But did you know that slips and trips are one the most common causes for Public Liability claims? Most of us have fallen at some time or other; it’s easily done, but if the cause of someone’s fall is in any way your responsibility you can suddenly find yourself facing a claim.
Consider this….
One of our recent cases involved a customer who received a claim for up to £10,000 in damages. The incident leading to the claim happened over 8 months previously so they were very surprised when out of the blue they received this claim.
The claimant had been walking down a footpath leading to the customer’s property, when she stumbled on a break in the concrete and fell, shattering her upper arm, having to undergo surgery and being left unable to work for many months whilst she undertook physiotherapy.
Interestingly, the insured was not even aware that they had responsibility for the path which was not clearly indicated in any of their house documentation. The investigation into this alone led to many hours of legal work which lucky for them has all been carried out by the Claims Team.
So, a situation in which the customer had not knowingly acted negligently in any way, but was in fact found to be responsible, resulted in a claim with high legal costs and compensation.
Fortunately for them they had their ‘Claims made’ insurance policy in place, so one quick phone call to us and they were able to pass it all on to be dealt with by the professionals.
So, remember…
- having the right insurance in place provides you with the professionalism, protection and support you need – and peace of mind
- we’re all human, can make mistakes or be caught out by unexpected circumstances
- a claim can be received many months after the incident to which it relates, so even if you stop working make sure your ‘claims made’ policy remains active until the reasonable expectation of any possible claim is passed.
This article is provided by Westminster Insurance.
