He's all right, thank goodness, but it got me thinking. What would happen if he had really gotten hurt? Could his parents sue me (and win) even if I didn't do anything that would be considered negligent just for the simple fact he fell in my house?
I ask because the neighbor's kids come over and play. When he fell, I just thought to myself he could really get hurt just that easily and quickly. My kids just left and went to his house….my kids could get hurt over there too. I was just wondering how those things are handled. I mean, if my kids were doing back flips and no one was watching them to stop them, then yeah, I might be looking for them to pay the medical bills. But if one of them were walking down the stairs and one of them rolled their ankle then that's not anyone's fault.
Goodness gracious! This question was hypothetical! I'm not suing anyone, no one is suing me....nothing like that. It was just one of those questions like, 'Gee, I wonder what would happen...' I'm not worried about my neighbor suing me, and I'm not suing them. This question was not to be taken literally...
Accidents happen~
I know I'm a good mom, I know where my son goes, their good parents.. The word "sue" would never come into play..
I'm an insurance agent. Yes, you could be sued and it would be paid out under your "liability" amount on your homeowners or renters policy, assuming you have one, and only paid up to the limits. It could also be paid under "medical expense" again, up to the limits and only if you have it as a coverage on your policy. You have it paid under med expense in hopes they don't sue you for a higher amount under your liability. Double check your coverage's with your agent. If you have a lot to lose (some states they can sue you for future earnings) you may want to consider getting an Umbrella policy to cover your home and auto which is in ADDITION to the coverage you already have for those policies. Hope this helps. Good luck.
If there were no negligence on your part, then they could file a claim for medical costs under your homeowners, despite having their own medical coverage. Also, if they go under their medical coverage and the insurance company gets wind that perhaps they can be reimbursed through subrogation, then they will seek reimbursement from your homeowners. As long as there was no negligence, that should be the end of it. However, if the chair were broken causing the child to fall, then you would be liable and could be sued.
FYI, if my kid got hurt doing back flips in your house, I would not look to sue you, but I would kick his as# for doing back flips in a house. That is not "inside" behavior, IMO. So again, I wouldn't sue you, but apparently you would sue me. Hmmmmm.
my son broke his arm, playing on the neighbor's swingset. he jumped from the tower platform, after the little girl who the swingset belonged to. his foot caught and he landed face first in the dirt with his arm under him, about a 6 foot drop.
it never occurred to me to even wonder if the mom should pay. she brought him to me, she was almost as upset as i was. sure i could have raised a fuss...but it's life. i would be mortified to even say the words out loud. i know people do that but...who does that??
that said, people do that! i don't think there's any way to guard completely against it, things can always happen no matter how safe we think we're being.
Yeah ya live in America, we sue cause our coffee is too hot. Most people are reasonable. Clearly if you thought throwing knives around would be fun and my kid gets cut I am going to ask you to pay the medical bills. Otherwise it goes to accidents happen.
I have four kids and they have had friends over. I have never been sued and there have been a few nasty cuts.
Aww dad, trust me my brother the attorney has schooled me on that verdict except it was the judge that reduced the award to 83 million cause the jury effed with something like 250 mill, maybe more.
That's a shame it has come to that where you could be sued!
You can sue because you don't like the way someone looks at you--that doesn't mean you'll win! :)
Your homeowners would cover the medical bills.
Jo's right - we can sue for anything (more on the hot coffee below).
But in most situations you wouldn't be seeking medical, because the kids' medical insurance will cover their injury.
Moreover, there is no recovery for accidents due to where they happen. The recovery is due to negligence (among other causes of action). If you weren't negligent - no biggie.
ON the coffee case. Facts - woman goes to drive thru McD's, gets coffee, sets between her legs and drives off. Coffee spills. Causes 2nd and 3rd degree burns. Read that again - 2nd and 3rd.
Turns out coffee is normally served at about 120 degrees in most coffee pots. McD's purposefully set the temp of their coffee makers at 145-160. They had a duty to tell the consumer - "Hey, this is MUCH hotter than coffee made by most places/machines. Be careful".
