Dad’s £60,000 bill for retrieving a ball from his neighbour’s garden
A FATHER is facing a £60,000 bill after storming into his neighbours’ garden when they refused to give back his son’s football.
Chaim Adler, 35, was furious that his eight-year- old son, who had kicked the ball over a fence, had been left in tears by the refusal.
Mr Adler made his way into the adjoining garden, ‘snarling’ at and mocking neighbour Warren Bergson. He then returned the next day, trying to push his way into Mr Bergson’s flat in Golders Green, north London, ‘aggressively’ demanding the ball back.
Lawyer Mr Bergson, who has
‘Baring his teeth and growling’
since died, and his psychologist wife Dr Edel McAndrew-Bergson, sued, claiming trespass and harassment. A judge has now awarded £19,800 in damages, on top of the £40,000 in legal fees Mr Adler claims he has paid. The ruling follows a 2022 trial on disputes between the neighbours dating back to 2017.
Giving judgment last week, Judge Stephen Hellman said fire alarm company boss Mr Adler had been provoked by the Bergsons’ actions in not returning the ball but he had gone too far.
‘Chaim Adler’s behaviour was aggressive, humiliating and intimidating,’ he said at Mayor’s and City County Court. ‘This behaviour goes beyond that which merely causes upset.’
Speaking to the Mail, Mr Adler said the legal row has been ‘five years of hell’ for his family and that he is considering appealing.
He said: ‘I am from a family of eight who grew up there, and there was never any problems. I only spoke to them once, so I do not see how that is harassment.’ The trouble began seven years ago when the Bergsons rented a flat next door to Mr Adler’s parents. In August 2017, Dr McAndrew-Bergson, 58, noticed water coming into her garden from the Adlers’ grandchildren’s paddling pool. It led to a confrontation which the Bergsons said was the start of the feud.
They said a football was ‘crashed’ repeatedly against a fence every weekend as a means of ‘intimidating’ them. The Bergsons said the trouble peaked in two confrontations with Chaim Adler in May 2018 over the football. The couple said he twice entered their garden, banging on their door, pressing his face against the window, ‘baring his teeth and growling’.
In 2022, Judge Hellman ruled that he had harassed the Bergsons and trespassed. The case went back to court last week for a ruling on the damages due. It will return to court for a decision on who will pay lawyers’ bills.