Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with liability

Why does property liability work the way it does?

IndigoRain — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 01:12:17 -0800

Why does property liability work the way it does? In other words, why am I responsible for someone else's injury in my home, even if it was in no way my fault? My friend, who has a 20-year-old daughter, permitted her daughter's friends (all over the age of 18) to come over for a swim. Two of the boys were throwing a third boy around and horseplaying. The third boy developed a hairline fracture in his neck. He and his mom have threatened to sue my friend.

I know YANAL and I am not asking for legal advice. She'll get a lawyer. I am asking why they should be liable in the first place. My friend did not provide an unsafe environment (as referenced in this thread).

Another example: My mom, a few months ago, tripped on a rug at work, and injured her knee pretty badly. The hospital told her to file workman's comp. Why is her boss responsible? I'm not saying my mom is responsible for tripping, but why isn't there something akin to an "act of God" law?

Another person I was talking to compared this to me being liable for someone tripping in my driveway. Assuming there was nothing unsafe about my property, if someone did trip in my driveway, who decided that I should have to pay that person's medical bills? (I know in practicality it is the insurance company who pays, but why my own insurance and not the injured person's insurance?) Why is it my fault? Why can't it be argued "this is just one of those things that happens" or even "it's the victim's fault for not watching where he was going?"

How did this law come about in the first place? Is there ever an exception to the law?

who's responsible for the credit card?

glawky — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:23:48 -0800

Sadly, I'm likely to be going through a divorce in the near term. I have a concern about the credit card debt I've accumulated and wish to protect my wife from any liability. Should I find myself in a situation where I am unable to pay it [ lose my job, injury, death ], is there a way to insulate her from the debt before our divorce? Does she have any liability after the divorce?

Ignorance of the law...?

uaudio — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:17:01 -0800

If I run an open wireless access point using DHCP, is there a way for anyone to identify which PC or device in the IP range is receiving or sending traffic? If I run a shared connection and someone does something unlawful, is it my problem or theirs? I'm using the latest Airport Extreme with 802.11n. I don't run any filtering software or anything like that. I just received a letter from my provider (Cox) saying that someone was sharing unauthorized content, but it wasn't me. I'm going to discuss this with the folks who share my connection, but my questions are:

1. Is it my liability if the **AA decides to sue?
2. Can they see who it actually was, like MAC address or computer name?

I understand the easiest solution moving forward is to close the access point, and running the connection open is probably in breach of Cox's TOS, but I'm more concerned about what happened already.

Freelance liability insurance is making my head hurt.

Stacey — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:52:39 -0800

I'm a small freelance business owner, with a new client whose standard contract requires me to carry general liability insurance. Probably not a bad idea, so I could use some tips for what to look for in this type of insurance, and any good carriers. But in the meanwhile, for this specific contract, I'd like to get that clause waived. Has anyone had any success having a clause like this waived, and how did you do it? I run a small copy-editing business part-time. Liability insurance hasn't been an issue up until now. Clients aren't on my property, I'm not on theirs, no one's traveling anywhere, they make all final decisions on whether to accept my suggestions...it just hasn't been a high priority and no one's asked about it before. But my new client is so happy with the job I just did that he wants to get me signed up as a contractor at his university so he can hire me again. Which is great, but there's this boilerplate language in the contract about how I need to carry all sorts of insurance - the general liability, plus workers' comp, employer's liability, and automobile liability.

Ultimately, if I can afford it, it's probably not a bad idea to have this sort of insurance. I'd like to start looking into it, and would gladly accept suggestions for companies that might have a reasonably-priced insurance policy for this sort of business. (I've looked around a little so far and the policies I'm finding seem to assume full-time employees, property, and 6-figure revenues, which is all way out of my league right now.)

In the short-term, I'd like to get paid for the job I've already done (which was originally supposed to be a one-off and thus not require all of this), and have time to look around for good insurance rather than jumping into the first thing I find just so I can satisfy this contract. A little Googling led me to some stories of editors who were able to have clauses like this waived after pointing out they don't really apply to businesses like mine. I'd like to try that tack and am looking for advice on how to proceed. Has anyone successfully had something like this waived in a contract? If so, what arguments were persuasive?

Should I pay a lawyer $1000 to fight a $3000 liability claim?

