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If you got injured in a slip and fall accident on someone else’s private residential property, you might wonder if there is insurance coverage that can help to pay for your losses. We have all heard about people winning verdicts after getting hurt on commercial property, but very little gets said about private property.
A California slip and fall attorney can answer your questions, like, are slip and fall injuries covered by homeowner’s insurance in California?
Check for an Insurance Policy
The first step in answering this question is to find out whether the property owner has a current homeowner’s insurance policy. It does not matter whether the average policy has slip and fall accident liability coverage if the landowner in question does not even have a current homeowner’s insurance policy.
If there is a mortgage on the property, the homeowner is supposed to have property insurance, but sometimes, policies lapse. When you confirm that there is active insurance coverage on the property, you will want to read the policy to find out what it covers.
Is the Property Owner Liable?
Homeowner’s insurance, just like automobile liability insurance, provides a deep pocket to help pay for losses caused by the negligence of the insured. In other words, if you are found at fault in a collision, your car insurance policy can help to pay the money damages that you would have to pay out of your own funds if you did not have the insurance.
If you were not at fault, however, your car insurance will not pay claims of people who got injured because of the negligence of themselves or other people involved in the accident. It is the same with homeowner’s liability insurance. The negligence of the homeowner must have caused the slip and fall accident to trigger payment of the injured person’s losses.
Sometimes, a person slips and falls without anyone else being at fault. In those situations, the homeowner would not be liable, so their homeowner’s liability insurance would not cover the event. When a person gets hurt because of the property owner’s negligence, however, the injuries could be covered by the homeowner’s insurance policy.
What Are the Elements of Negligence that Can Make a Homeowner Liable?
We will need to prove all of these factors to hold the property owner liable:
- The plaintiff was on the property legally.
- There was a hazardous condition on the property, for example, a metal rod protruding a few inches through the ground but not visible because of the grass in the yard.
- The landowner knew or should have known about the condition.
- The homeowner did not take reasonable measures to fix the dangerous condition or warn of the danger.
- The plaintiff suffered physical injuries because of the property owner’s negligence.
After determining that the homeowner’s negligence caused the slip and fall accident, we will need to read the insurance policy to see if it is a covered event. Even if the basic homeowner’s insurance policy excludes coverage for slip and fall accidents, the injured person might have other options. For example, the landowner might have an “umbrella” liability rider to their homeowner’s policy, or the plaintiff could go after the property owner’s personal assets to satisfy the accident lawsuit verdict. You will want to talk to a California personal injury attorney right away about your slip and fall accident that happened on someone else’s residential property. For help with your case get in touch with our office today, we gladly offer a free consultation.
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