Premises Liability – 300,000

Our client, a seven-year-old boy, was dropped off at a neighbour’s house with his siblings to be babysat. The babysitter was a twenty-year-old woman who resided at the house and was related to the homeowner. The babysitter also had several minor children of her own who were at the house. Shortly after their arrival, the client and all the other children left that house and returned to the client’s house, which was unoccupied. While at the client’s house, the children were playing with gasoline and the client’s legs were accidentally set on fire. The client was rushed to the hospital and treated for third degree burns. The client incurred over $100,000 in outstanding medical bills. Based upon the extensive medical bills and severity of their son’s injuries, the client’s parents contacted our law firm. We immediately initiated an extensive investigation which included a claim against the homeowner’s policy that covered the home where the children were supposed to be supervised. That insurance company denied coverage for the accident, citing that the babysitter was not a listed resident of the home. Abrahamson and Uiterwyk was able to show through the language of the homeowner’s policy that the babysitter was covered under the policy because she was related to the homeowner. The insurance company then denied liability, by stating that the accident was not the fault of the babysitter. Due to our aggressive representation and extensive legal research proving that the accident was foreseeable, the insurance company eventually accepted liability and tendered the policy limits of $300,000 to the client’s parents. This was such an unfortunate incident. We were pleased that we were able to get compensation for our client, which helped with his medical bills and provided some compensation for these tragic injuries.