Can I file homeowners insurance claim?

Question

During a get together on Superbowl Sunday in my home, one of my friends fell and landed on another friend, and broke her foot. The injured friend is an ICU nurse and has been out of work ever since. She is having a hard time paying her bills on her payments from State Disability. She is now requesting that my husband and I file a claim on our homeowners insurance. I'm looking for guidance on this issue. I have no problem filing the claim, but I'm not sure what actions are taken against us as a result. I want to be there for my friend, but I do feel that this was not in any shape or form our fault. The person who fell (actually jumped) on her also owns a home, would their insurance company be able to cover any of this? I'm thinking that because it was on our property, that we are responsible. Any insight is appreciated.

Answer 1

It is not your responsibility to file a claim on her behalf although you may want to notify your insurance company of the incident.  If your friend feels that you are in any way liable for her injury then she has the right to file a claim against your insurance or sue you (the latter being more likely).  Once the lawsuit is filed, then the insurance company would get involved and it would be up to their lawyers and your friends lawyers to work out a settlement.   It is unlikely that such a lawsuit would ever go to court as the insurance company would view paying out a relatively small amount cheaper than litigating.

Answer 2

Lot of real bad answers and some good ones. As a claim adjuster please let me throw this out info for you.

Your homeowners policy should have $1000 of Medical Payments coverage that will apply to the injured party regardless of negligence. As long as the injury happened in your house the Medical Payments coverage will apply.

However, your liability coverage will not help the injured person. In order for the liability coverage to kick in you MUST be negligent in causing the injury.

The person who jumped on the injured person is the negligent party and they need to report this to their homeowners company to see if their policy will apply their liability coverage    

Neither you or your insurance company would be found negligent for this injury just because it happened in your house.

Good Luck

Answer 3

Call your insurance agent or company and report all details of this incident immediately. Your agent can walk you through what you need to do or not need to do. Don't worry, that's why you have the insurance, so go call your agent.

Answer 4

It was on your property, so you are responsible.  Filing a claim will probably make your rates go up and depending on the amount, could even make it difficult for you to renew your policy!  If you have filed other claims recently, even for small amounts, then I would really recommend avoiding filing this claim if you can.  If her bills aren't much higher than your deductible, then you may want to just consider paying without filing a claim.  I would also read your policy first to find out exactly what is covered - I don't know if they would compensate her for lost time working, so you might not even be able to get much out of them...they might only cover her medical bills.  Good luck!

Answer 5

Call your insurance agent immediately and report this. You should have reported this when it happened. Reporting claims late is never a good thing. Don't make it even later. Your homeowners policy has two parts that would apply here. Medical Payments and Liability. Medical Payments will pay for medical costs incurred by others while on your property whether there is fault or not. This coverage has a lower limit between $500 and $5,000. It is lower as fault or negligence does not have to be proven. There was obviously no fault by you in this case. This coverage only pays for medical payments, not lost wages.

Then there is your Liability coverage. This protects you from liability when you are at fault. This limit is usually between $100,000 and $1,000,000. For this to kick in, your friend needs to sue you.

Now your neighbor who actually caused this incident also would have liability coverage and appears to be the person most likely to have to pay. Tell your "friend" to report this incident to his insurance company. But to be safe, also report the incident to your insurance company. Also, make sure your other friends who all saw this happened agree with your side of the story. Good luck!

Answer 6

Because the incident happened in your home, you should be able to put in a claim.  As for the person that fell on the nurse, the nurse should take him/her to court to help pay some of the bills.  There is pain and suffering, loss of work, some other things.  File your stuff first, and call an injury attorney to come and see the nurse.  Good luck

Answer 7

Yes - your house insurance covers accidents that happen on your property - the cause is usually not relevant.

Contact your insurance agent.

Answer 8

You may want to consult an attorney.  I would think the person who fell or jumped on her would be liable for the expenses.  If she had fallen down your steps, then you might have been liable.

Answer 9

An accident that happen on your property would be filed under your insurance.  The result would depend on what the injured party is looking for.  Does she want just her bills paid or is she looking for a settlement?  If she just wants her bills paid, then your insurance compmany gives her a claim number to write on her bills and submitt them for reimbursment.  Really not much too that.  If she wants a settlement, then that becomes more of a sticky situation.  If you have more questions, call your insurance provider, then can walk you through the process.

Answer 10

Well, sure you can.  Your "medical payments" section, the no fault section, would pay her medical bills, up to the policy limit - probably $500.  

YOUR policy isn't going to pay any pain and suffering, or lost wages, as YOU WEREN'T NEGLIGENT.  The person who WAS negligent, is the other party.  HOWEVER, assuming they are over 13, this is a deliberate action!!  Which would be excluded from coverage under THEIR homeowners policy.

The broken foot person is going to have to sue you and the person that broke her foot.  She's not going to get anything from you.  You are not automatically negligent, just because it happened at your house.  She'll probably get a JUDGEMENT against the person who broke her foot, but I'd give pretty good odds that the homeowners policy won't pay, as this wasn't ACCIDENTAL.   It's assault.  

Also, if she does collect, the state disability is entitled to reimbursement of lost wages paid.  And her health insurance carrier will be entitled to medical payments paid to her, from the at fault party.

Print this out and give it to her.  Your medical payments section isn't going to give her what she wants - it's only going to pay $500 to the hospital.  Or whatever the section E limit is (could be $250, could be NONE.)

Answer 11

I'd contact a lawyer...it sounds like your 'friend' wants money for nothing...YOU did nothing wrong and are not at fault..the idiot who jumped her needs to pay her bills, NOT YOU.