Family awarded $5M after house hit by golf balls

A family living next to a golf course have been awarded almost $5 million… because of golf balls repeatedly hitting their house.

Erik and Athina Tenczar moved into their home which backs onto Indian Pond Country Club in Massachusetts in 2017.

Since then, the couple claim they have picked up more than 700 golf balls which have landed in their property, while the house has repeatedly been hit.

Although they admitted they expected some impact from living next to the course, they insisted they were not prepared for the frequency of the incidents.

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Mrs Tenczar said: “Honestly, if you have all these houses on a course, I assumed it was safe.”

The pair said the noise of balls hitting the building is “like gunshots”, and several windows have been smashed.

They would not send their children out to play without bicycle helmets, such is the threat of wayward shots hitting them, and Mr Tenczar described the situation as “emotionally taxing”.

After four years, the couple decided to sue the country club for trespass.

Now, according to the Boston Globe, they have been awarded a huge sum.

After a six-day trial they were awarded a permanent injunction against golf balls on their property. The couple were also awarded $3.5 million in damages – which, taking inflation into account, amounts to around $4.9 million.

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Indian Pond have since reconfigured the 15th tee, with the Tenczars saying they have not seen a golf ball on their property for months.

The club have also lodged an appeal against the ruling, with its lawyer John Flemming saying: “I’m extremely confident that the injunction will be struck down. In my opinion, as a matter of law, the verdict of $3.5 million for alleged emotional distress is against the weight of the evidence.”

Photography: John Wiggs/Boston Globe