Legal Question in Insurance Law in California

Re: Homeowner liability due to a friends injury (accident off of a boat)

You have no duty to make a claim to your insurer, but you may want to notify them of the potential claim so there can be no "late notice" problems with your insurer. I suppose there is boat-owners insurance as well? I am always happy to discuss these matters at no cost.

Re: Homeowner liability due to a friends injury (accident off of a boat)

Call your homeowners carrier at once, or you risk forfeiting your coverage (which you will need)

Re: Homeowner liability due to a friends injury (accident off of a boat)

Your husband is financially responsible. The fact that his friend has insurance is less significant than you seem to believe, since the insurer can sue your husband to recoup its costs. You should make a claim against your homeowner's policy, since being sued is one of the things you paid to be insured against. Depending upon the facts, your insurer may or may not be on the hook. If it is, it will be responsible for all of the plaintiff's compensatory damages (including pain and suffering) up to your policy limits, less your deductible.

The only way I can think of to avoid making such a claim would be to pay the friend's medical bills directly. These bills could be quite substantial and you may not have the resources to pay them.

Your husband can also try to settle with his friend, but the friend's insurer will have to be part of the negotiations and may not be eager to compromise its claims.

Good luck.

Re: Homeowner liability due to a friends injury (accident off of a boat)

My firm does many Personal Injury cases for injured persons or persons who have been sued.

One thing the other attorneys have failed to explain to you is that your husband pushing your friend off of the boat was no accident. It was an intentional act, notwithstanding the fact that your husband did not intend for his friend to get hurt.

This is analogous to you running your car into your friends car as a joke, and your friend gets injured.

Most Personal Injury cases, i.e., car accidents, premises liability, etc., are due to the mistakes or accidents of people (negligence). In your husband's case your homeowners insurance may or may not cover it, but I would report the claim and hope that they would. Homeowners insurance policies cover many things but it is unlikely that they would cover something like this. It is worth a shot.

I am quite sure your husbands friend already has a lawyer because they are speaking lawyer jargon, i.e, pain & suffering, medical bills, etc. The worst possible case for you is that your homeowners insurance does not cover this, and you get sued for negligence, and assault & battery. Assault & Battery allows for exemplary damages. If I were representing the injured party, I would assert this cause of action. You should visit my website at www.thepersonalinjury.com for valuable information about personal injury cases and the damages that your husband's friend may be entitled to in this case.

My main website is www.norman-law.com on that site you can read about our civil defense practice. If your homeowners insurance does not cover the claim you are going to need to retain a lawyer in case your are sued which is probably going to be a forgone conclusion, or to make sure you draft a compromise and release (settlement) which is iron clad.

One thing personal injury lawyers look at when suing a defendant is whether the defendant has assets. Since you are a homeowner, your house is on the line. This is a much more serious matter than you realize.

If you want to discuss this matter with me, you may call me for a free consultation.