Legal Question in Personal Injury in New Jersey

Re: guest was hurt at my home

You may want to report this to the insurance agent who sold you your home insurance policy, the policy which includes public liability insurance. Call your agent today, and chat with the agent about it. So long as you have public liability insurance in place, that insurance company will defend any lawsuit and pay any amount owed up to the limits of your insurance policy.

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Re: guest was hurt at my home

Yes, he can make a claim for his injuries. I strongly suggest that you contact your homeowners insurance and advise them of the potential claim. I also suggest that you be friendly and neighborly to the parents and child. If they make a claim , so be it. But more often than not people seek out attorneys becuase they are angry with the lack of caring subsequent to the accident. Also, people tend to have a more difficult time pursuing a claim against a friend or neighbor.

As to the injury, he is a child and the fact taht he may have played later does not mean that it is not real or serious. WE know this from our common experiences.

Finally, if a claim is made or you are sued, your concern is not the claim but that it is covered within your policy. At the point that a claim is made, you are not there to protect the insurance compnay, they are supposed to protect you. Consider retaining personal counsel for the sole purpose of documenting to the insurance company that you expect them to fully defend you and settle all claim WITHIN the policy limits. You do not care whether they pay $10 or !0 million, so long as you personally do not have liability. So long as you take this position with the company, then it is likely that they would be responsible for an excess if a verdict were greater than the policy.

Only an uninformed person encourages the compnay not to settle, becuase then if they gamble and lose, you are responsible for the any verdict in excess. You paid for the coverage, expect them to provide it.

It is unfortunate that the child was injured at your home. There are duites owed to invitees and social guests. Whether those duties were violated, I do not know. But there exists potential liability. Thus, you are well counseled to be aware and take appropriate action to protect yourself.

Please feel free to contact me if you ahve any questions. Best wishes.