You are having a nice evening with some friends and family members - a relaxing night featuring your special chili recipe. As your guests get ready to leave, your neighbor trips over an extension cord and falls down the stairs. You want to do everything you can to help your neighbor, but in the back of your mind, you are worried: Can your neighbor sue you? Will you have to pay his insurance bills?
Nevertheless, there are two categories of individuals that a court may still give special consideration to: trespassers and children.
Most courts will apply a lower standard of expected homeowner care when it comes to trespassers. The idea is that if you don't know the trespasser is on your property, you can't be expected to protect him or her to the same degree you would a guest. Children, on the other hand, are usually owed greater care than adults. Even though an uninvited child wandering into your yard to inspect your swimming pool might well be a trespasser, a legal standard called attractive nuisance says that you have a special duty to erect barriers to protect such children. If there is access to a dangerous part of your property, such as a swimming pool, then a child may find it and get injured, and you may be held liable. That's why precautions such as fences, locked gates, and swimming pool covers - and good liability insurance - are so important.
And what about pets? Of course, we aren't talking about a visiting pet getting injured on your property, but rather, your pet injuring someone else. Typically, you are legally responsible for your pet's actions. Most states have so-called dog-bite statutes, which directly state that pet owners are legally liable for injuries inflicted by their animals.
Knowing your chances of legal liability probably won't help you in the moment that your neighbor trips and falls down the stairs. What are you to do in that exact moment? If someone does get injured on your property first and foremost, do all you can do to help. Express concern, ask what injuries might have been suffered, make the victim as comfortable as possible, call for medical assistance, and so on. But don't say anything to suggest or admit guilt or negligence. While it's natural to empathize with the injured party and even seek to assuage your own feelings of guilt, it's not a good idea to complicate the situation by making potentially incriminating statements. Rather, leave fault up to the law to decide.
Homeowner's Insurance
As a homeowner, any time someone gets hurt on your property because of your carelessness, you may be legally responsible. (In legal terms, being responsible for something means you are liable for it and may have to pay damages to the injured person.) Generally, a court will hold a homeowner responsible for a visitor's injuries only if the homeowner was in some way negligent, or careless. The law does not expect you to guarantee that someone visiting your house will never get hurt. But rather, you are expected to take reasonable care to protect people from known hazards on your property.
Historically, the legal system created a number of categories. Courts then assessed whether a homeowner was liable for someone's injuries on the basis of how the case was categorized: Was the individual at your home as your guest? Was the individual there for his own business purposes (like a salesperson)? Was the individual uninvited? In an effort to simplify things, most courts have eliminated these various categories and now simply expect homeowners to eliminate all known hazards. If you have any questions about how a court in your area would handle a particular situation, it is best to talk with an attorney licensed in your state.
The liability insurance portion of your homeowner's policy is designed to cover unintentional injuries suffered on your property. In other words, injuries caused by your negligence should be covered; injuries that you inflict on purpose are not. Given your potential liability as a homeowner, you're asking for trouble if you don't carry adequate liability insurance. It only takes one person who is seriously injured by your negligence to generate a huge liability award and deplete your financial nest egg-not to mention your psychological well-being.