“Homeowner’s Policies: A Great Way to Find Insurance Coverage for Your Injury”
As attorneys, we receive phone calls on lots of cases. A common problem is that the defendant is often not collectible. Our firm has a history of finding coverage for what initially presented as a bad case.
Homeowner’s and renter’s policies are a fantastic way to find “a deep pocket” to cover an individual’s personal liability for negligence. This coverage follows the named insured or a family member both on and off their personal residence. We have been very successful in those cases and would be happy to co-counsel or accept referrals on them. Often, we have to file a lawsuit and fight for coverage. These are some examples of unusual cases where we have found coverage:
■ $300,000 Policy limit recovery for dog biting off client’s nose at the defendant’s mother’s house.
■ Large confidential settlement for a dog chasing client on a public street and the client falling resulting in several shoulder surgeries.
■ A large number of gun-related settlements. Policy limits for cousin on the first day of hunting dropping the shotgun and shooting our client in the leg resulting in numerous surgeries. The defendant mishandled a gun killing our client. The defendant dropped a gun on the floor and the shot went through the wall injuring our client sleeping in bed in the apartment next door.
■ $300,00 policy limits for teenagers playing with a BB gun inside the house shooting and blinding our client in one eye.
■ Policy limits for Grandpa failing to supervise young grandson. Grandson walks away and ends up drowning in a neighbor’s pool.
■ Policy limits for antique cannon blowing up in the backyard causing traumatic brain injury to our client guest.
■ Horseplay in a bar. The defendant put swizzle sticks next to our client’s ears. Our client moves puncturing an eardrum resulting in permanent hearing loss.
■ Confidential settlement for client run over by friend’s golf cart during a round of golf resulting in multiple surgeries.
■ Teenagers playing with a knife and poking holes in cardboard. Our client gets all of the tendons in his right hand cut resulting in surgery.
■ Policy limits for a client suffering serious traumatic brain injury and ankle fracture resulting in multiple surgeries. The client is a passenger in a homemade cart on a homemade track being pulled up a steep hill by a pulley. The pulley system fails and the cart reverses down the hill. (See accompanying article, “Makeshift Transport Cart Causes Devastating Injuries at Lake House”)
As long as you have some form of insurance coverage, negligence of an individual, and some creativity, a no-value case can potentially become a policy limits case.
