It's “Slip and Fall" Season. Am I covered?

Here in the Mid-Atlantic, it’s beginning to look a lot like… “Slip and Fall Season.” Winter months full of ice and snow create an increase in accidents on your property (both commercial and residential) and an increase in claims. And, there’s nothing that can ruin holiday fun like a consequential lawsuit.

Now’s the time to ask yourself (or your friendly insurance agent), “do I have enough coverage?”

In addition to falls from icy conditions, we also regularly see:

• negligence in stair falls

• falls caused by rugs and/or carpets

• broken and/or damaged sidewalks

If you are found legally liable for a slip and fall accident, your insurance will protect you provided you have the right amount of coverage. Liability coverage on your homeowners insurance is generally very inexpensive; therefore, we always advise homeowners to increase to the max limit your policy offers.  For anyone with a significant amount of assets or additional risk factors (youthful drivers, rental homes, pets, etc), we typically recommend also adding an umbrella policy. 

Keep in mind that your policy limit matters not only for how much someone could win in a law suit, but more importantly how much they could sue for.  For example, let’s say you have a $500,000 liability limit and you are sued for a slip and fall accident in the amount of $750,000.  The injured party is awarded only $100,000 in damages, and your policy covers that. But, because the initial suit was above your policy limits, you are on the hook for any legal fees which would likely amount to a few thousand dollars. If the initial suit been within your policy limits (say your limit was $1,000,000), your legal fees would have been covered by your policy. Often the difference between being on the hook for legal fees or not is a small, affordable umbrella policy.

While it might seem like icy slip and fall accidents and threatened lawsuits only happen in the movies, we’re here to tell you that we see them every single year. Be sure to review your policy before we get into the thick of winter and prevent this potential expensive liability.