Can someone who was helping me install a fence sue for injury to his back?

[tommytx]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Virginia...
Says Va has a 1% fault meaining if the person is even 1% at fault they cannot sue....

One of my renters was hired for a one time job to help me install a fence on one of my other rentals. He claims he hurt his back while working on my property. Can he sue me since he injured himself and I did nothing negligent to cause the situation.

Actually there is no witnesses, so also no proof that he even hurt his back on my property at all.. his word only... and it was not even reported until the following day...

Any thoughts...
As we know back injuries can jump into hundreds of thousands of dollars in a split second...

 

[justalayman]

So, one of your employees was injured on the job. Sounds like a workmans comp situation. Turn it in to your WC provider.

 

[tommytx]

Normally when you use only one person to help with a fence, since they are not regular employees, you would not normally be required to have workman's comp... this is someone who does casual work.. and my understanding is with less than 2 employees you do not require workman comp.. and in that case I thought that I may not be responsible unless I was negligent in causing the accident..

 

[Dave1952]

There's nothing that prevents this guy from suing. If he hurt his back doing work for you then you may be liable. He seems to have reported the injury to you in a timely fashion. Have you had a Doctor examine him? Since there were no witnesses it will be difficult for you to prove any negligence on his part. If this is the defense that you hope to use how will you show negligence?
Have you spoken to your insurance agent? What does he advise?
If you try to ignore this guy I suspect that he will sue you. Get him to a Doctor.


Good luck

 

[justalayman]

Normally when you use only one person to help with a fence, since they are not regular employees, you would not normally be required to have workman's comp... this is someone who does casual work.. and my understanding is with less than 2 employees you do not require workman comp.. and in that case I thought that I may not be responsible unless I was negligent in causing the accident..

I have no idea how many employees you have.

You may not be required to have WC but that doesn't absolve you of any liability for a work related injury.

 

[tommytx]

In a case like this where someone claims they hurt their back on your property, do they have to prove they were injured on your property, since there was no witness and the person did not go to the the emergency until a day later.

Since no one saw the incident..(if there was one) how does anyone even know if it occurred on my property..

 

[justalayman]

in contrast; can you prove it didn't happen on your property?

If there is disagreement, a court can make the determination.

 

[tommytx]

You know as serious as this case is, its a real funny.... He told me he hurt his back when he threw a large bag of clothes over his shoulder but since the would not give him an MRI due to no insurance, he went to Social Services to see if they would authorize an MRI... during the interview the Worker told him he could not have hurt his back by throwing a bag of clothes over his shoulder and suggested that it must have been done another way... and quizzed him on what else he had done in the last few days... he said he had worked on a fence in the last couple of days and may have picked up something heavy... like a bag of concrete... so they said.. "that's it... go sue the homeowner.." wild...
My only hope is that if it does get to court that it is entereed at emergency and at social services that he initially reported throwing a bag over his shoulder at home... as the cause... then changed his story to something that was more likely to pay off in dividends later...

The funny thing is that when I asked what happened to the original story about the bag of clothes... he relayed that same story again about being told that it could not have been throwing the clothes over the shoulder... wish I had a witness about him telling that story... though about recording it and asking again about the original story but that would not be legal I suppose.. maybe I can have a witness next time... he is probably dumb enought to give that same story again....

I have been researching a lot on this... and they are even using sometimes whether or not he uses your tools, or whether you credit his rent and all sorts of crap to determine if he is an employee or contractor... even if you have an independent contractor agreement.....
if they could claim in this case he was my employee... they could then go after me for no Work Comp... some folks are buying WC even with Zero employees like me just in case they get hit with an employee even though he signed a Indep cont agreement.... its wild.. now adays..