Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Re: Responsibility of a host or a guest regarding accidents in private home

Either pay up or call your homeowners' insurance carrier.

Re: Responsibility of a host or a guest regarding accidents in private home

The hosts would be responsible for harm their carelessness caused to a guest, but that's not what happened here. Instead, a guest harmed the hosts. Because parents are responsible for the torts of their children, you are on the hook.

Having said that, you may only be on the hook for part of the bill. If your son started the fire by being careless then he and you would be liable for negligence. But California (like most other states, or perhaps even all of them) follows a legal doctrine called "comparative fault". This doctine, which only applies in negligence cases, means that a defendant who is only partially to blsme for the plaintiff's harm is only responsible for a portion of the loss. The judge or jury in such a case must decide what percentage of the fault lies with the defendant, who then must pay for that percentage of the loss. If your case goes to court the hosts may be found partially at fault, but I have no way to say how likely this is or what percentage they would place on your son.

This rule will not apply if your son acted intentionally. If he deliberately started the fire then the hosts are not responsible even if their negligence helped make your son's wrongful conduct possible.

I believe there is a limit to the amount of damages parents can be forced to pay for their children's torts, but offhand I don't know what the limit is or whether it applies only to certain types of cases.

Good luck.