Legal Question in Personal Injury in Virginia

liability of use

My neighbor borrows my extenstion ladder to use in his yard.

He loans it to another neighbor to use in his yard, he injuries himself while using my ladder am I liable?


Asked on 2/05/03, 1:21 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Re: liability of use

If you loan a ladder that is defective such that

it is foreseeable that a reasonabbly prudent

person would necessarily know that the ladder

might cause injury to another person who was to

climb up on it or use it for the normal purposes for which it was intended, then you could be liable.

However, if you were to loan a perfectly sound ladder to a neighbor who may loan it to another

person(with or without your permission)and one of these persons or someone else is injured while using the ladder, there would be no liability on your part for any injuries sustained by persons

using(or misusing) your perfectly sound ladder, since there could be no foreseeability on your

part that such injury might occur from the reasonable use of your ladder.

The foreseeability component is a key element in

personal injury or tort law.

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Answered on 2/05/03, 7:56 pm


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