Legal Question in Insurance Law in Oregon

Re: open house slip and fall

I think you need to provide the homeowner's insurance information for that home, to the injured party. Failing to do so in a timely fashion can cause the insurer to deny coverage if a claim is made later.

If you held the open house and you don't live there, I doubt any liability would come into play, so long as you didn't set anything up that was negligent, in relation to where this fellow fell. The policy for the home is going to be "primary" coverage anyway.

The insurer will figure out what, if anything, to pay on this. The mere fact that someone falls on your premises doesn't make it your fault. There is, however, typically a limited amount of automatic "no-fault" medical coverage, or "med-pay," on homeowner policies which might cover up to $1,000 or $5,000 in medical bills, depending on the policy terms.

Apart from the limited med-pay coverage, the homeowners insurer will only pay more if they feel their insured was in some way negligent in how those basement stairs were set up, and that this caused the fall. Once this incident is reported to the homeowners insurance, they will investigate and make a determination about liability.

Good luck!

-- Sam