Bathtub Bobsled — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 10:17:47 -0800

Am I personally financially liable for copyright infringement when the company I work for gets sued for the unauthorized use of a song in a commercial I produced? Recently I was laid off from a job as a commercial producer for a small television station because of budget reasons. I returned last week for an exit interview and during the exit interview, my former boss flipped out at me because they were getting sued by a music publisher for unauthorized use of a song in one of our station promos.

My boss notified me that he was going to hold me liable for it because I produced the commercial. He claims that any money the station loses in the settlement, he is going to come after me for.

He still owes me two weeks severance, and he is threatening to fight my unemployment claim.

At the time I thought we were allowed to use unlicensed music in commercials that simply promote station functions (instead of pushing a product or a service). We had used many copyrighted songs many times before without any conflict. I have only learned recently that this isn't the case.

Am I liable, or should I fight this?

$300 to fix your mistake.

a robot made out of meat — Wed, 28 May 2008 08:59:59 -0800

Can a Chicago landlord transfer storm liability for the structure to the tenant? Can I get out of it? I'm (re)leasing an apartment at a large complex. The contract has two clauses which bother me. One clause clearly makes the renter liable for window damage from any cause (except landlord negligence). I don't want to be on the hook for storm damage, birds, etc. Renter's insurance isn't going to cover storm damage to windows, since I don't own them. I have six huge panels of double-paned glass; I'd image that they'd cost thousands to replace.

The second clause states that making any change to the contract which the landlord agrees to will result in a $300 fee. That's almost reasonable since they'd probably have a lawyer think about it for 5 seconds (and get billed an hour). The contract is taken directly from the National Apartment Association.

I'm looked to see if the first clause is contrary to law here (Chicago), but I can't find anything saying so.

Does anyone have experience working with large landlords and getting contract fixes? I don't want to be part of their property insurance, but I also don't want to have to pay $300 to avoid getting screwed. Obviously if I’m asking for a change I can ask for the $300 to be waived and am going to do that.

If I sign and return the contract in the next few days I get $150 off a month of rent, which would be nice. Anyone have good arguments that I should walk into the management office with?

Insurance claim against other driver denied. So what now?

Anonymous — Sun, 18 May 2008 17:18:30 -0800

Insurance claim against other driver denied. So what now? Two weeks ago my step daughter was involved in a collision. She was turning left at a four way stop, and was hit in the passenger side rear door by someone going straight on. She said she had let someone else through, then was taking her turn when he hit her.

The other driver said he was taking his turn, and she pulled in front of him. He also said that he was traveling at less than 5mph when he hit her. The police officer obviously didn't agree, asked him twice if he was sure of that, and suggested he look at our car before answering. One look at the damage made it obvious he was going a lot faster. (This is a fairly large intersection, so it is possible to build up speed, especially from a rolling stop).

He was ticketed, my step daughter was not.

Now his insurance company (Farmers) has denied our claim, saying he has a witness (who my stepdaughter never saw, and who did not talk to the police), who says that he had the right of way.

Our insurance company are now saying that they might pay his claim against her, and are no help for our claim as we had 3rd party insurance.

So now we have a written off car, a bill for towing and storage that is growing rapidly, and face future higher premiums.

So what do we do now?
Do I pay the $600 storage to get the lien off the car, sell it to a junkyard?
Sue Farmers?
Go to the other driver's court date?

(Oh, this is in Oregon)

Do appliance installers avoid attaching water lines?

madmethods — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:10:37 -0800

Scam-Filter: Do appliance installers commonly try to avoid attaching water lines? I bought a washer/dryer and a refrigerator, with delivery and installation (supposedly). The washer/dryer folks came, put the washer/dryer where they were supposed to go, and hooked up the dryer. Then they said "oh, we don't have the right hose for the washer, you'll need to go buy one and hook it up yourself".

Well, lo and behold, a couple of hours later the refrigerator guys came. They put the refrigerator in place, and then said "oh, we don't have the right hose, you'll need to go buy one and hook it up yourself".

