I live in NY and a boy fell ON my trampoline, he was crying, I made sure he was okay and he walked home.?

His Mom raced him to the hospital where the put him in an ambulance and sent him to another hospital. The end result, he was FINE he was sore but nothing more. it was more precautionary than anything. This was like 9 months ago. Her insurance covered the bill and it cost them nothing out of pocket but I just recieved a notice from the health insurance company seeking reimbursement of the claim. They say that since it happened on my property I am responsible, can they do that? His Mom knew he was on it, we have an enclosure and all the padding should we have to pay the costs associated with this? I don't want to turn it in to my h/o insurance if I don't have to. Please help asap, have to contact people soon.

Yes, they can. By mom filing under HER insurance, she's transferred her rights to sue you, over to them.

Oh, and pretty much, they'll get it.

You have to turn this over to your homeowners carrier. And if you don't want to get cancelled, you have to get rid of the trampoline.

Yes. And I wouldn't make too much noise over it because she can sue you as well. Just pay it and don't file a claim with your insurance.

The insurance company is seeking subrogation for their expense. If you don't want to pay it out of pocket, you'll have to turn it over to your insurance company (I hope your policy doesn't have an exclusion for things like trampolines).

yes they can. your insurance company will pay it IF they knew you had it on premises when they wrote the policy and didn't exclude it. my best piece of advice to you is GET RID OF THAT TRAMPOLINE. I don't even have a company that will write a home policy where a person owns one anymore, for just that reason. Claims are WAY to high and too frequent when someone owns one.

You are definitely responsible for costs involved. You allowed a young boy to play on your trampoline on your property. That makes YOU liable for any insuries/costs involved. The mother's health insurance covered his immediate costs to relieve the mother of financial loss, but they are coming after YOU for liability coverage. You can either pay out of your pocket or turn it in to your home owners liability policy. Neither will be pretty, ESPECIALLY if you did not inform your homeowner's policy that you had a trampoline in your backyard.

Most HO policies have a medical coverage that covers injuries of nonresidents on your property, regardless of fault. That would be the first coverage to come into play. Liability would be the second. Your insurance would determine if you were negligent in causing the boys injuries.

You're still responsible. Does you insurance have an "Attractive Nuisance" Clause? When we had an in ground pool we carried it on our homeowners insurance. That way if someone decided to use our pool when we were away we couldn't be sued for their injuries.

Most States mandate insurance companies coordinate benefits. So if it is auto related or for your case home related, then the health insurance company will seek ALL or partial recompense for its expsenses from either you or the insurance company in question.

Your case under a home policy is known as:

Coverage E (in most policies) LIABILITY. = Accidental injury or damage to person not a resident relative or to property not owned by you.

Coverage F (in most policies) MEDICAL = medical care expenses up to the declared policy limit resulting from accidental injury to a person not a resident relative

Regardless of implicit permission to use your trampoline or not and even if parent of said child had an overall understanding of the risks values, you assumed the risks of accidental injury of any kind the minute you had a non-resident relative on your premises.

Depending on the amount for cost, I am guessing based on the depth of service this bill is no less than $3k (average ambulance is $500-$800) Average Emergency room bill is $1,200 starting and the fact Lab work (xrays) and a Pediatric Specialist (most likley orthopedic or neural) was involved at about $1,000 fee cost, you can either pay out of your own pocket and leave it as that or file with your home insurance policy not subject to deductible

However, many of today's home insurance policies are specifically excluding trampoline liability and medical coverage. You will need to consult your policy or your local agent in regards to this matter of coverage allowance. If you do not have it, it is pointless to file. If you do, then the other problem is the liability claim remains on record for an average of 5 years which can affect your renewal premium if the State allows those kind of claims to be subjected to rate change and many other companies will not want you until after 5 years of no other liability claims have been filed after the initial.

Also, don't be surprised if the policy demands the removal of your trampoline to continue coverage with them after a claim has been filed.

If you choose to argue any form of pay out even if insurance would have covered it and you chose not to file the claim, then you will be subject to a possible civil lawsuit that could be significantly more than the original bill because then the "hardship" of the child will be put into play.

Here is what I tell all my clients:

Whether there is a rightness or wrongness to the chain of events in a claim, the minute it involves the well-being of a child, in a court of law and especially a jury hearing, it wil 98% of the time will be in favor of the child because they will be looking at the "loss of potential maximum 'growth' in the child". I had one case where the 7 yr old child accidentally drowned themselves in the neighbor's pool around 3 am (the estimated time of death) after having climbed over a 6' stockade fence and broke into the pool's screen enclosure as it was locked. The insurance aggressively fought it citing no accidental harm was created since they felt the accidental death was onset by the child's own willful actions. As sad as the case is in lost of the child's life for the parents, the insurance company loss the case and ended up paying millions because the jury decided it was to be.

So you will need to weigh your options once you have determined if your insurance will cover it and how you want to proceed. Either way, pay the current bill with a signed notarized agreement that they cannot pursue future recoverable expenses from you (or have an attorney draw up a settlement agreement for the 2 of you) and the settlement agreement ends it. Also, no more guest children unless you have each and every parent sign a notarized form that any injuries resulting from use of the trampoline with or without permission of owner will exonerate owner from legal pursuit of damage recovery.

Trampolines are a leading cause of orthopedic and neuro injuries in which parents of the injured child usually seek more than just the cost of medical. They begin looking at the cost of potential future loss of usage of limbs, brain, or quality of life which could equate to mental state well-being, physical ability to perform a job and create an income, etc. That is why most insurance companies no longer tolerate them regardless of the safety measures put into place because their has been no proven guaranteed safe way to prevent accidents.

Much prayers

You have two choices - pay the insurance company back or turn it into your home owners insurance.

I can't tell you if you are responsible for the child's injuries - there is not enough information. But here's something to think about: who was the adult on the property supervising the child? The property owner may be negligent for not properly supervising the child. The fact that the child's mother gave him permission to jump on the trampoline does not relieve you of your duty to supervise the child. If the child's mother was not on the property to supervise the child - your responsibility to supervise the child only increases.

Also - trampolines are inherently dangerous objects. It's not a matter of if some will get hurt on them - it's a matter of when. You may be liable just because of the dangerous nature of the trampoline.

I suggest you get rid of the trampoline. I would never let a child of mine have a trampoline - regardless of the padding, enclosure etc. Those things are dangerous. You got off lucky the child was not hurt worse - broken arms, ankles and teeth are very common trampoline injuries.

yes they can do that.
your homeowners or renters insurance might cover it for you though.
Most policies have a clause that excludes things like trampolines from the coverage,and you have to get a seperate rider to the policy to cover that.

First of all if his mother said it was OK, then you are covered, because the other mother is taking responsible for any thing that happen to the child. Take photos of the trampoline and were he fell, then send then to our insurance company, because they will help you out. that is want insurance is for. If not I would hire a lawyer. Good luck!!!!!

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