Hi, guys. Question about my homeowner's insurance policy and how homeowner's insurance works.
I have owned my home for 4 years. In those four years, we have routinely paid a family friend handyman to perform different work on our house. This person makes his living by doing any number of "odd jobs" around town...wood floors, dry wall, basic electrical work, yard work, concrete, etc.
This May, I wanted 3 branches in my yard trimmed so that my son and I could throw the ball in the back yard without interference from low-hanging branches. My handyman has done this type of work before, so I called him up and asked him to do the job.
He shows up. Puts safety harness on, cuts down the first 2 branches no problem. I am on the property while he is doing his work. Before he begins cutting the 3rd branch, I suggest to him that he could cut it while standing at the base of the tree, since from my judgement, when the branch fell, it was not going to contact the red shed I have in my backyard. He disagreed, and thought that if he cut the branch at the bottom (base) of the tree, that it potentially could impact my shed when the branch fell. Long story short, he wanted to use a ladder to first climb up and trim the end of the branch off (the end closest to my shed). Ok.
He takes a brief pause in his work. I go inside my house to do something (get a drink of water, I don't recall). I then go back outside. The handyman is up on a ladder, about 20+ feet up, trimming the edge of the branch. He has also, for whatever reason, taken OFF his safety harness. As I am headed in his direction, he trims a branch off the edge of the main branch, which then flexes upward, and the ladder he was standing on now has nothing to hold it up. Ladder goes down, and the handyman falls 20+ feet to the ground, fracturing his forearm. Scary fall, and we all felt lucky to come out of it with just a fractured forearm.
Now...am I as the homeowner liable for the accident? Accident obviously happened on my property. On the other hand, the handyman took his safety harness off, and (though this probably doesn't matter), had insisted on climbing up to the end of the branch in the first place, whereas I suggested that I felt it would be much easier to simply cut the entire branch off from the bottom, while standing on flat ground.
Thanks in advance.
I have owned my home for 4 years. In those four years, we have routinely paid a family friend handyman to perform different work on our house. This person makes his living by doing any number of "odd jobs" around town...wood floors, dry wall, basic electrical work, yard work, concrete, etc.
This May, I wanted 3 branches in my yard trimmed so that my son and I could throw the ball in the back yard without interference from low-hanging branches. My handyman has done this type of work before, so I called him up and asked him to do the job.
He shows up. Puts safety harness on, cuts down the first 2 branches no problem. I am on the property while he is doing his work. Before he begins cutting the 3rd branch, I suggest to him that he could cut it while standing at the base of the tree, since from my judgement, when the branch fell, it was not going to contact the red shed I have in my backyard. He disagreed, and thought that if he cut the branch at the bottom (base) of the tree, that it potentially could impact my shed when the branch fell. Long story short, he wanted to use a ladder to first climb up and trim the end of the branch off (the end closest to my shed). Ok.
He takes a brief pause in his work. I go inside my house to do something (get a drink of water, I don't recall). I then go back outside. The handyman is up on a ladder, about 20+ feet up, trimming the edge of the branch. He has also, for whatever reason, taken OFF his safety harness. As I am headed in his direction, he trims a branch off the edge of the main branch, which then flexes upward, and the ladder he was standing on now has nothing to hold it up. Ladder goes down, and the handyman falls 20+ feet to the ground, fracturing his forearm. Scary fall, and we all felt lucky to come out of it with just a fractured forearm.
Now...am I as the homeowner liable for the accident? Accident obviously happened on my property. On the other hand, the handyman took his safety harness off, and (though this probably doesn't matter), had insisted on climbing up to the end of the branch in the first place, whereas I suggested that I felt it would be much easier to simply cut the entire branch off from the bottom, while standing on flat ground.
Thanks in advance.
