personal injury at home

[GREG85345]

AZ. around 3-17-02 ) , Girlfriend of my daughter, was playing in my backyard on our homebuilt swingset , She got hurt when the tire on the tire swing brokr loose and she fell about two feet to the ground and hit her head and was unconicous and had to be air evaced to the hospital , well it turns out her father isnt working and they dont have any health ins. so did file a claim with my property ins. company, after they took photos of the swingset I told them we were going to tear it down cause we felt it wasnt safe any more, well we did and i did let them know I was going to. Well the father of the little girl has hired a lawyer and he told my ins.company to make sure i dont tear it down, which is now to late , it is at the local landfill. My question is ,Can he still sue us even if i filed a claim and my ins.company has already contacted him , and his girl is doing just fine no noticable injuries, the hospital said she was okay . Will I just have to pay the medical bills with my ins. policy or I am looking at a long drawn out deal , I know my insurance company has a legal service to defend us. But will they stand with us or just settle for medical paymentv and leave me withv the rest?

 

[Beth3]

You can be sued separately for negligence over and above any payment your insurance carrier makes for the girl's medical bills, pain and suffering, etc. If you have additional umbrella liability coverage, that would potentially cover any judgement made against you on the negligence issue, assuming the girl's father prevails.

You need to talk to your insurance agent immediately and get a full explanation of the limits of your coverage and find out what role the insurance carrier will play if a lawsuit proceeds - which probably depends whether you alone are named as the party being sued or whether it will be you and your insurance carrier.

Then you very likely need to obtain your own legal counsel. Any attorney representing your carrier is paid to act in the insurance carrier's best interests, which are not necessarily the same as yours.