Should I expect the worse?

[PineRidge]

A little over two weeks ago a guy I have known for a few years was fishing with a buddy in my pond. Somehow when he started to land one of our 10+ pound catfish he broke one of his fingers in the process. I really don't know how as I wasn't there with them when it actually happened. Fact is he didn't even think that the finger was broken until the knuckle disappeared from the finger in question. I guess the bone rotated after it broke.

I got a call this past Thursday from his buddy telling me that the bone was broken so badly that surgery needed to be performed and the bone had to be pinned to reattach. The hand will be in a cast and he will supposedly miss 6 weeks worth of work as a result of the injury.

I feel badly that this happened but had no control over the circumstances. I'm starting to wonder if I should be checking my mailbox expecting a lawsuit since this supposedly happened while fishing on my property? What do you all think, am I legally responsible here?

 

[GaryM]

I'm not a lawyer! But from what I've always been told there are several things that can affect your liability.

Was he an invited guest? Or just someone your friend brought along?

Did you know he was there?

Did you charge him for fishing in your pond?

I know that for myself, I wouldn't feel that you had any responsability at all.

 

[JerryG]

I don't know what the man may or may not do, but as sad state of affairs as the country is in I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't need a lawyer.

 

[LMTC]

I would report the incident to my insurance company asap. If you are sued, your homeowner's liability would come into play, and the insurance company will be on the hook for the first $$ (whatever you're covered for) unless they can show you were criminally negligent. They will want to be involved from the start, and may even offer to cover his expenses in exchange for a release. Definitely notify them.

With that said, if he sues you, he is, IMHO, a jacka$$. Good luck.

 

[PineRidge]

Gary I have an open door policy of sorts with the pond.

Folks don't call me, they just come fish when they find the time. I was aware that they were here fishing but I was involved in a project elsewhere on the property.

The only rules are that we have are "catch and release" of all fish but the bluegills, and everyone takes their mess with them when they leave for the day.

We have never charged for fishing and everyone has always had a good time here. Just a real unfortunate and queer accident.

 

[MikePA]

<font color="blue"> What do you all think, am I legally responsible here? </font>
If you do not have one already, I recommend;

1. Reducing the liability portion of your automobile insurance policy to the legal minimum.
2. Buying a General Liability policy of a $1,000,000 (or more) that covers everything, including your automobiles.

Then you'd be covered in situations such as this. You generally save more on your automobile insurance policy than the General Liability policy costs.

We did this a few years ago to cover anything our kids, dogs or horses (or Mom and Dad /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif) might do.

 

[OkeeDon]

MikePA, good advice, and I wish my insurance company would allow me to do that. We have a $1 million umbrella liability policy, but one of the requirements of that policy is that every other policy we have be increased to the maximum liability for each respective policy. Thus, all of our cars must be insured for "$300,000/$300,000", or the umbrella policy will not kick in until damages reach $300,000. For example, if we reduced the car policies to $50,000, and there was a $900,000 judgment, the car policy would pay $50K, we would pay the next $250K, and the umbrella policy would kick in for the last $600K.

 

[thcri]

Don,

I am going to support your umbrella policy. As a business owner even though I am a Corporation I have a 3 million umbrella that is through my homeowners policy. Yes I did have to increase my cars but all in all it is not that expensive to have. This way if anyone sues my business for more than the insured value and they come after me for the rest I am covered. Another thing I was told by my banker and attorney. Because I have more insurance that what the law requires most judges will look at that as good faith and will only allow a suit to max at the insurance limits. In other words if someone is sueing me for 4 million more than likely the judge would put a maximum of 3 on it.

Mike, if your letting people on your property and pond you may want to think about that. A one million umbrella is not much. I think it was around a couple of hundred bucks a year.

I don't know how expensive a missing finger will be but your homeowners as is may cover it. But for what it is worth I would say you did not give him permission.

But don't take my adice, check with your insurance people.

murph

 

[Junkman]

I also thought like you did on the umbrella policy that it would cover me if I personally was sued in some way involving my business. I learned after going a few rounds with the insurance agent, and the insurance company that business ventures are not covered by your personal umbrella policy. That also goes for your company owned automobile. For this reason, I have all business policies with my self as an additional named insured. That way, I am at least covered if they sue me personally for something that the business was involved in, but didn't sue the business directly. All my personal insurance had to be the max if the umbrella was to cover it. One thing that I also learned is that if I were to be operating a borrowed boat, and I don't own a boat, my umbrella policy will cover me after the first $250. Insurance is a strange thing..... in the first 6 pages they give you a lot of rights... then in the next 12 pages, they take them away with small print.... then on the last page, you find out that you never had them in the first place since you didn't buy the policy during a full moon snow storm. Just like tractor use on your property you need to read the policy carefully and weigh each word and where and how it is placed in the sentence. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[bgott]

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/real-estate/buyerguide2004/get-clue.asp

http://www.insurance.wa.gov/factsheets/factsheet_detail.asp?FctShtRcdNum=13

You don't have any idea that that he broke his finger unless you are served, as far as the insurance company goes. Once you inform the insurance company it gets filed in the "CLUE" database as a "pending" claim. That works the same as a real claim, their reasoning is that, since it did happen, they would have been liable. You stand a very good chance of losing your insurance or having the Ins. Co. make some very drastic changes to your policy that are not in your best interest.