Daughter Visits Parents Home - Falls Down In Driveway - Suing Parents

[matcom]

<snip>

MADISON, Wis. -- An Illinois woman is suing her Wisconsin parents for maintaining an icy driveway that she blamed for a fall that broke her ankle two winters ago.

This week, a federal judge refused to toss out the lawsuit, setting up a trial for November.

Carriel Louah, 25, visited Darlington, Wis., to surprise her mother on her birthday in January 2005. But the next morning, she was injured when she slipped and fell on her parents' driveway. She filed suit against her parents earlier this year.

The daughter said that a letter from her mom apologizing months after the fall proves that her parents knew they had a defective gutter for years and did nothing about it.

She's seeking more than $75,000 in damages for medical bills and lost wages.

Her parents said that she can't prove the driveway was icy at the time or that their drainage system was faulty.

U.S. District Judge John Shabaz said that a jury should decide the matter.

http://www.wftv.com/family/9513070/detail.html

[Deep13]

1. She's actually suing the homeowner's insurance.

As we know, there are serious economic effects when someone is seriously injured and if she can get the surety to cover some of it, then go get 'em.

[NashVegas]

8. Sounds Like a Scam, Then

That is, if her parents are still talking to her.

[Deep13]

10. Maybe, but is she was injured and an icy driveway is negligence...

...under that state's law, then it is legitimate.

I know in Ohio, snow and ice cases are almost always certain losers for the plaintiff. There are exceptions, but the SCOOH takes the view that in a northern state, a person needs to know about winter conditions. Consequently, failure to take snow or ice into account is no one else's fault.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

23. I doubt it is a scam . 75K is not that much

That is inclusive of her medical bills and loss of income according to the article. If she works on her feet i.e. waitress etc, she lost at least 8-10 weeks of work. Depending on where she broke her ankles, she may have had to have pins placed and those pins will later have to be be removed. Ankle breaks can be problematic for a long time following.

THe article does not discuss the homeowners' policy, but I would venture to guess this is against them and perhaps they are denying liability. Therefore she must sue the parents and they must sue their h/o policy.

There's three basic defenses insurance companies use:

It's not our liability
You aren't injured
If it is our liability and you are injured, you aren't as injured as you say you are.

They use these defenses whether you have a hangnail or an amputation.


Edited after the fact: I thought it said she broke both ankles. My bad

[jobycom]

13. That's what I thought, too. Parents might even agree with the lawsuit.

The parents have to fight the suit and try to prove they weren't too negligent or the insurance might refuse to pay. But I suspect parents and daughter had a long talk about this beforehand. That doesn't make it a scam, if these had been strangers the same process would have been followed.

[Fox Mulder]

2. If I fell in my parents' driveway,

I would never sue them, even if I did break an ankle and missed work.

[Crazy Dave]

3. Have the homeowners insurance pay the $75k....

....then take the spoiled brat out of will and give her part of the inheritance to a homeless kitty farm.

[Crazy Dave]

4. And while I'm at it....

...if your parents driveway is icy....take care of it for them before they get hurt.

It's all about "ME, ME, ME!"

[Deep13]

11. For that, she needs to sue them.

[Crazy Dave]

16. I guess it's a little different than car accident liability

I've never had to file a homeowners claim before. It's pretty straightforward with an auto accident policy. If I damage someone else's car and the insurance doesn't pay, then they can sue me and then I have sue the insurance company. In the meantime the lawyers get rich.

Good time to look over those policies again too.

My brother is the type that would sue my mother or me personally to benefit him if something like this were to happen. He already thinks we're supposed to take care of him when he doesn't work, pay his mortgage and car payments, etc. When he comes to town to visit mom he makes her pay his way there and back.

[Deep13]

18. Depends on the state.

For example MI is a no-fault auto insurance state. In an accident, the insurer pays anyone hurt medical bills, auto damage and maybe economic loss (don't remember for sure) but not pain and suffering or other intangibles. It is kind of like Workers' Comp. In Ohio, it is fault based. If the accident is someone else's fault, the plaintiff recovers on all theories of loss: economic, future economic, medical, property, loss of enjoyment, pain and suffering (physical suffering), emotional distress (mental suffering). It can be a huge award, though typically it is not. On the other hand if it was the injured person's own fault or if no one was at fault, he or she is screwed. The plaintiff will have to look to any medical rider she has on her own auto policy plus her own health insurance.

That's the same with slip-and-fall cases which are allowed in some states, but usually not this state. The view of SCOO is that it is no ones else's fault if you slip and fall, even if it was icy in a store parking lot. (THere are exceptions: Workers' Comp, man-made accumulation of snow or ice, snow that hides a man-made hazzard...) On the other hand, my grandmother sued one of my Dad's stores (he managed them, not owned them) because she tripped over a vacuum cleaner hose and broke her leg. Now, that suit would have been hard to prove negligence in Ohio, but it was pretty easy in MA. It was embarrassing for my Dad, but she had to do it if she wanted payment for the six-digit medical bill.

[underpants]

5. Yes Watson the evidence seems to have disappeared!!

That's funny-she can't prove it was frozen because it all melted away.

