 10 y.o. found matches and went into the 850 acres of forest to play with them and "accidentally" set the fire about 10 am Aug 22. The name of the boy/family was not released by the county sheriff who investigated.

Do we have a civil suit against the parents for improperly supervising the child? If so, how do we get their name and address? Given that they are from out of state will this even be pursuable? How do we find out if the state is going after them to pay the $1 million dollars it cost to fight the fire? We have heard their will be federal money that will pay 75% of the fire fighting cost, but if they go after them for the balance would a lawsuit from us take a back seat and therefore have less chance of any return?

We have neighbors that lost 28 acres of trees and 30 acres of trees respectively, and a neighboring rancher lost about 2000 acres. The unluckiest were our neighbors whose several hundred thousand dollar house was burned to the ground. How can the 10 y.o. and his family get away with NO consequences, when we will all pay for it the rest our lives?

Without names, there's no one to go after. You know, as hard as this is, and as hard as it going to accept this, sometimes crap happens - - which is why we have insurance. Assume that the kid's family has nothing, and that a lawsuit will be fruitless. Move forward with your life.

Couldn't we get the names from the sheriff's office? They have admitted setting it. What would it take to get the names?

Are you saying that you haven't already tried getting the name from the sheriff's office, the fire department, or your own insurance company?? I thought the presumption was that you had already tried, but failed!

How about getting the name, address and telephone number of the tortfeasor from the owner of the cabin, where this family was staying?

Tell me what you have done so that we don't have to rehash the same, potential, possibilities.

All I have done is read an article in the paper yesterday announcing the results of the month long investigation. The newspaper reported the name wasn't released.

What is a tortfeasor?

Who should I try and get the name from? The county attorney that the newspaper said didn't release the name and who decided not to press criminal charges, or the sheriff's department where the investigation was done?

A "tortfeasor" is the legal moniker describing someone who has allegedly caused a "legal problem."

I have already answered your other questions. See above response.

Good luck to you.

The sheriff's department detective says they would release the name to an attorney IF we sue, but not to individuals. However, we don't know if they have any assets or liability insurance without their name. An attorney friend here said the family is liable, but collecting even if they lose a suit here in Montana would be difficult since they are from Texas.

Any way around getting the name other than hiring an attorney and bringing suit (at some expense) ?