Carbon Monoxide lawsuits?

Hi,

I just found out from a family member that he is being sued by one of his tenants claiming they have permanent headache problems from carbon monoxide poisioning. The situation is that my family member owns his own house and he rents one of the rooms out to a roommate. Well after the roommate moved out about a year ago and apparantly has filed a lawsuit against my family member. I don't really know much about the details of the case at all so I'm not speculating whether this is a BS case or not.

Here are my two questions about this situation. I'm pretty sure that his insurance company will handle the damages should this roommate win.....however is there anyway that this roommate can get a ridicilous amount of money from Punitive damages? From what I understand, Punitive damages are awarded for purposely harming the plaintiff.....which in this case would make no sense since you would effectively be arguing that my family member was trying to purposely give the plaintiff carbon monoxide poisioning and since they both live in the same house wouldn't that be like saying he was trying to poision himself also?

My second question is this. The family member who is being sued was a co-signer on the title to my house. He has never made any payments towards the house, I made the downpayment along with all subsequent mortgage payments, so is there anyway that my house could now be in jeapordy if my family member loses the case and basically loses everything in his name?

Thanks in advance.What is the name of your state?

GSN said:

Hi,
I just found out from a family member that he is being sued by one of his tenants claiming they have permanent headache problems from carbon monoxide poisioning. The situation is that my family member owns his own house and he rents one of the rooms out to a roommate. Well after the roommate moved out about a year ago and apparantly has filed a lawsuit against my family member. I don't really know much about the details of the case at all so I'm not speculating whether this is a BS case or not.

Here are my two questions about this situation. I'm pretty sure that his insurance company will handle the damages should this roommate win.....however is there anyway that this roommate can get a ridicilous amount of money from Punitive damages? From what I understand, Punitive damages are awarded for purposely harming the plaintiff.....which in this case would make no sense since you would effectively be arguing that my family member was trying to purposely give the plaintiff carbon monoxide poisioning and since they both live in the same house wouldn't that be like saying he was trying to poision himself also?

My second question is this. The family member who is being sued was a co-signer on the title to my house. He has never made any payments towards the house, I made the downpayment along with all subsequent mortgage payments, so is there anyway that my house could now be in jeapordy if my family member loses the case and basically loses everything in his name?

Thanks in advance.What is the name of your state?

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Um... are you saying Hi to us, or is the state Hawaii ?

Oops sorry, not sure why the heck the Hi and the name of the state thing is there. Please ignore that stuff in bold.

Thanks for pointing it out, kinda looks stupid after reading that again )

GSN said:

Oops sorry, not sure why the heck the Hi and the name of the state thing is there. Please ignore that stuff in bold.

Thanks for pointing it out, kinda looks stupid after reading that again )

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I wasn't trying to make you look stupid GSN, the thing is that "What is the name of your State?" thing is there for a reason.

We really need to know the name of the state where your brother lives, okay?

Here are my two questions about this situation. I'm pretty sure that his insurance company will handle the damages should this roommate win.....however is there anyway that this roommate can get a ridicilous amount of money from Punitive damages?

Click to expand...

Negligence can also be punished.

My second question is this. The family member who is being sued was a co-signer on the title to my house. He has never made any payments towards the house, I made the downpayment along with all subsequent mortgage payments, so is there anyway that my house could now be in jeapordy if my family member loses the case and basically loses everything in his name?

Click to expand...

You state he is a co-signer, not a co-owner. Is his name on the deed?

My brother lives in Colorado. I just checked my Deed and looks like he's listed as a co-borrower on the loan even though he's never put any money towards it.....so looks like I'm going to get dragged into this even though I have nothing to do with this!!

I guess they could play the negligence angle but still seems silly to me to say he was trying to poison everyone including himself. He does have one of those carbon monoxide detector things so I don't know what more he has to do if everybody else in the house feels fine including the dog.

Anyway thanks for the replies, I'm just going to sit back and see what happens.

GSN said:

My brother lives in Colorado. I just checked my Deed and looks like he's listed as a co-borrower on the loan even though he's never put any money towards it.....so looks like I'm going to get dragged into this even though I have nothing to do with this!!

I guess they could play the negligence angle but still seems silly to me to say he was trying to poison everyone including himself. He does have one of those carbon monoxide detector things so I don't know what more he has to do if everybody else in the house feels fine including the dog.

Anyway thanks for the replies, I'm just going to sit back and see what happens.

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As I posted before, unless he is listed as an owner of the property, you are safe (generally).

I realize you have given us very few details but this suit sounds pretty weak. For your brother to be held liable there would need to be some proof the injury was cause by the condition in your brothers house. Unless there are some records as to the CO level in the house, I can't see where there is proof. There are many things in life this guy may have been exposed to that would cause the same or similar injury. I wouldn't get too worked up yet. Heck, if this guys car has a leaking exhaust system he could be exposed to much higher levels of CO everytime he drives the car than what he would have been exposed to at the bro's house.

Was there a problem with the heater? If your brother lived in the same house, he would have also been affected.