Garden football row dad ordered to pay £20,000 damages to neighbours
AN angry dad who stormed into his neighbours’ garden after his son’s football was confiscated is facing a bill of almost £20,000 after they sued.
Chaim Adler was furious that his eight-year-old son had been left in tears when the neighbours did not give back a ball the boy had kicked over the fence.
A court heard that he stormed in, “snarling” and mocking Warren Bergson, before returning the next day and trying to push his way into Mr Bergson’s flat while “aggressively” demanding the ball.
Lawyer Mr Bergson and his psychologist wife Dr Edel McAndrewBergson then sued, claiming trespass and harassment. They were awarded £19,800 in damages.
Judge Stephen Hellman said fire alarm company boss Mr Adler, 35, had been provoked by the Bergsons’ actions in not giving back the ball, but he had gone too far.
He said at Mayor’s and City County Court: “Chaim Adler’s behaviour was aggressive, humiliating and intimidating. This behaviour goes beyond that which merely causes upset.”
In a previous ruling, Judge Hellman said the row had been an “unhappy case about a neighbours’ dispute that got out of hand” after the Bergsons moved next door to Mr Adler’s parents, in Golders Green, North London, in 2017.
Trouble brewed after Dr McAndrew-Bergson, 58, and her barrister husband – who died after the trial – began to rent the one-bedroom garden flat next door. The first clash took place over water overflowing from the paddling pool of the Adlers’ grandchildren.
The couple said a football was “crashed” repeatedly against the fence separating the gardens every weekend to “intimidate” them. The Bergsons become exasperated at the constant noise. Dr McAndrew-Bergson grabbed the ball when it came into the garden and her husband confiscated it.
The court heard that Mr Adler became enraged and pressed his face against their window, “baring his teeth and growling”. He denied any wrongdoing, saying he was protecting his son, who had been reduced to tears when he asked for the ball back.
A decision will be made later on who pays the lawyers’ bills.