When you get hurt at someone else's house

[torinsmom]

My 15 yo nephew broke his hand at a friend's house Friday. Evidently he was on the treadmill, and the child who lives there(17 yo) turned up the speed and he fell. He went and got an x-ray and they put a cast on. Well, today they went back to the doctor and found out he needs to have surgery to get pins in his hand because it is not healing properly. The friend only knows that he went and got a cast; she doesn't know things have progressed to where it is going to be an expensive accident, even with health insurance. So my question is, if you get hurt at someone's house, do you just suck it up or what? Would home owner's insurance help at all?

 

[Breezy_Carol]

When my son's friend broke his arm jumping off a swing in our backyard, somehow our home owners was involved. This has been over 15 years ago so I don't remember the details. I think her health insurance covered it and we picked up the deductible.

If it is at a person's home, the injured person can sue the homeowner, regardless of fault (I believe.)

 

[scrapquitler]

My 15 yo nephew broke his hand at a friend's house Friday. Evidently he was on the treadmill, and the child who lives there(17 yo) turned up the speed and he fell. He went and got an x-ray and they put a cast on. Well, today they went back to the doctor and found out he needs to have surgery to get pins in his hand because it is not healing properly. The friend only knows that he went and got a cast; she doesn't know things have progressed to where it is going to be an expensive accident, even with health insurance. So my question is, if you get hurt at someone's house, do you just suck it up or what? Would home owner's insurance help at all?

Personally, if it were my child at a friends house, I would chalk it up to 'accidents happen' and I would pay the insurance deductible of copayment and get on with my life. I wouldn't file claims with the family's homeowners insurance (that would probably cost them many times the $$$ in the long run when their insurance drops them as a result).

If something happened to my child's friend at my house, I would be mortified. I would call the parents to apologize and I would personally pay their copay or deductible and hope that they would be satisfied with that and not file a claim with my insurance.

Now if it were a MAJOR MAJOR injury (like a child becoming paralyzed in a swimming pool accident) then yes, I would deal with the homeowners insurance regardless of which side I was on, but for something like the OP describes, a non-major thing...no, I wouldn't involve the homeowners insurance.

Just my personal opinon. Discuss among yourselves...

 

[torinsmom]

When my son's friend broke his arm jumping off a swing in our backyard, somehow our home owners was involved. This has been over 15 years ago so I don't remember the details. I think her health insurance covered it and we picked up the deductible.

If it is at a person's home, the injured person can sue the homeowner, regardless of fault (I believe.)

She would definitely not be interested in suing. I'm just wondering if the homeowner could make a claim. If there was a claim due to an accident, would her rates go up? My poor sister just had to replace her well pump for $4200 and her DH has been out of work for over a year. I don't know how she's going to pay for what the insurance doesn't pay.

Obviously, the kids should not have been on the treadmill

 

[minniebeth]

Sometimes once the insurance company sees the injury report, and where and how the injury occured, they will contact the homeowner's insurance for compensation where the injury took place if you are willing to provide that information when requested. The injured party doesn't have to do the suing, the insurance company will take care of getting the bills covered from the homeowner's insurance where the injury occured.

 

[torinsmom]

Personally, if it were my child at a friends house, I would chalk it up to 'accidents happen' and I would pay the insurance deductible of copayment and get on with my life. I wouldn't file claims with the family's homeowners insurance (that would probably cost them many times the $$$ in the long run when their insurance drops them as a result).

If something happened to my child's friend at my house, I would be mortified. I would call the parents to apologize and I would personally pay their copay or deductible and hope that they would be satisfied with that and not file a claim with my insurance.

Now if it were a MAJOR MAJOR injury (like a child becoming paralyzed in a swimming pool accident) then yes, I would deal with the homeowners insurance regardless of which side I was on, but for something like the OP describes, a non-major thing...no, I wouldn't involve the homeowners insurance.

Just my personal opinon. Discuss among yourselves...

Well, my sister and BIL were there, so the responsibility was definitely not all on the friend. I don't know if my sister would even accept if the friend offered to pay part of it. The incident just got me thinking about what the proper etiquette is.

