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My beautiful wife recently attended a breadfruit workshop, and one of the things they covered was liability insurance. Apparently there has been a rash of tree trimmers/removers lying about having business insurance and then getting horribly injured and suing AND WINNING huge financial windfall cases against the property owners that hired them! The recommendation was, don't hire a tree trimmer until you have a copy of their insurance in your hand, or be prepared to pay their medical and all other bills for the rest of their lives if they have an accident on your property.
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I would be very interested in the case law showing where and under what circumstances the injured tree trimmer won a case.
This sounds like fear uncertainty and doubt. Especially at a time when everyone is coming out with chainsaws to get the job done.
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It does happen. That is why a Contractor is required to have workers compensation for himself and employees, and insurance for their company. Your homeowners policy should have a clause in it somewhere as to protect you as well from visitors getting hurt on your property. Would think you could fight it with the fact that a third party investigation of the accident was never taken to determine if workers negligence was at fault, or if you, the homeowner caused the accident through your negligence. Let your insurance agent settle that.
Community begins with Aloha
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Kander,
I recall reading about a case on Oahu just last year. It made the newspaper, I'm sure you can look it up.
The person I talked to at the Ulu Workshop manages the Ulu/Breadfruit conservation place over on Maui. I think he knows what he's talking about, he cited several recent cases and what the settlements were.
It is YOUR JOB as a home/property owner to verify insurance.
Dayna
http://www.FarmingAloha.com
www.E-Z-Caps.com
Dayna Robertson
At Home Hawaii
Real Estate Sales and Property Management
RS-85517
Dayna.JustListedInHawaii.com
Dayna.Robertson@gmail.com
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If this happens, you should be able to countersue them for fraud and breach of contract, even if the claim of having insurance was only made verbally. Obviously that's a lot more trouble and expense than verifying the insurance in the first place, but there's no reason to not fight a fraudulent claim.
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These are people who couldn't afford the insurance, countersuing them for anything would only leave you with an uncollectable judgment.
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The state made the ruling some years ago that people working on a project that cost less than $1000 were exempted from requirements to have insurance. I have been trying to wrap my head around that one for some time
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Your homeowner's Insurance should cover this
Someone in my extended family hurt himself seriously trimming a coconut tree (ladder slipped and he fell on his back, had major disc damage). He had never claimed to have insurance. He had been doing handyman jobs for them for some time, and they had told him they had some sort of policy that covered him.
They did not have a policy. Their homeowner's did not cover him. He was denied disability, workman's comp, and he was told he had no grounds to sue for medical bills even, much less a windfall. It went on for years. He was a very strong guy in prime of life who was no longer able to work and in severe pain, has had more than one spinal surgery since then.
So I have to wonder at this idea ... and why is there a rash of liars who just happen to get horribly injured for real? That's a weird coincidence, and on top of it they are all winners in the legal arena.
I don't doubt she was told that, but I have heard more stories of workers who were injured and out of luck because they didn't have insurance on themselves.
I agree it is important to discuss insurance, because injuries happen.
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Your homeowner's insurance might not cover. You are probably covered if a guest gets injured, but the tree trimmer is not a guest; he is your employee. I suggest checking with your insurance agent before assuming your homeowner's policy will cover you. Insurance companies are experts at finding loopholes so they don't have to pay you.