[LaurenG]

6. Well health insurance won't cover the medical bills if

they think a home or business owners policy will cover it. Several years ago a friend twisted her ankle in a restaurant. She went to have it checked and the insurance company would NOT cover it. They told her to pay out of pocket and sue the restaurant for reimbursement. :wtf:

[calico1]

7. Happy Birthday Mom!

:sarcasm:

[MadHound]

9. Why do I get the feeling that there's more issues here

Than just an icy driveway and a broken ankle:shrug:

[Deep13]

12. There is. There's an insurance policy that exists to pay the damage.

That's why she is suing the parents. They are insured against liability. To use the insurance, she has to sue the parents. That's all. Just because it says Mom and Dad on the court papers does not make that anything more than a technicality.

Really, I wish all of you who are ready to send this woman to the Lake of Fire (tm) for suing the folks would get your information straight before casting judgment on a private matter that you probably have no right to cast judgment on anyway.

[Gormy Cuss]

14. It's no longer private because she sued.

I've known people who sued relatives this way and the attitude is always, "they aren't paying, it's the insurance company. " While that is true, the person is still filing legal documents naming their relatives. The court records are a permanent record of the daughter suing her parents. That's not casting judgment, that's the simple truth.

[Deep13]

15. It is a private matter even if the documents are public record.

Anyway, no one is ever going to read them anyway without spending a few hours at the courthouse plowing through documents. And my reaction to the facts you state is "so what?"

[Gormy Cuss]

19. Yes, but not everyone reacts to those same facts that way.

I agree that if there underlying family issues it's a private matter for them to resolve but the lawsuit brings it out of that realm and a reporter managed to find out about it. Now that it's published posters are commenting about it.

I think it's unfortunate that we allow insurance companies to encourage lawsuits in these matters too. I say allow because as consumers and voters we should be able to flex our collective muscle against such practices, but we don't.

[Deep13]

22. Insurance companies certainly don't encourage lawsuits.

They are always on the side of nonpayment. Anyway, what the hell is an injury victim suppose to do if she cannot recover from the poeple whose job it is to pay claims?

[Gormy Cuss]

25. Doesn't nonpayment encourages lawsuits?

If your health insurer refuses to pay and suggests that you sue the homeowners insurer, isn't that encouraging lawsuits? Insurance companies calculate the risk and assume that a certain number of denied claimants will just go away and that the number who sue in court will cost them less than paying everyone's legitimate claims in the first place. It's all perfectly legal.

[NashVegas]

28. So Why Is She Suing Her Parents and Not the Insurance Co?

Could it be they're refusing to file the claim?

Most people, even a 25 year old, if they injured themselves at a parent's home, they would expect some help and probably receive.

I agree with those who think there are some family issues here.

[MadHound]

17. And if she wins this suit, and the parents insurance company has to pay up

Well guess what is going to happen, her parents are going to have to pay higher premiums on their insurance, much higher possibly. Or worse yet, their liability could be dropped and refused by other companies. If that happens and her parents are still paying down a mortage, they're really screwed then, since the vast majority of mortage loans require liability insurance, otherwise you have to pay back the mortage immediately.

If this is indeed some sort of scam to get insurance money, somebody didn't think it through very much:shrug:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

24. Again, this is AMAZING!

Two broken ankles is a serious injury...take a look at yours. You can't WALK without them. If she were suing because she sprained her back or broke a pinky, I could understand the disdain perhaps, but she broke BOTH ankles.

There are limits as to WHEN and in what instances an insurance company may cancel a policy. If there is some negligence on their part, then in the future they will do what is necessary to keep their driveway safe in inclement weather. If a complete stranger or the postman had broken both limbs, I seriously doubt the demand would be so low.

[matcom]

26. ONE ankle TWO winters ago

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

27. Oops...my bad...but she was still probably disabled for a period

of time...you can't walk on one leg. Now that I've had my first cup of coffee, I read it correctly.

[NashVegas]

29. Way More Issues

From another source:

"On Jan. 14, 2005, Louah, of Rockford, Ill. traveled to Darlington, Wis. to surprise her mother on her birthday, which she was celebrating at a local tavern. Louah spent the night at the home of her mother and stepfather."

[kwolf68]

20. We all know

That this is John Edwards fault. /sarcasm

[Rabrrrrrr]

21. Fuckin' FIBs. I'm not surprised.

[gmoney]

30. Anything that costs the insurance company money...

is OK in my book.

Operating an insurance company is a license to steal.

It's MANDATORY to have homeowners insurance to get a mortgage, auto insurance to drive a car, health insurance to receive medical care at many places. Laws and regulations require that people carry it and allow denial of service to those who don't, but there's no law requiring companies to pay claims, not drop policyholders, or any regulation on rates. It's a flat out criminal enterprise. Look at all the non-payments in NOLA after the flood, or in Florida after the hurricanes.

Didn't used to be quite as bad, when the idea was that the premiums balanced claims, and the insurance company made its money investing the premium money it was holding. Or maybe I'm naive to think it ever actually operated like that.

Insurance companies are the shit that clings to the asshole of scum... IMHO.

The irony is that, even if the parents win the case, their insurance company will still probably jack their rates or drop them entirely. And the daughter will probably have to borrow the money from her folks to pay the bills.