Home Sweet Hazard: Backyard lawsuits can ruin your stay-cation

Summertime is not all hammocks and lemonade. The savvy homeowner knows that heat creates a climate for legal hassles. And with the price of gasoline rising, more people are spending their summer vacations at home, which opens the screen door to more potential problems.

Injuries involving swimming pools, trampolines, swing sets and recreational sports happen more often in summer. Even dogs are less likely to be man’s best friend when there are more strangers outside.

Any of these can be lawsuits waiting to happen.

The costs of accidental injuries are staggering: $5,700 per household in 2006 for medical care, higher taxes and higher prices on goods and services, according to a National Safety Council report. Traffic accidents do the most harm by far, but falls — in the home or away — come next. Pool injuries are high on the list: There are about 3,000 pool drownings annually, in addition to diving injuries.

Backyard pool owners rarely are sued, but when they are, the amount of money awarded to the injured can be high, says attorney Ronald V. Miller Jr., who often represents the walking wounded for Miller & Zois in Baltimore.

“I’ve got a pool, a hot tub and a pond, and I’m obsessive about safety,” Miller says of the home he shares with his wife and three small children. “We have an alarm system that goes off when anybody goes in the pool. It goes off a lot of other times, too, but that’s OK.”

The Millers also have invested in a system that beeps when somebody goes outside. “Every time we start to let our guard down even a little bit, I am reminded of a chilling stat: It is safer to have a gun in the home than a pool in the backyard,” Miller wrote in a blog post.

As a pool owner, Miller says he’s most concerned about his own children, but liability insurance eases his mind about accident risks to others. How much insurance is enough?

Although the typical homeowner’s liability coverage equals the mortgage amount, Miller says he carries $2 million worth. “I recommend loading that thing up. I’ve seen a lot of million-dollar verdicts,” he said.

Hazards on dry land

While many families can’t afford a backyard pool, just about anyone with a credit card can buy a trampoline. Sales took off after trampolining became an Olympic sport in 2000. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates 3 million trampolines may be in use on a warm summer day.

Two years ago, more than a quarter-million people were treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms, clinics and doctors’ offices for trampoline injuries, according to the safety commission. Pediatricians’ groups were the first to advise parents not to buy trampolines. Emergency room doctors joined them after a study last year.

Insurance companies often exclude trampolines from their regular homeowners’ coverage. Marylanders shopping for homeowners’ policies can expect to be asked if they have a trampoline and to pay more when they do.

“Own a trampoline? I would worry about accidents with my son, but my neighbor has one,” says Associate Professor Robert Rhee of the University of Maryland School of Law.

The prevention of trampoline injuries — and lawsuits — starts with adult supervision. Watching young jumpers from a kitchen window wasn’t good enough for Mississippi appellate judges who found a mother guilty of passive negligence. Experts often advise limiting trampolines to one jumper at a time and none younger than 6.

And while you’re in the backyard, remember that swing sets and other playground equipment lead to many emergency room visits, although injuries on them are far less likely to be reported. Homeowners should tell their insurance companies when they buy this equipment to make sure they’re covered, the Maryland Insurance Administration says.

$1 billion in bites

Dog bite injuries are most common during summer months, with children most at risk. “The homeowner should be aware of any vicious qualities of a dog, because the homeowner is going to be liable,” Rhee says.

Nationally, dog bites account for a third of homeowners’ insurance claims and $1 billion a year in payouts, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control. To curb those losses, insurers try to exclude aggressive breeds, but Maryland insurance regulators have ruled out such discrimination. Homeowners subjected to a coverage ban on Rottweilers or other breeds by their insurers can file a protest with the state insurance administration.

What if someone who’s not an invited guest gets injured in your yard? Are you in danger of having to pay them? For instance, someone falls off your swing set when you’re not home, or a skateboarder crashes on your sidewalk?

That depends on the circumstances, Rhee says.

You might be liable if you know that children play on the swing set or ride skateboards on your sidewalk but you’ve given them permission or at least not objected to their use — in other words, you’ve given implicit consent. Otherwise, they’re trespassing and not your responsibility. But you can’t set a trap, such as creating a pothole to injure the skateboarder.

A complication regarding sidewalks is whether an easement exists. If the homeowner doesn’t own the sidewalk and isn’t responsible for its maintenance, then he or she isn’t responsible for injuries that happen on it.

Broad coverage

Another way to avoid liability is to ask upfront for people to waive their right to sue you. Baltimore’s Best Party Entertainers of Towson, for example, requires its customers to sign a waiver before its rents them its inflatable Moonbounces and other play equipment.

What about you, the homeowner with a trampoline, swing set and pit bull, who wants to have a summer pool party? Should you greet guests with a pen and waiver form?

Umbrella liability insurance is a better option, Miller says. Rhee agrees: “Those policies are relatively cheap — a couple hundred bucks,” he says.

Umbrella policies ought to be coordinated with the liability provisions of car and homeowners policies — some insurers won’t sell one to you unless the company also provides the other two.

Umbrella policies can fill gaps not covered by car or homeowners policies and pay claims beyond those policies’ limits. Consumers should check umbrella policies carefully for exclusions, which can soar when cases go to trial.

Fear of lawsuits shouldn’t ruin your summer, though. Given the number of injuries reported, lawsuits are rare and trials are rarer still.

“Most claims for small amounts will probably be settled by the parties themselves,” Rhee says. He suggests discussion, mediation and compromise as possible alternatives to legal confrontation.

So, cheer up and enjoy the sun. Summer and its dangers will soon be gone for another year.

Carol Frey is a freelance writer based in Arlington, Va.