A woman fell down on a slippery staircase. Who is responsible?
Q: I’m not married, but I’m looking for a bride. The decision is not very easy – I’m looking for a woman to be by my side for the rest of my life. Regardless of that incidents still happened.
My apartment is located in the basement. Several sets of stairs lead down there. It is not a problem but a bad weather makes this staircase dangerous. If it is raining, or wet from melting snow and ice, the water drips heavily from the canopy on to this staircase.
At the end of the winter I met a very nice woman, but our relationship was spoiled by the frost that started that night. When we were going down into my apartment she slipped, fell and broke something.
Now she calls me every day, but unfortunately not for romantic reasons. Our romantic relationship is over. She demands money and otherwise threatens with the court.
I want to ask: if I decide to give her money, how much?
A: There are several options how events can develop for you. If you want them ended well, you need a lawyer such as one of the lawyers at Yuriy Prakhin law firm, who has big experience in solving similar cases.
If you are ready to give your friend money as a compensation for her trouble, then you should agree on the amount with her. It is very important that at the moment of settling you take a document that is called “release” from her. This is a contract under which she will not be able to claim anything from you in the future. You paid – you are “released”.
We strongly recommend that this release agreement would be prepared by a lawyer. If it be legally illiterate, as a consequence of this case, you can get a whole bunch of lawsuits in the future. For instance from your landlord if your friend decides to open a lawsuit against him. A properly drawn up release contract will completely protect you from any consequences, especially since you already paid for her troubles.
Let’s also consider another option: you do not want to pay or you do not have money to pay. Do you have housing insurance? Probably not. Does your landlord have one? Most likely he has. Most of real estate owners try to protect their rented properties. The existence of the insurance is already half of the deal. In this case, there is no need to be afraid of the court – the lawyers of the insurance company will deal with the claim, as well as compensation.
If there is no any insurance at all, or if the landlord will be able to prove that this dripping, which led to the injury, happened due to your own fault (for example, you broke the canopy by passing through with a high cabinet) in court the situation will become more complicated. In this case, you remain the only defendant where you became more likely to lose even more money – if …
… if you do not hire an experienced lawyer, for example from Law Office of Yuriy Prakhin. Several thousands successfully completed cases, scrupulous knowledge of state law, Supreme Court decisions and excellent skills to use case law are exactly what allow us to help you even in the most confusing cases.
