First slip and fall lawsuit - any advice?

Question

I guess it had to happen, after ten years in the business.  Just got notice of our first slip and fall lawsuit.  The tenant was at the time being evicted for non-payment of rent, was evicted, and now, about six months later, we got a letter from an injury lawyer saying that he's suing us for unspecified injuries that he claims occurred right at the time that he was being evicted.

So, I'm assuming that we just give it to the insurance and don't give it another thought, but I know the insurance will be motivated to just settle it for the deductible.  We have a $5000 deductible. We doubt that  he sustained any injury on our property, he claimed that he was having surgery on his leg about 2 weeks before he sustained the injury, he may  even have moved out before the date of the injury.  In addition, the man is on social security disability fraudulently - he works under the table as a roofer, and we have texts from him about it.

So, what do we do?  Any advice from anyone who has been through this would be welcome.

Account Closed · Answer

You can approach it a couple of different ways. First realize that if your insurance gets involved both you and the property will go into the ever lasting computer of claims. Make sure it's worth it before you involve them.

Now, I have a little bit of background in legal matters so I'd be inclined to write a letter to the injury attorney.

I'd tell him that I understand his client would have to prove he injured himself on my property because of my negligence and that is going to be pretty hard to prove. Your client had been evicted and if he was on my property and if he was hurt, he was unlawfully trespassing. He never mentioned the incident to anyone nor did he file a police report.

I'd also mention that if said character was fraudulently on SS disability (you can't say that he was until it is proven) then that of course would come up in court and we would bring in the roofing company he was working for simultaneous to his disability claim.

Mr Attorney, it would seem odd that someone on SS disability had clearance from SS to work in a hazardous job like roofing while collecting disability. And, as another oddity, we've kept the communications from him about his contemporaneous work for the roofing company. As you know, this becomes part of the interrogatories and evidence and of course would necessitate notifying SS of our little disagreement here. So, either he was unlawfully working as a roofer while on SS disability or he lied in the communications we've preserved and you have a "not credible" witness. Which of those two do you want to argue in front of a judge about?

Now, if your client wants to proceed with this charade, please feel free to request my attorney's information.

respectfully,

NAME

CC: File, pending attorney

***********

If you hear from the attorney again, tell them you will respond when you receive the complaint in the mail.

You'll never hear back, if your facts are as presented.

(This is not legal advice, it was all made up as a flight of fancy on a slow friday afternoon)

But hey, That's how I handle these.

Jill F. · Answer

Turn it over to the insurance company. When we owned a restaurant, the insurance company handled several slip & fall claims and we never had to pay anything.

Account Closed · Answer

The tenant being on disability, fraudulent or not, doesn't have anything to do with him claiming he slipped and fell supposedly, due to some negligence on your part on your property.  Disabled people slip and fall, too.  I'm not disagreeing with what you know about him.  I'm just saying it wouldn't be relevant in this case if it went to court.

This PI lawyer wants to know how much your insurance is, because he will then sue you for the amount of your coverage.  This is standard, from what I've recently learned.  PI lawyers don't expect to get more than that, no matter what you're worth.  They expect to only end up negotiating a settlement with your insurance company, and they'll start out by demanding the max amount of your insurance coverage.

I used to work for lawyers and it seemed like whenever they could ignore something, that's what they did.  Honestly, that's what I'd do.  Until he takes some kind of legal action against you, you are not required to do anything.  Let that lawyer twiddle his thumbs deciding if this case is worth gambling his time over.  If you just give him the info about how much your coverage is, you're just helping him sue you, in my opinion.  Make him have to work for it.  Sending the letter certified is him hoping you'll be scared by getting a certified letter from a lawyer, and that you'll be ignorant enough to just give him what he wants even if you don't legally have to.

It's good you have a friend who is a PI lawyer you can consult, though.  Make sure they aren't expecting to get paid.  Lawyers seem to always expect to be paid - even by their friends.  Good luck.

Ricardo P. · Answer

From the looks of it, (I’m no lawyer btw) but it doesn’t look very well on the plaintiffs end. He got evicted for non payment of rent, now 6 months later he remembers he fell?🤔 and he wants money? That’s funny...

People sometimes just amaze me...

Lynnette E. · Answer

I once received a letter from an attorney from someone who claimed an injury from a dog bite,  So I guessed the letter was his freebie.

I completely ignored it and never heard from the attorney again.

Pat L. · Answer

We've had a couple but that went no=where after a LOT of aggravation. The guy was off on disability, picked up an off the books job with one of the subs our contractor hired. Sub was related to the slip/fall guy. He was climbing down a ladder to the basement to piss. The basement floor was all ice & the ladder slipped. But the injury he sustained was already documented in the disability claim of old. We got sued for $175k. Went to discoveries & my wife stood up & took them to task. It went away

This one is a classic....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mP-bd2_Ysg

Karen F. · Answer

You mean ignore the letter the attorney sent?  All it said was "Please advise your insurance of this claim ASAP, delay may jeopardize your coverage."   It would certainly impede their ability to negotiate a settlement with our insurance. There were no details whatsoever regarding his injury.  I assume that if we were to just ignore it, they'd have to do something, like actually file a suit.  And that would cost money and legal time.  The claimant is indigent.

Probably we will call our personal friend who is a busy local injury lawyer.  He'll know how best to handle it.  We just want to make it difficult for them to even make a claim.

Craig Jeppesen · Answer

This is what you want to do. They are phishing and hoping for an insurance claim or a quick settlement. Most attorneys would not want to waist there time after getting fact from a letter like this. If they still pursue then hire an attorney.

Karen F. · Answer

Well, personal injury attorney friend said just turn it over to the insurance.  Property manager friend said also turn it over to snowplow guy's insurance, since it supposedly happened during a snow event.  It just kills me to do this, because I think that the guy's claim is so bogus that if we ignored it, the guy's lawyer, knowing it's a weak case, would drop it.   But attorney friend says the guy's attorney could attach our property, and that the insurance's deal with us is that we have to notify them right away, so I guess we will.

First slip and fall lawsuit - any advice?

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