This was enough to trigger my scam detector. Do appliance stores commonly try to avoid attaching water lines? Something to do with liability and/or warranty coverage? This is in the US (Oregon), btw. If all I'm getting is delivery, and not installation, I could just buy the bloody things directly off the net.

what do we ask a contractor and how do we ask it?

amfea — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 20:53:02 -0800

What kind of things do you need to ask a home remodeling contractor, like about liability insurance, bonding and all that? How do you approach this with them? Do you take their word for it or demand proof? My roommate is planning to have some remodeling done on the house (which she owns). Until now, her dad has been able to do all the fixin' up here, but this is a total bathroom replacement and more than he'd be able to do. So we need to find a contractor.

I don't think we'll have any problems finding people through referrals (most of our friends have had work done on their houses and most have been happy with it). But what sort of questions do we need to ask to make sure things will go smoothly, and most importantly, to make sure she's (or we?) is/are covered against damages and lawsuits?

Any advice about

Tiny Accident, They're Claiming Injuries, How Screwed Am I?

jimmyjimjim — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 08:38:50 -0800

Tiny Accident, They're Claiming Injuries, How Screwed Am I? Last week, I had an accident. I was waiting to turn right behind a van, also waiting to turn. He went, then jammed on brakes. I braked, but couldn't avoid hitting him. Minimal damage for him, none for me. It was maybe at 5-10 mph. The guys in the van - who spoke no English - kept pointing accusingly at their necks and backs...while walking around freely, comfortably, and without any evident pain (and, no, they didn't need an ambulance). I, stupidly, did not photograph the back of their van, and the police report does not go into any description of how minimal he damage was to their van. I have on my to-do list purchase of an umbrella policy, but currently have $100K in insurance. So....if these guys do a number on their van to blow up the size of the accident, and manage to produce doctor's reports testifying to their utter paralysis, is there a chance this could go over $100K? I'm guessing they'll wind up settling, and that's usually $10-20K, right? I need to note that if there was even the remotest chance they were legitimately injured, I'd be really upset about it. But, no, these guys are just opportunists. I'm expecting a hugely overblown medical report.

This isn't the kind og turkey I had in mind.

4ster — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:01:11 -0800

A guy driving his son's car backs into my wife's van, while my wife's dad is driving it. The guy admits fault, then changes his mind and his story. My in-laws never thought to file a police report or get contact information from the witness. Now we think that the vehicle that hit us may be uninsured. It all happened on private property. Help. This all takes place in Virginia. My inlaws are in the minivan, bringing it home to us from the mechanic. There is an accident on the interstate, so they pull off the interstate onto a back road, where in a vacant lot, they see two guys, each in a pickup, talking out the window.

One of the pickup guys leaves and my father-in-law pulls into the spot where he was (alongside the other pickup) to ask the guy in the other pickup for directions. While he is doing this, the first guy decides he wants to tell his budy something else, so he throws it into reverse and backs into our van, despite the fact that my father-in-law is laying on the horn.

He breaks the hood and the grill, and is falling all over himself apologizing and admitting fault. Yet, my in-laws don't file a police report.

They call the guy's insurance, who calls the guy, who admits fault. Then, about five minutes later, he decides its his word against ours, so he calls and files a separate claim, saying my father-in-law hit him. His insurance company has told us that he did this.

Now, he refuses to give us any information on how to contact his son, the vehicle's owner, and he says he is really the victim here. To make matters worse, his insurance company is now saying that his son's vehicle isn't on the policy.

It looks like my only option is to go through my insurance company, but I really don't want to do this, if I can avoid it.

So, MeFites, please put on your IANAL outfits and help me out. Thanks as always.

Will fixing something I'm not legally bound to fix set a legal precedent with my neighbors?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 19:49:18 -0800

Tree branch fell on next-door neighbor's house. He has asked me to take care of it. This occurred in Georgia. The branch was fairly large, but there is no major damage to their house. This happened several weeks ago and only in the past week has the neighbor asked me to do something about it, saying he had "talked to the city and they said it was your responsibility".

I had previously checked and what I can gather, according to Georgia law, the neighbor is responsible for whatever occurs on their property, unless they asked us to fix something in writing beforehand, which they did not.

But the neighbor is rather poor and I feel somewhat morally responsible. If I go ahead and have the branch removed, does that set a precedent which implies I'm responsible for any other branches that fall on their or other houses (it's a big tree, that has branches over several properties.

