Fights over drones are increasingly common, but rarely do we hear of one making it to court. Until now.
A small claims court in California has ruled in favor of a drone owner, who’s “homemade hexacopter” was shot down by a neighbor, according to this report by Ars Technica.
The incident began as a simple post-Thanksgiving recreational flight that turned into this legal scuffle over the shot-down drone. Eric Joe was flying his drone in Modesto, Calif. on Nov. 28, 2014, when the neighbor, Brett McBay shot it down with a 12-gauge shotgun.
According to Joe, McBay said he thought it was a “CIA surveillance device.” The two exchanged emails, in which Joe asked McBay to reimburse him for broken parts, about $700, as Ars reports. “Just as you asked me to give the courtesy of notifying you of my flying activities, I also ask you the courtesy of not shooting live ammunition in our direction,” Joe wrote in an email, also citing two other incidents in which McBay had fired shots toward his parents’ home.
Of course, McBay refused to pay up, and Joe filed in small claims court. The court ruled in Joe’s favor, as Ars reports, to the tune of $850 (the $700 plus other costs).
Unfortunately, this is not the first case of shooting down a drone. Last fall, we reported on a similar incident in which a “New Jersey man took justice into his own hands this week, peppering a robotic drone device over his home with blasts from a shotgun.” That drone operator said he was taking aerial shots of a friend’s house under construction when the neighbor blasted it.
Yikes. With more drones hitting the air, more conflicts are certain. But one thing is pretty common sense: It’s usually a good idea to go over to your neighbor’s house and ask them what’s up before you start to retaliate.
