Were you, or someone you love injured on someone else’s residential property? Suppose you were injured because of an unsafe property condition and the accident led to a lot of problems, such as thousands in medical bills, permanent disfigurement, and lost income. Do you have any legal recourse against the homeowner?
For starters, we want you to realize that often when people get hurt on someone else’s property, that “someone” is a family member, a friend, or a neighbor. If you’re unsure about filing a personal injury claim against one of these individuals, don’t let your relationship stop you.
Usually, these individuals feel terrible about the accident. They feel responsible and wish they could go back in time and prevent the accident from occurring. Under the law, they may very well be responsible, but property owners don’t always have the cash sitting in the bank to pay for all of the victim’s damages.
Fortunately, when accidents occur on private property and a visitor is injured, often the homeowner’s insurance will cover the victim’s damages when the accident was a result of the homeowner’s negligence.
Homeowners’ Duty to Notify the Insurance Company
Homeowner’s insurance is great because it covers claims against homeowners for accidental injuries that occur on the homeowner’s property, such as swimming pool accidents, and slip and fall accidents.
However, homeowners’ insurance policies have very strict “notice requirements.” Generally, homeowners are required to provide the insurance company of notice of the accident as soon as possible. This usually means the homeowner must notify the insurance company at their “first opportunity.”
Note: If there was no way the homeowner could have reasonably known that the injured party was filing a personal injury lawsuit, the homeowner’s failure to provide prompt notice cannot be used against them for the purposes of denying coverage.
While the requirements vary from policy-to-policy, homeowners are generally required to provide insurance companies with the following information after an accident:
- The policyholder’s information and policy number
- A description of when, where, and how the accident occurred
- The name, phone number, and address of the injured party
- The contact information for any eyewitnesses to the accident
- A description of the injuries caused by the accident (e.g. the child broke his arm falling out the window)
- A description of any property damage resulting from the accident
Even when the homeowner is diligent about contacting their insurance company immediately after an accident, they are still required to notify their insurance company if the injured party decides to sue the homeowner.
Injured on someone else’s property? Contact us for a free case evaluation with a skilled Columbia personal injury lawyer!