The neighbor "saw no harm" in it.

I appreciate your comments as it is definitely an area that if you don't now what you are doing can pose more harm than good... 

We don’t know any PMCs to recommend in the area mentioned, but since selecting the wrong PMC is usually more harmful than selecting a bad tenant, you might want to read our series about “How to Screen a PMC Better than a Tenant”:https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/3094/91877-how-to-screen-a-pmc-better-than-a-tenant-part-1-services-and-processesWe recommend you get management contracts from several PMCs and compare the services they cover and, more importantly, what they each DO NOT cover.

I had met the sellers and knew this would not only be unlikely to help, but would likely harm their chances - I live here, I buy and sell her, and I know this market and the people.

In my life, I've come to believe that giving people money actually does them more harm than good.

However the Defendant did harm the Plaintiff fairly badly due to his negligence and should have paid.