If a person trips on rubbish...

dantodd — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 05:04:31 -0800

Neighbour leaves rubbish or rubbish bins on roadside curb. Third party trips on rubbish. Who assumes liability? I live in Brisbane, Australia. My neighbour and I live a "multi-unit dwelling". Said neighbour often leaves rubbish or rubbish bins on the curbside. If a someone tripped on the objects, who's responsible? The Body Corporate, the Brisbane City Council or the individual leaving the items?

Man-with-a-van -type trasport rules and liability?

glibhamdreck — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 05:40:46 -0800

I'm thinking about offering a small man-with-a-van -type moving service for a few moves in the short-term. I have a couple of feasibility/legalish questions about transport rules and liability. I have large vehicle that's titled as an RV; if I start hauling cargo (even if it's not commercial cargo), does the classification of my vehicle change? What sort of registration and taxes would I be looking at? Do the rules change if I make moves across state lines?

Have you used a small, independent mover? What kind of liability agreement was in place for your belongings? Official or handshake?

Links are appreciated.

Car was totalled, unbeknowst to us.

virtualcourtney — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 15:13:04 -0800

Do we have any legal recourse if a car dealership lied to us about our car having been totaled before we bought it? We bought a used car from a dealership in November, 2005. When we asked about the car's history, the dealer said it had been in a minor collision but hadn't been totaled. He showed us the title and noted that it wasn't marked. We ran the VIN through Carfax, which didn't turn up anything suspicious, so we bought the car. Recently, we moved to Nebraska where the county sheriff inspects the vehicle before it can be registered. The sheriff checked the VIN and found out that our car had been salvaged from a total loss. Is the dealer liable in any way? We wouldn't have bought the car had we known (for safety concerns, as well as resale or trade-in value concerns), and we're pretty peeved that the dealership lied to us.

Starting a company in a State different than my own?

stance — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 09:51:43 -0800

Starting a company (LLC) in a State different than my own? I have just another one of those websites that has members that can communicate with one another, post stuff, etc., so I assume it's a good idea to register officially as an LLC to protect myself a bit legally.

I was looking into local rates and we're talking $500 in Illinois, but while I was browsing, I noticed that it's possible to register in another state. Some sites suggested Delaware because of it's cheap registration AND because Delaware has good corporate law. Because it's a web-based endeavor, and because there's no "primary place of business," this could be a good idea, right?

Is there any reason not to form a business in another State?

Nobody Walks into traffic in LA... we hope!

Scram — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 10:29:40 -0800

Can anyone please provide some standard legal language for a walking tour release form to be used in California? My husband and I give bus tours in LA, and when we do we're covered by the bus company's insurance. Now we're about to launch a couple of walking tours, to offer something less expensive and time consuming for our audience, and I'm concerned about liability. We won't be going anywhere intrinsically dangerous, but we'll be crossing busy streets downtown and it's always possible someone could get hurt out there.

I'm thinking that I'd like to bring a form to the tours that participants would have to sign before paying and receiving a wristband that would mark them as official attendees. If anyone could point me to such a form--either providing appropriate language in an answer below, or directing me to a Nolo Press book or similar, that would be great.

Also, in the interest of saving trees, is it necessary for every attendee to sign a unique form, or is it enough for one form to have multiple signature lines? How long should signed forms be retained? Anything else we need to know?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Event Liability Insurance Recommendations

curse — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 13:08:48 -0800

Wedding liability insurance. We're hosting a ceremony at a local school, and they require liability insurance for the day of the event at $100K. When I look online, it seems like some insurance companies will offer a one day policy option add-on for around $50 -- unfortunately my insurance company (Allstate) doesn't seem to offer that option. I've seen companies like Wedsafe mentioned tangentially in other questions, and it looks like their offering is $1,000,000 in coverage for about $195. There seems to be a ton of people offering this kind of insurance online, though, so I was wondering if anyone has had experience working with one of these companies, and if there might be a better deal out there, perhaps customized to the actual liability amount I need.

Do I have to pay for my damaged sink?

ljshapiro — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 09:20:44 -0800

A huge chip (approx. an 8" x 1" strip) came off the porcelain on my kitchen sink while I was washing dishes this morning. The sink is 60 years old (like my apartment) and was a bit cracked and discolored when I moved in 11 years ago. I was not doing anything more than normal dish washing when the damage occurred (no heavy pots or anything like that). Will my landlord by justified in making me pay for the repairs? (He will definitely try.) I'm in California if that makes a difference.

