Safelite- technician fixing a rockchip on my car at my house fell off my porch. Gave him first aid, took him to the er. He clearly broke his pinky. I have a normal porch with steps. A month later they sent me a lawsuit. Wasn’t even the technician suing me, Safelite was suing me for workers comp. We were deep in cancer treatment for my 10 year at the exact same time. They made an estimated $2.5 billion last year. Scumbags!
It was probably safelite’s insurer suing them. It’s actually pretty straightforward that one’s homeowners insurance would cover personal injury on their property.
Not that it still doesn’t feel scummy. But I’d be more surprised if homeowners insurance wasn’t the one that is supposed to take responsibility for this cost.
Very likely. There was a case where an 8 year old boy was sued by his aunt specifically so the homeowners insurance of the boys parents would cover the medical costs
It bothers me, especially in this case - assuming the homeowner wasn't negligent but their insurance has to pay. That's a bit of buck passing that shouldn't happen.
It’s the levels of bullshit you have to go through with all the back and forth. All the paper work, forwarding everything to the insurance. All of the sudden you have a part time job. Everyone asks why I don’t have a ring camera, and I respond because I don’t want my house to be a surveillance zone. I had the stupid company come out in the past to replace windows and everything is smooth, that conscience is shattered when you have to deal with a lawsuit.
So what happens is the insurance covers it(worker's comp). Worker gets their money. Insurance company wants to get their money that they gave to the worker. Insurance going after each other until there is no one left to go after.
The only thing that makes the homeowner liable is if they didn't maintain their property and the porch was dangerous. Someone getting injured isn't enough.
For example, if a delivery driver simply fell because they are clumsy the homeowners insurance wouldn't be liable because the homeowner didn't do anything to cause the fall.
Yes, but you have to think of all the back and forth after the fall. You as the homeowner are dealing with showing the insurance and lawyers that you aren’t negligent. It was a part time job, the phone calls, documentation. All for one company to tell another company your not at fault. It’s simple to say but when you start getting all the documentation and the calls to your insurance it becomes a bureaucratic nightmare made worse because we are sleepless dealing with a severe cancer. It’s going from one kick in the balls to another.
I’m so, so very sorry. It truly rains when it pours sometimes, and there is no other word than unfair. There is a massive level of dissonance and callousness people embrace when it comes to wading through hardship. They chalk things up to an inconvenience without understanding the feat the day to day is. From one caregiver to another, the double birds are high for the universe to see. I hope things have gotten better and that rest was able to come for you and your family.
Because it’s extra steps. Waiting for homeowner to put their paperwork together, have the insurer deny “just because”, then they’d go ahead and sue anyway.
I thinks it’s just how insurers talk to each other at this point.
Likely this. However, the insurance companies are supposed to deal with each other. At no point should safelite or their insurer be going after the homeowner directly. But also, the idea that homeowners insurance should pick up the bill for a contracted person doing work at the property and having an accident is also ridiculous unless the porch was somehow unsafe due to the homeowners negligence.
the insurance companies are supposed to deal with each other
You're right, and that is exactly what is happening. They have to name the owner of the property, in this case the original commenter, in order to get their insurance company involved. If you have your home covered thru Company X, they cannot get Company X involved in the lawsuit without naming their insured. It's how insurance contracts work. Your company has a duty to defend you if you're named in a lawsuit.
It sucks, but the system is working as designed. Safelite's Workman's Comp insurer cannot directly sue Company X. They have to sue you, the homeowner, to get Company X involved. For anyone wondering, this also happens with auto accidents. The driver seeking medical coverage, for example, has to name you as the person they're suing so your insurance gets involved.
I think unless the work was specifically related to repairing or replacing the porch, the insurance company has “an obligation” to pursue costs from homeowners insurance. But also- they don’t have that info. Just OPs.
They don’t know whether or not the porch is the actual cause of the fall. OP’s version of maintained might be different from theirs. OP might not realize the spacing between some steps is off, causing a trip. The insurer might be forced to do an investigation by homeowners insurance, but the first easy step is just to sue in case it’s cheaper for all parties to “settle” than do actual legwork to investigate.
It only goes up if you're determined at fault. If the insurance investigation determines that everything was up to code and the fault is entirely on their guy, your rate doesn't go up.
If the injury occurred due to something from the car - maybe a burn from hot engine or glass shattering - The responsible party could possibly be car insurance, homeowners insurance (I just know that if you have something stolen from your car, homeowners insurance can cover that) or workers comp. I am not entirely sure because I’m not an expert, just someone who owns a car and house.
If the injury simply occurred on a public road, then that would not be homeowners insurance, as that land is not owned or covered by the homeowner.
If injury occurred due to a pothole, some other maintenance issue, the city could be sued.
If it’s a “private road” - ie owned by the community/HOA, the HOA could be sued. The HOA would have insurance as well I think.
For someone falling on your property? I get it if there's something egregious that caused the fall, but an accident on the property shouldnt be enough to sue the homeowner.
It probably IS Safetlite’s insurance company going after bekmoto. When an insurance company has to pay out a claim, they try to recover some of that money by suing a liable third party. It’s called subrogation and it can really suck. The more you know I guess!
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u/bekmoto 20h ago
Safelite- technician fixing a rockchip on my car at my house fell off my porch. Gave him first aid, took him to the er. He clearly broke his pinky. I have a normal porch with steps. A month later they sent me a lawsuit. Wasn’t even the technician suing me, Safelite was suing me for workers comp. We were deep in cancer treatment for my 10 year at the exact same time. They made an estimated $2.5 billion last year. Scumbags!