Spending time at the home of a friend or family member is a common occurrence, typically involving celebrations, get togethers, and fun play dates. However, injuries at another’s home resulting in home owner liability in Oklahoma happens more often than people may think.
As of 2018, nearly a million guests suffered non-fatal but dangerous fall accidents, while 300,000 guests were victims of non-fatal dog bites. Injuries that occur when guests are visiting often require emergency room visits, medical care and follow-up treatment.
The most stressful aspect of this type of situation is the fact that a friend or family member becomes injured on your property and home owner liability may result. It is important to not impact that relationship, but it is equally important to protect your rights.
A home owner liability claim on a policy can have lasting consequences. Having a personal injury attorney can reduce the stress by involving a third party that can help mediate and help the process proceed smoothly.
Understanding the most common household injury occurrences can help better prepare you for guests visiting. In addition to outlining the most common types of injuries and what to look out for, we also discuss when home owner liability is triggered. Simply getting injured at another’s house does not make the homeowner liable. Specific acts on the part of the homeowner must have taken place first in order to result in home owner liability.
Common Household Injuries to Guests
There are six of the most common injuries that home insurance companies see listed on claim forms year after year. Knowing these common injuries ahead of time can prepare you when you host a barbecue, or have co-workers over for dinner, protecting against home owner liability.
By far, the most common home injury is a slip and fall. There are so many substances that lead to slippery or uneven floors — including snow, ice, damaged flooring, insecure stair handrails, and various obstacles — that are likely to get in the way. When individuals fall, their body could fall forward, resulting in hand, wrist or arm fractures and breaks as well as knee injuries. An individual can also fall backward, injuring hips, head, back and the neck.
The second most common injury is a dog bite. This probably does not come as a surprise to many since dog bites are frequently sensationalized in the media. Dog bites and non-bite dog attacks account for almost a third of home owner liability claims.
Any person that steps onto your property — including gardeners, postal workers, salesmen, friends and family — are potential victims if you are aware of your dog’s possible aggressive nature. Even if your dog is not aggressive, it is possible for large dogs to knock over elderly guests or children and cause serious injuries.
Another type of injury occurs from falling trees. Trees can be on your neighbor’s property or on your property. If the tree was not maintained and on your neighbor’s property, then this could lead to home owner liability on the part of your neighbor. However, if the tree is on your property, this may trigger home owner liability for you.
Pools are a source of many home liability claims. The dangers that pools present are something people regularly think about when putting in a pool, but seem to forget during the fun summer pool party. It is not the pool itself that typically poses the danger — pools are fun when properly maintained, young children are always supervised, and surrounding structures are kept in good condition. For example, decks, steps and diving boards must be in good working order as well as proper use of pool chemicals.
If your county requires a fence around your pool, home owner liability could result for a pool injury if a fence was not properly installed.
Thankfully these days we see less and less trampoline accidents due to the use of the “safety net” that now surrounds the perimeter of the trampoline. However, accidents still happen, and most trampoline kits come with a laminated page of warnings. If the warnings are not followed and a guest is injured, home owner liability could ensue.
A common question arises when it comes to social drinking and liability that surrounds injuries that occur when someone is intoxicated. Many states have “social host liability” laws where homeowners are liable for the actions of intoxicated individuals if the homeowners are serving alcohol.
Oklahoma is one of those states — social hosts are liable for an intoxicated guest causing harm to another person or any injury sustained on your property. Home owner liability of intoxicated guests stretches far beyond the property lines, too. If an intoxicated guest gets in a car accident on the way home, you could be liable.
When Home Insurance is Required to Get Involved
Home owner liability law can be complex: Hiring a skilled and experienced personal injury attorney that specializes in home owner liability and insurance actions is the best way to ensure a successful outcome. Under home owner liability law, there are two classifications of people — invitees and licensees — which is why having a personal injury attorney walk you through the process and explain the law is so important.
All guests that come on to a homeowner’s property must be treated with reasonable care. For example, say your child went over to a friend’s house to play and told the friends mother that he was highly allergic to bees and couldn’t be around them. Then, your child and his friend tell the friend’s mom that they are going to go play in the backyard. Once the two kids reach the play structure, your child hears buzzing, is suddenly stung, and becomes injured.
Later, the friend’s mom admits she forgot there was a bee hive in the tree next to the play structure that her husband hadn’t taken down yet. In this case, the friend’s mother failed to practice reasonable care because she knew, or should have known, that playing near the hive could trigger anaphylactic shock from the bee hive. Her negligence in care was the result of your child’s injury.
This is when your home insurance is required to get involved, when the homeowner fails to exercise reasonable care.
The following are injuries that are typically never covered by home insurance companies:
- intentional acts, like sexual abuse.
- Accidents caused by motor vehicles.
- Injuries sustained by trespassers or those engaging in criminal acts on your property.
- Injuries to individuals that actually reside in the house (not guests).
Free Consultation with a Tulsa Personal Injury Attorney
Consulting with a personal injury attorney as soon as possible in the event a guest is injured on your property and you are concerned about home owner liability is very important. Hiring an attorney can help protect your rights, collect relevant evidence, interview witnesses and the victim, and help you through the entire process. A personal injury attorney can help protect you and advise you along the way.
Hiring a knowledgeable and experienced personal injury attorney will ensure the process is expertly conducted and your interests are well-represented.
Contact an experienced Tulsa Personal Injury Attorney when you need to go through the Oklahoma home owner liability process.
For a free confidential consultation, call now: (918) 924-5528.