LLC, S-corp or continue as a sole proprietor?

photoslob — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 18:58:11 -0800

LLC, S-corp or continue as a sole proprietor? I've run a side freelance photography business for 4 years now and I expect it to become my sole income in the near future. I'm looking into the various types of incorporating and I'm wondering if I even need to or are the tax incentives worth the extra paper work and costs. I understand the idea of being shielded from liability but that's not the incentive. I don't have any partners so I'm unsure of the justification to go the s-corp route versus LLC. I've already established a business account but my earnings currently get lumped in with my 40-hour/ week job and my spouses earnings. Part of my desire to incorporate is to seperate my business earnings from my "family" earnings to make things a little easier at tax time.

(and I know I need to run all of this by a real live cpa but I'm just looking for some direction - thx)

Is my apartment liable for injuries resulting from a fall?

imjosh — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 09:54:16 -0800

Slipped and Fell on Apartment property, are they liable? Yesterday I slipped and fell on a patch of ice on the sidewalk outside my apartment, the complex takes responsibility for placing salt on the sidewalks.

I heard a pop when I fell and after a Doctor visit this morning, I am scheduled for an MRI tomorrow, I likely have a torn meniscus.

Is the Apartment complex liable for any of my treatment? Will my insurance go after them? Should I ask for them to cover anything? Should I have been wearing cleats?

Thanks for any advice.

Liability over ice falling in residential area?

wysard — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 08:42:04 -0800

Some ice fell from the top of our neighbor's roof, and struck my mother-in-law in the head. Are they at all liable? It wasn't an icicle, it was from the roof itself. A sheet of ice has formed on everyone's roofs here in the past weeks, and it was happenstance that she was where that one chunk fell. Regardless, she will need stitches. It doesn't feel like it's anyone's fault, but I feel I should at least tell the neighbors. Should I be more incensed?

Does being a dependent on someone else's tax filings make them liable for your actions?

jbb7 — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 21:55:26 -0800

Legal liability and auto insurance questions (fun!): Is there any reason I should purchase more than the minimum insurance coverage in my state (California)? Does being a dependent on my parents' tax filings make them liable for damages in court if I, say, caused an automobile accident? The situation is like this: They have car insurance back in our home state, but I want to get a cheap policy for a cheap car where I'm living in CA. I got a Geico quote with the minimum legal coverage on everything, and my mom says I can't get that, since they would be personally liable for any damages I cause should they exceed what the insurance covers.

The reason she gave was that since I am a dependent on their tax forms, they are legally liable for my actions. (Even though I am 18 and not living at, or anywhere near, home.) Is this true?

Bonus question: Since they claim me as a dependent, I can't take the standard tax deduction on my decent-sized income. This makes my tax bills quite high as a percentage of my total income. They do not financially support me beyond extending their health insurance to me, which they say is only allowed by the insurance provider because they are claiming me as a dependent. Is this generally the way that parents of people 18 through 22 do it? (I am working this year but will be attending college for 4 years after that, during which I plan to have decent income.) I don't think my parents are trying to rip me off, I just think they don't really have time to figure out all of this and so they just stick with the status quo.

Does the ALL CAPS mean that it's REALLY IMPORTANT?

rhapsodie — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 00:49:18 -0800

Why are the "Disclaimer of Warranty" and "Limitation of Liability" sections in terms of services presented in all caps? A quick search through the first page of Google results shows that most (if not all) terms of use include giant paragraphs of ALL CAPS text under the headings "Disclaimer of Warranty" and "Limitation of Liability." Are these sections ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT?

New Leatherman! Where can I bring it?

electric_counterpoint — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 09:23:42 -0800

Am I setting myself up for any trouble by tossing my new Leatherman tool in my bag and forgetting about it? I got a Leatherman Wave for Christmas this year, and I'm pumped -- it just seems so useful, right? Anyway, I want to put it in my main messenger bag, which stays with me almost every moment I'm outside the house. But will I run into any problems having, essentially, a 4" knife on me at all times?

I don't go through a lot of X-ray checkpoints and I expect (hope) I'll remember to take it out before I fly, but is there anything else I should know? I guess part of me is thinking back to my public school days, when having anything like a knife would result in expulsion, local news coverage, etc.