Charlotte Injury Lawyers Blog
Charlotte Personal Injury Attorney Matt Arnold answers the question: “What can you sue for in a personal injury case?”
While nearly every North Carolinian knows that their homeowner’s insurance would pay for the repairs if a falling tree damaged their property, can you obtain compensation if you were injured by a tree? That depends on multiple factors:
- Was the falling tree on private or public property?
- Did the tree fall due to a storm, hurricane, or any other act of God?
First of all, if you were injured by a falling tree because your neighbor or another homeowner or private property owner was negligent, you could pursue a personal injury claim through the negligent party’s insurance policy. If the accident occurred on public property, recovering damages could be tough.
Meanwhile, if the tree fell due to a storm or any other natural event, you might not be entitled to any compensation whatsoever.
Will Insurance Cover Injuries and Damages Caused by a Fallen Tree?
In May, a severe storm in the Charlotte area toppled trees onto homes and left at least two men dead. According to Charlotte Observer, one of the two men died when a tree crashed into a home.
Is there any compensation for someone who sustains an injury due to a fallen tree caused by an act of God? Can surviving family members of those who die when a storm or another natural event topples a tree on them recover damages?
When a tree falls due to an act of God, such as a storm or hurricane, most homeowner’s insurance policies deny coverage for any damage or injury caused by the weather. While many companies exclude coverage for damages caused by an act of God or any unforeseeable event such as a storm, wind, lightning strike, and hurricane, other policies provide such coverage.
Whether or not you can receive compensation for your medical bills and other expenses caused by a fallen tree depends on the at-fault party’s specific policy. Also, your own homeowner’s insurance could pay for the resulting expenses if a tree fell on you and caused an injury.
If a tree fell on you on public property, recovering damages would become even more complicated, as you would have to prove that a government agency or public entity failed to maintain the property in a reasonably safe manner or failed to warn visitors of any foreseen or known hazards.
If neither the negligent party nor your own homeowner’s insurance provides coverage for injuries caused by acts of God, your health insurance might be the last option to obtain compensation for your medical expenses and other losses.
Obtaining Compensation for Injuries Caused by Fallen Trees
Collecting evidence and investigating the underlying cause of why a tree fell is very important in order to obtain compensation for your injury or property damage. Thus, you need to consult with a Charlotte personal injury attorney to help you gather the necessary evidence and prove a private or public entity’s negligence. Contact our lawyers at Arnold & Smith, PLLC, to discuss your particular situation. Call at (704) 370-2828 to receive a consultation with our lawyers to explore your legal options or fill out our contact form. Now taking cases throughout North Carolina with offices in Uptown Charlotte, Mooresville and Monroe.
The skilled personal injury attorneys at Arnold & Smith, PLLC are dedicated to maximizing the financial recovery and obtaining justice for every personal injury client injured by another party’s negligence. The issues our personal injury clients may be facing include, but are not limited to, slip and fall injuries, wrongful death, product liability, catastrophic injuries, dog bite claims, car and truck accident injuries, motorcycle injuries, traumatic brain injury (TBI), nursing home negligence, spinal cord injury, boating accidents, and defective medical device injury. Our personal injury attorneys understand the devastating impact such an injury can have on a person’s life, and that the effects so often go beyond physical pain and suffering. The personal injury attorneys at Arnold & Smith, PLLC are dedicated to helping clients determine the strength of their claims, and to aggressively pursuing the means necessary to achieve the best possible end result for each client’s particular situation.
Source:
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article242953776.html
Image Credit:
https://www.freeimages.com/photo/victim-of-a-storm-2-1638820
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