A member of the public broke her wrist in my warehouse

[goooooooders]

What is the name of your state? I'd be grateful for any information opinions about how this case might play out.
I'll try to be concise.

We sub-let part of our caravan sales warehouse out to a pet grooming service (verbal contract, monthly standing order for rent, invoices raised every month, no lease or contract)
They have their own dedicated entrance at the far end of the building.
One of their clients wrongly entered our caravan warehouse entrance which has no signage for the grooming shop
She had arranged to meet the pet groomer owner outside but she arrived 2 minutes early and let herself into our warehouse
She was told "He is not here" by one of our staff when she asked for the pet groomer
She went exploring through our warehouse to find the pet grooming salon
She was not invited into the warehouse or invited to go and look for him.
She opened a huge plywood makeshift door into our loading bay and fell down the step immediately beyond the door
She broke her wrist in 2 places

The large plywood door she opened did not have a sign on saying "no entry" or "staff only"
The single step down did not have a sign nearby saying "caution: step" or similar.
There was no light on in the area where she fell and she later commented that it was a bit dark.

The lady is in her 60s and her daughters are pushing her to sue us.

As she entered our building without permission and then led herself through our warehouse we believe we may have a good defense or that we could even counter-sue her for trespassing. We only open on a "view by appointment" basis and there was no "open" sign on our door.

How do you think this situation will play out?
We are considering offering her a quick resolution payment of $1200 in the hope that her daughters will be satisfied with a quick and easy payment rather than a longer legal battle or the prospect of forcing them to defend a trespassing charge.

What do you think will happen?
What would you do?

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state?

This is not a worker's compensation issue as the woman who injured herself in the warehouse was not your employee.

You should turn over to your insurer any complaint filed against you. Your insurance company will handle the injury claim.

 

[goooooooders]

I am worried that our insurance might void our insurance because we didn't have a "No Entry" sign on the door and we didn't have a sign saying "Watch the step".

Are they not likely to try and refuse to handle it for us because of the lack of signage?

 

[LdiJ]

I am worried that our insurance might void our insurance because we didn't have a "No Entry" sign on the door and we didn't have a sign saying "Watch the step".

Are they not likely to try and refuse to handle it for us because of the lack of signage?

You really must turn it in to your insurance company.

 

[Zigner]

Sorry - this forum is for US law matters only. Since you (twice) ignored the question asking for your state name, we can only assume that this situation is not occurring in the US

 

[xylene]

we can only assume that this situation is not occurring in the US

and "Caravan Warehouse" is kind of a dead giveaway too.

 

[adjusterjack]

What would you do?

Immediately turn this over to your liability insurance. Only a fool would try to settle an injury claim on his own, no matter where you are located.

How's this for a scenario.

You offer the money, the lady says no, sues you for $100,000. You report it to your insurance. Your insurance says "Whoa, your policy says report it when it happens, you have breached the contract and prejudiced our right to investigate, coverage denied, policy rescinded, you're on your own." Then you get to spend tens of thousands on a lawyer and some jury decides that your settlement offer was an admission of liability because you had no clue as to how to make the offer.