Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 6:39 am Post subject: my tenant's guest is suing me for getting her ankle hurt
Hi,
I am facing a situation which has become a grave concern to me for long.
Since the last three months I had rented my basement suite to a gentleman. For the past few weeks, my tenant's former girlfriend has started visiting him more often. It was quite late one night that this new guest had left my tenant and started walking towards her car.
Later on she has claimed to have fractured her ankle after she had trudged through an uneven path. Thereafter she had to drive a long way back, only to seek legal action against me later on.
I would like to draw everyone's attention to this simple fact, that there is no uneven sidewalk on my property and that the place is quite bright amidst the presence of two street lights apart from the one at my basement. I hope someone can give me some advice on this matter.
Regards. _________________ Register Now to have your Insurance queries solved.
Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 9:01 am Post subject: twisted ankle
Once I had faced a similar situation but somehow managed to escape from the clutches of the crook in time. I was looking for someone to hire my garage for sometime. I had come across this nice young lady who walked in, only to claim later that she had twisted her ankle on my driveway due to its irregularities. Thanks to the pictures of my driveway, that I had taken prior to the incident !
I was proclaimed not to have been negligent, after a thorough investigation by my insurance company. And just as I expected, my premiums did not go up. Its better that you convey all the evidences to your insurance company and let them follow up.
I'm hoping you have a homeowners policy with medical payments if you have a tenent in your home. If you already have a HO policy but no MP, MP cost next to nothing to add. MP pays a person's medical bills regardless of liability. I know it might sound like this just benefits a stupid person but it actually protect the homeowner in that it acts as a good faith offer. Granted, in this case it would not make an attorney go away.
I'm guessing you've informed your HO insurance carrier of this injury. As such, they will investigate and provide a defense.
The best thing that you could do is to take photos of your drive way and the lights to show that it is not an unsafe area.
Keep in mind... everyone is entitled to legal representation and everyone is entitled to their day in court. There should be no one to tell anyone that their complaint is not worthy enough. It's up the the injured person to _prove_ that your walkway was not safe. If memory serves correct, this person would be considered an "invitee" as you would allow your tenent to have people over into your home. You only owe this party a _reasonable_ degree of safety at your home.