 

[torinsmom]

Sometimes once the insurance company sees the injury report, and where and how the injury occured, they will contact the homeowner's insurance for compensation where the injury took place if you are willing to provide that information when requested. The injured party doesn't have to do the suing, the insurance company will take care of getting the bills covered from the homeowner's insurance where the injury occured.

Oh yeah, I remember now having to fill that out on reports.

 

[Poohforyou]

She would definitely not be interested in suing. I'm just wondering if the homeowner could make a claim. If there was a claim due to an accident, would her rates go up? My poor sister just had to replace her well pump for $4200 and her DH has been out of work for over a year. I don't know how she's going to pay for what the insurance doesn't pay.

Obviously, the kids should not have been on the treadmill:sad2:

If a 15 yo and 17 yo can't be trusted to use a treadmill without adult supervision I'm worried for both of them. My 11yo uses one on a regular basis without any issue. This is a case of at least one teen who should know better being stupid.

It's possible her health insurance will ask how the accident happened. If they find out it happened at someone else's house they may pursue it on their own. An insurance company isn't going to want to pay if they don't have to.

 

[HsvTeacher]

I fell down the stairs at my SIL's house and broke my leg. The recovery took a long time, involved multiple x-rays and casts, rehab, and missed work. I never dreamed of asking my in-laws to pay a penny of the costs, because it was an accident. IMHO, that was the proper etiquette.

 

[mhsjax]

If a 15 yo and 17 yo can't be trusted to use a treadmill without adult supervision I'm worried for both of them. My 11yo uses one on a regular basis without any issue. This is a case of at least one teen who should know better being stupid.

It's possible her health insurance will ask how the accident happened. If they find out it happened at someone else's house they may pursue it on their own. An insurance company isn't going to want to pay if they don't have to.

It is probably different for your 11 year old using one. I bet these were 2 kids that were playing around, I bet this isn't about parental over involvement. Kids, including myself, do stupid thing when parents aren't around.My kids use my exercise equipment, but there is no need for their friends to be one there, and if they were, they are probably up to no good.

 

[bumbershoot]

In that particular case, if my son were the injured one, I wouldn't go after the family of the older kid. Accidents happen. The 17 year old didn't mean to do it.

And when the insurance company contacted me with their "is anyone else to blame" letters, I would say (as I've said 3 separate times for injuries, twice involving DS, once involving me) "this was an accident, there is no one else to blame" and be done with it.

I can't even imagine asking the family of the 17 year old for money. Accidents happen.


Now...if there were something wrong with the treadmill, if it went from 0-60 in under a second, then I'd have a chat with the treadmill company. But usually with treadmills it increases speed slowly, and the one on the treadmill should have had the opportunity to stop it, tell the 17 year old to stop it, or even get the attention of a parent, before it went up that fast. Or just put feet on the sides of the treadmill. I've watched lots of siblings goofing around on treadmills at the Y (in the "family" workout area, which is nowhere near as well supervised as it should be) and all of them have had time to get themselves out of harm's way as someone else is pressing buttons.

But if the treadmill malfunctioned, it's a different story.

 

[MomofKatie]

Nowadays, insurance companies will ask a lot of questions to determine who to contact for payment. DD fell at a friend's house and broke her arm a few years ago. Our health insurance company asked a lot of questions- where was DD when the accident happened? Were there any other people involved in the accident? What were the details of the accident (i e, was there anything that caused the fall that could be considered negligence on the part of the neighbors)? My impression was that my insurance company was investigating for anything they could to use as means to try to collect from the neighbors instead of paying the full claim themselves.

 

[shmoogrrrl]

They may not have a choice when the insurance company gets involved. My daughter sprained her ankle at our church and about a week after our ER visit, we got a call from the insurance company asking all sorts of questions about why it happened and what exactly happened. The lady said that if they determined that the church was at fault, they would 'deal with' the Church's insurance company. I was somewhat horrified because we didn't blame the church at all.

Nothing came of it, though. I made it clear that my daughter was acting silly and jumping around in the parking lot on the way to the car when she landed wrong. I suppose the Church's insurance is there for this sort of thing, and I suppose our insurance wants to get it paid by someone else if they could, but still. At least it didn't go any further.

