Basic Home Repair

Have you ever been in a situation in which you had to have a repair person come to your home and repair something you own? It doesn’t really matter what repairs you had to have. In this article, I want you to think about a topic you’ve likely NEVER thought about:

Your liability for repairmen on your property. Like these examples:

-the woman who cleans your house gets electrocuted using your vacuum cleaner.

-The guy cleaning out your roof gutters falls off the ladder and breaks his leg.

-The dog bites the plumber as he walks to his truck.

-Your interior decorator is injured when she falls on your stairs.

-The electrician gets injured while working on your house.

-The pizza delivery kid falls in your front yard and fractures a hip.

The list of accidents could be endless!

Then, let’s not leave out other business people that might come to your property:

-meter reader

-mailman

-package deliveryman

-tax assessor

All these people coming to your house to perform some work are known as “business invitees.”

Almost no one I talk to ever thinks about this, but I handle claims like these examples all the time.

So, why should you care about these people? Because if they are on your property, and they get injured, YOU MAY BE LIABLE!

My recommendation is that you NEVER hire a repairman or repair company unless they hand you a copy of their insurance policy declaration sheet before they begin work.

No tickee, no laundry!

People who get injured often file lawsuits against the people they think caused the injury. Personal injury attorneys who represent those injured people file lawsuits against anyone and everyone involved, and try to prove negligence.

Do you know whether or not you have liability insurance to protect you against liability claims and lawsuits?

Well, pick up your Homeowners, Renters or Condominium insurance policy and read it. Usually liability coverage is found in Section II. You’ll usually find two coverages here, Personal Liability and Medical Payments to Others.

The most important things you should learn from this article are these points:

1. Lawsuits are expensive, and jury awards can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

2. The Liability section of your insurance policy guarantees you that the insurance company will provide legal defense for you if you get sued over a liability issue.

3. Call your insurance agent and buy liability limits that are as high as you can afford. I recommend $500,000 or higher.

4. Call your insurance agent and buy a Personal Liability Umbrella policy. Probably cost you about $300 per year, but worth every penny. It will provide you with limits up to $1 million.

5. If and when you get sued, and the insurance company provides you with legal defense, remember that they are defending themselves FIRST. You still need an attorney to represent YOU.

Don’t allow yourself to be blind-sided by a lawsuit that could cause your financial ruin!!

This entry was posted on Friday, August 22nd, 2008 at 11:15 am and is filed under Basic Home Repair. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.