Legal Question in Personal Injury in Wisconsin
Trampoline injury on my property
My daughters friend who is 9 was over playing on our trampoline and fell off and got hurt, we had no renters insurance and the homeowners insurance will not cover it, her parents want us to pay for all medical bills, are we liable for all medical costs even though the parents gave her permission to play on the trampoline? She has been coming over to our house for about 6 months before the accident the first time I ever met or spoke with her parents was when I had to call them because she had gotten hurt.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Trampoline injury on my property
The injured child and her parents may recover compensation from you only if they can prove that you were negligent in causing the injury and that the negligence of the child did not exceed your negligence. If the injured child and her parents are unable to prove those things, you are not liable to them for anything. It would be a different issue regarding the medical bills if there were homeowners or renters insurance coverage available, since the medical payments provisions of those policies are not dependent upon a finding of causal negligence of the homeowner or renter. If there is really no such insurance coverage available, then the only way that the child and her parents can recover compensation from you would be to sue you and prove your negligence and that your negligence was not exceeded by the negligence of the child. Are you sure that there is no insurance coverage for this? It can be expensive to defend a lawsuit if you have no insurance company to pay the costs of defense.
You may call me if you have any questions about this.