Legal Question in Insurance Law in California
In December 2007 my boyfriend and I were fighting at his house and he pushed me off the second story balcony. I broke my pelvis in 3 places, my lower back, and fractured 2 ribs. I first told the police that i leaned back and fell but they didnt believe me because they had been told I was in a fight with my boyfriend. So then I admitted it wasnt an accident but said i jumped on purpose in an attempt to harm myself, so they wouldnt arrest him for attempted murder. He didnt purposely do it, he said he meantt to grab me by the front of my shirt ( I was sitting on the railing of the balcony) and tell me not to ever diserespect him in his own home.But when he went to grab me, I fell backwards off the railing and hit the concrete below. I truly believe he didnt do it on purpose. He wasnt a violent person but we had been drinking and therre were a few drugs on board that night. I told him I was going to file a claim against his landlords insurance company (he had rented the home for 5 years) but tony (my boyfriend) lsaid that it would stir up trouble and open an investigation and he didnt want all the hassle and uproar I guess. And he wa pretty hard on himself for knowing he was to blame anyway, and I didnt want to to keep throwing it in his face because he treid so hard to make up for what happened in his own way. He really did, he cooked, cleaned, shopped, carried me up and down the stairs, he was always there to make sure i was ok. II told him Id just put it all behind us and forget about the suing his landlordds insurance.But he died 2 months later. When he died I was nowhere near being able to walk on my own but I wanted the physical pain to overbear the emotional pain because I couldnt cope with the grief so I threw my walker in the closet and starting pulling myself around ubtil i could hobble on my own. I Know i probably sc rewed up my recovery because im haviung problems still, can i sue the insurance company still after 2 and !/2 years?
2 Answers from Attorneys
I'm sorry to hear about the series of events. Wow! You've had a difficult few years.
The statute of limitation for battery is two years, so you probably can't even sue your boyfriend's estate, and there'd be no insurance coverage.
I don't know why the landlord would be liable to trigger his/her insurance policy. You stated you fell backwards off the railing. It is not reasonable for a landlord to expect that a tenant or visitor would sit on a balcony railing.
You can always sue the landlord but you will lose, unless there was some defect in the balcony that caused your fall, but of course your boyfriend caused it. So you would lose.
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