They had this duty because THEY changed the temp. But for the temp change, spilled coffee would have simply stained the woman's pants, and maybe left a slight burn.
McD's tried to argue that the woman contributed to her injury by placing the coffee between her legs. No go as it was reasonably forseeable that many people will place a cup of liquid between their legs to hold when at a drive thru.
Oh, and the $83m judgement the lady won. Don't think the jury was stupid - rather they awarded the profits that McD's makes worldwide **in one day** on the sale of coffee.
(I did not re-look this up, so some facts may be slightly skewed due to my memory)
In a word, "yes." When you allow someone in your home you are accepting the responsibility of ensuring their welfare, and must take means to do just that or you can be held liable for their injuries.
If he was standing in the chair and you didn't call him on it and make him stop, it wasn't age or style appropriate for him, you could tell he was having trouble sitting in it and didn't address the situation, he develops a headache later today or his arm turns out to be broken...so many things that could happen, yet thankfully don't happen often.
In this day and age anyone can sue for most anything, it is up to a judge to determine if it is a reasonable claim and whether to allow it to proceed through the courts. As Momma L said, that's what homeowner's insurance is for, it might even be available to renters. You truly never know.
Yes you could get sued for the medical bills if there was any needed. But hopefully you know the family well enough to know if they are the type that would or not.
My son fell while at day care when he was 8. She called me right away because she thought it he broke this thumb or hand. Well he dislocated his thumb. But with the dislocation it went threw the tendons and required surgery to fix it. We went through our insurance and never thought about going through hers until she brought up. It was an accident plain and simple I wasn't going to make her pay.
My other son was carrying a board up to my parents deck they were building at around 3 yrs old. He fell and dislocated his thumb the same way as my oldest. He needed surgery to fix it as well. We did go through my parents home owners insurance only because we didn't have any insurance at the time and they offered.
When my oldest was 11 he was at the park playing and he ran over a kids baseball glove that was laying on the ground. The kid pushed him off his bike and decked him in the mouth breaking off his front 4 bottom teeth. I was ticked off!! I went and talked to the kids parents ( now our neighbors, wasn't at the time thou) and they offered to say it happened at thier house so their home insurance would cover all the work they needed to rebuild 2 of his teeth and put in 2 more fake ones. Even with their info in hand and ticked off at what a senseless act the kid did... we never used it and used our own insurance and paid for it ourself...
It all comes down to the person and I think the injury that happened and how it happened.
Yes, they could. That is what you have homeowner's insurance for. You would have to pay the deductible.
ETA - Dad on Purpose is right about the coffee - and the woman was an elderly and THIN woman. Believe me, if our mothers got 2nd and 3rd degree burns on their genitals, you'd want to sue too. I just don't think people understand how terrible this degree of a burn is, not counting where it happened.
Dawn
Yes you can. What age is he? Was he being supervised? Tons of those questions would arise. That is what homeowners insurance is for, to help cover accidents and such.
Unfortunately, we live in a world full of frivolous lawsuits. Could she have sued if something happened? Yes. Anyone can file a suit for anything. Would the suit have gone anywhere? Possibly. Like most others said, hopefully the other mom would realize accidents happen. But if your kids go over there and hers come to your house it sounds like you have a pretty decent rapport.
When my husband was a teenager, one of his friends who is allergic to bees got stung at my husband's house. His parents filed under my husband's parents' homeowner's insurance to pay the medical expenses.
You'd sue because your kid was behaving dangerously and got hurt? Me, I'd take it up with my kid, who was behaving inappropriately.
And yes, the McD's coffee lawsuit was not frivolous. They knowingly heated their coffee to a dangerous temperature (180 degrees; anything higher than 130 degrees can be considered a burn hazard); she got 3rd degree burns that required skin grafting. McDonalds' heated their coffee far higher than normal coffee, and coffee consumed at this temperature would always cause scalding burns (unlike regular coffee). There are tons of frivolous lawsuits in this country, but that was not one of them.
