A friend had a birthday party at their house for their daughter(11). My daughter (10) was invited. Eventually the kids decided to play football and BG’s dad was throwing the football and my daughter was running to catch the football.
This is important to know for later, Last summer, while out of town, my friends had an above ground pool that broke and flooded the backyard. It caused a massive amount of damage. Their homeowners insurance got involved because of the structural damage that this pool breaking caused. Due to the construction that they had been having the area where they were playing football had ruts in the ground from the machinery that they had in the backyard to reconstruct the retaining wall.
As my daughter was running to catch this football, she tripped over a rut. When she fell, she fell into a large metal box that was the housing for the pool pump and water intake/outflow. The box and something inside broke and water began flooding the backyard. They turned the water off, but they had to turn the water main off because of the way that they decided to “fix” this pump when the pool broke originally. So they were without water for about 48 hours until they could get a plumber to come out and actually fix this pump correctly. when my daughter fell, she broke her collarbone, and she severely sprained her ankle and knee.
About a week ago, we received a certified letter from our friends, informing us that they were charging us for the cost of repairs to this broken pump the cost of the water damage to the backyard as well as them being without water for 48 hours.
Here is where I may be the asshole because immediately upon receipt I called their homeowners insurance (this is information I had previously from discussing the situation that had developed over the summer with my friend ) so that I could submit my daughter’s medical bills to them.
So I could be the asshole because I am being petty. My friend called upset that I would report this to their homeowners insurance because their homeowners insurance had already increased due to their claim and now they received information that were being dropped due to their excessive claims. Do I have medical insurance for my child? Yes, I do. Up until I received the certified letter my husband and I were going to cover the cost of my daughter’s injury ourselves. So I could be the asshole because I am being petty. My friend called upset that I would report this to their homeowners insurance because their homeowners insurance had already increased due to their claim and now they received information that were being dropped due to their excessive claims.
NTA. Your friend fucked around and found out.
NTA.
Only a fool would try to bill you for damage to their property when you have a valid claim that your daughter was seriously injured due to their negligence.
They have big brass balls, but no homeowners insurance anymore. Hope it was worth it for them.
Exactly. If they were dumb enough to come after OP than OP can write them off and friends and just let insurance handle everything. Homeowner would be liable for all medical expenses and the repair. OP would not be liable for anything.
OP doesn’t list the state, but damages caused by children in many states aren’t recoverable *at all*, even if it was the kids fault (which it wasn’t here) and the damage was caused through the kid’s negligence. In my state, unless the kid intentionally damages something and is over a certain age, you can’t recover *anything* from the parents at all. And if it is intentional, there are very, very low maximums for recovery.
Yeah, as told, he was allowing and participating in this activity during an event he invited people to. Don’t start down the legal route unless a lawyer has advised you that you are in the right.
Heck, he was *leading* the activity. In an unsafe area.
Absolutely. Interesting that OP is worried about being petty when her “friend” is demanding paying for an injury and damage that happened **on their property** due to *their negligence*.
**OP, they are getting the law involved. You need to do the same. PLEASE call a lawyer. Your daughter was injured on their property. They are trying to get you to pay for damage caused by their negligence. You need to get ahead of this and get a legal expert involved.**
But this friendship is over, IMO. It was over the moment they sent you that letter, not the moment you responded.
NTA you got your lick back 🤷🏻♀️, the audacity to ask for you to reimburse them when your daughter was hurt on their property. They are lucky you didn’t sue them for this. I can tell you this , from a family member getting dropped from their insurance for excessive claims, it’s going to be tough finding someone who will insure them now lol
NTA. They didn’t want to submit the claim to the insurance because they would be dropped, thus saying you should pay. They ended up being dropped anyways. And odds are you wouldn’t have to pay for their damages because 1. The pump and box weren’t cordoned off. 2. The property wasn’t fixed properly the first time. 3. The dad was throwing the ball and had control of where it would go, he could have thrown it away from the hazards.
Could you have called them first, sure. Or sent them a letter yeah. So retaliatory, yeah- but asshole? No.
>The dad was throwing the ball and had control of where it would go, he could have thrown it away from the hazards.
This. So much negligence on the dad’s side, from leaving the garden in a state that is hazardous to children to throwing the ball in that direction. And then the audacity to try and make a child that got severely injured by his negligence liable for the situation! I hope OP is just using the term “friends” as short-hand here to make the story easy to read, it doesn’t feel like the right descriptor for these people … a textbook case of “with friends like that, who needs enemies?”
NTA. You can’t send a certified letter with demands to your neighbor about paying them for their property defect that injured their daughter and then turn about and say “you shouldn’t have involved insurance,” suggesting you could settle it like neighbors. Pick a team! We handle it like neighbors or we lawyer up.
Exactly. A certified letter isn’t a ‘neighborly chat’; it’s a legal threat. They tried to bill a 10-year-old for the ‘inconvenience’ of breaking her own collarbone on their deathtrap of a backyard. They traded a friendship for a plumbing bill, and now they’re mad that the bill came with consequences. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
NTA
It didn’t matter, his home insurance was getting billed either way because your daughter had already received emergency care by this point.
Your health insurance was/is going to send you a letter asking if your daughter’s injury was the result of an accident, and where did that accident occur. You then would either need to be honest, or lie, sign the paperwork and commit perjury. Odds are they’d find out anyway because it’s part of the medical record that your daughter had an accident, and then you could face consequences for lying.
Either way, your health insurance was coming after your friend’s home owner’s insurance. Even if you paid the deductibles out of your pocket, your health insurance has zero interest in paying for injuries that were caused on someone else’s property or by someone else’s fault.
If you want to, you can explain this to your friend. But anyone who sent me legal notice that they were billing me for an accident that injured my child due to their negligence would be an ex friend. It’s just basic FAFO.
(All of this is premised on you being in the US, you didn’t say, so I can only give an opinion based on the info I know)
Similar situation, our medical insurance went after a family friends homeowners insurance. Said person no longer talks to us bc their rates went up. Sorry not sorry, we needed 2 major surgeries and were out of work for 6 months.