Homeowners Insurance - Safeguarding Against Premises Liability Lawsuits

It’s every homeowner’s nightmare: A stranger slips and falls on your property and sues for damages. You assume your homeowners insurance protects you against such lawsuits, and most of the time it does. However, under certain circumstances, you might be liable for some or all of the claim.
As a property owner, you are responsible for maintaining your home in a safe condition. If your walkway, porch, or floors are slippery or, conversely, sticky, they might cause a person to slip and fall. Uneven surfaces, loose tiles or boards, and unmarked step-downs also present hazards to visitors. A fall resulting from an improperly maintained property can result in claim of liability due to negligence.
Premises liability is the term for the liability homeowners face for injuries on their property. If you have homeowner insurance, your insurer is responsible for defending you against premises liability lawsuits. Your insurance will likely pay for damages, too, if they are due to carelessness or negligence on your part. Although your insurer is bound to defend you against all lawsuits, it is not bound to pay all claims. Your home owner insurance policy likely excludes coverage for damages arising from intentional actions on your part. Intentional actions would include setting booby traps, digging pits, or otherwise attempting to entrap, ensnare, injure, or deter trespassers or burglars. You probably would never think of doing such a thing, but that would not prevent a litigant from alleging that you did.
Consider this scenario: Imagine that you decide to replace a damaged plank on a deck on the front corner of your home. You remove the board to mark and cut the replacement, but you are interrupted and do not finish the task. You tell your spouse and children about the missing board, but you do not mark the dangerous area with caution tape or any kind of signage, never expecting a stranger to visit that evening and seek admittance from the deck, rather than from the entry door. The stranger steps into the opening of the deck, falls, and is injured. The stranger has grounds to sue because your failure to replace the plank or to mark the area for danger was negligent. However, nothing would prevent the stranger from alleging intentional action as well. His or her attorney could argue that the missing board was a booby trap meant to injure or perhaps catch trespassers or burglars.
If that were the case, your insurance company might issue a letter stating that while it would defend you in court, it would not accept responsibility for damages arising from a finding of intentional action. If the attorney for the stranger somehow was able to convince the court that your actions were meant to intentionally harm visitors to your property, then you would have to pay damages yourself.
It is always important to read your insurance policy, but it is especially important when it comes to premises liability. If there are special circumstances with your property, such as an unusable swimming pool that could entice skateboarders to test their skills, you might need a special rider to cover your liability. Do not hesitate to call your insurance agent with questions regarding premises liability.

A frequent contributor to online and print publications, Bradley Steffens is the author of twenty nonfiction books for children and young adults and coauthor of seven more. His newest book, Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist, is the first biography to be published in English about the medieval Arab scholar known in the West as Alhazen.