 

[shortbun]

If a 15 yo and 17 yo can't be trusted to use a treadmill without adult supervision I'm worried for both of them. My 11yo uses one on a regular basis without any issue. This is a case of at least one teen who should know better being stupid.

It's possible her health insurance will ask how the accident happened. If they find out it happened at someone else's house they may pursue it on their own. An insurance company isn't going to want to pay if they don't have to.

My 13yo son ripped his knees open on our treadmill. He didn't have the off rope attached to himself and tripped, fell and the thing kept running. His injuries were bad and took a long time to heal. Our treadmill, weight bench and other workout pieces are off limits to non family members. They are welcome to the kinect, the basketball court. No one is allowed to play while we are gone. These rules are followed here, or the rule breaker can not come back for a long time.

My insurance agent has made it clear to me that we have liability issues with our gym and sports equipment. I am the gestapo when it comes to safety issues. No guarantees but I''m aware of the possibilities.

 

[minniebeth]

A lot of times it depends on how the injury report is taken. If it is known that the accident happened at someone else's home, regardless of fault, if the injuries result in multiple bills, ie surgery, the insurance co. will sue the homeowner's insurance co. to pay the claims regardless if you want them to or not.

 

[torinsmom]

If a 15 yo and 17 yo can't be trusted to use a treadmill without adult supervision I'm worried for both of them. My 11yo uses one on a regular basis without any issue. This is a case of at least one teen who should know better being stupid.

It's possible her health insurance will ask how the accident happened. If they find out it happened at someone else's house they may pursue it on their own. An insurance company isn't going to want to pay if they don't have to.

They're all really good kids; I think it was a matter of too many kids and too much going on. There were also 2 12 year old boys present at the time. The story I was told was that DN was on the treadmill walking. One of the 12 yos knocked over a fan and as DN reached over to set it back up, the older girl turned the speed up. Sounds like she did not realize he was going to bend over to get the fan, so it was a stupid accident.

I have a feeling my sister and BIL know enough to not say the accident happened at someone else's house. Like I said, I don't think my sister would accept anything from the friend, even if it was offered.

 

[minniebeth]

I have a feeling my sister and BIL know enough to not say the accident happened at someone else's house.

That's the key: but don't be surprised if the drs. and hopital personnel ask your DN on more than one occasion how the injury happened...

 

[*JoGo*]

I broke my ankle at my In-Laws May 2010.
Went to ER, was asked what happened, their homeowner's was never contacted, the insurance co. never called me.

My In-Laws paid all my bills.
They also gave me what I would've made at work - I missed the last 3 weeks of school.
And I now totally understand why someone WOULD want pain and suffering. I have never been in so much pain in all my life - including 2 natural child births.

 

[clh2]

I fell down the stairs at my SIL's house and broke my leg. The recovery took a long time, involved multiple x-rays and casts, rehab, and missed work. I never dreamed of asking my in-laws to pay a penny of the costs, because it was an accident. IMHO, that was the proper etiquette.

About 13 years ago - my niece slipped on our wood floor. Literally - she was walking down the stairs, in her socks, and when she went from the carpeted stairs to the wood floor - she slipped. She broke one of the bones in her wrist.

YUCH...

My sister and BIL - were of the absolute opinion that THEIR insurance should cover this, since IT WAS AN ACCIDENT. Period.

Otherwise, our homeowner's would have kicked in.

 

[Mandy_in_NC]

Insurance companies will ask a lot of questions. I was having a problem with my shoulder. I didn't injure it in anyway. I went to see an ortho dr and they finally figured out that I had a defect from birth that was causing the problem. I had surgery to fix it and it has been fine ever sense. But after every visit to the ortho dr I was getting a letter from my insurance company wanting to know how I hurt it, was I involved in an accident, did it happen on some one else's property. And I replied everytime that I did not injure it that it just started hurting all of a sudden. I finally got fed up and the next letter I got I wrote on it that it was a birth defect and that if they wanted to hold anybody responsible then they either needed to contact God or my Mother and both of them could be found at the same place. Funny thing is I had 3 more follow up visits and I never got another letter from the insurance company.