The Ohio Insurance Blog

Just a Little Backing Accident…

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Do you ever have those sleepless nights where you just can't seem to ease your thoughts?  You're thinking about everything that happened during your day and all that you need to do the following day.  Perhaps you're in the middle of a stressful life event or you're having trouble calming your fears?  Maybe you heard about a friend of a friend that had, what seemed like a minor accident, but actually caused bankruptcy and now you're wondering if it could happen to you.

Those of us here at Hill & Hamilton are no different... we have sleepless nights as well, often because we fear situations just like the one described in this article.

For years, we've been advising our clients on the importance of adequate insurance protection.  We routinely see new clients to our agency that were unaware just how much of their own personal wealth and accumulated assets were one "little backing accident" away from financial disaster.

Consider this real-life example where a driver reported backing a Ford Pickup into a fire hydrant in a typical commercial warehouse area with a large paved parking lot.  The resulting damages and expenses included:

• Fire hydrant replacement including cost of installation
• Damage to the parking lot caused by the sinkhole created by water escaping from the damaged fire hydrant (did you know a 6 inch water main connected to a fire hydrant flows 1,000 to 1,500 gallons of water per minute?)
• Bill for hundreds of thousands of gallons of water
• The large lake created in the parking lot required special handling and pumping because of the damage caused to the structures
• Cost of business interruption due to the lack of access to the parking lot until repairs were made
• Additional security was required to block off the area to prevent further accidents

This real-life example should cause all responsible consumers and business owners to ask this critically important question: "is my current insurance coverage adequate?"

Without adequate liability coverage, you could be putting your assets and future earnings at risk.

You might be asking... "what are my options to protect from this type of disaster?"

There are several solutions; two of the most common and cost-effective are:

1. Increasing your auto liability limits can be very inexpensive.  At a minimum, you should consider $100,000/$300,000 limits... $250,000/$500,000 might be more appropriate
2. Umbrella policies provide coverage in increments of $1,000,000 and often cost less than a movie rental or latte per week

Keep in mind, we're here to help.  If you feel that your protection might be inadequate, don't wait until it's too late... call us today and we'll guide you through your various options to improve your protection.

Dog Bite Costs Family $875,000 – Home Insurance was Inadequate

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Although the following scenario did not take place in Ohio, the names of the parties involved have been changed.

Phil and Christi got Jerry when he was a puppy. They raised him, trained him, took him on vacations. They could never have children, so Jerry was their family. He was one of the finest labs they had ever seen. They celebrated his fifth birthday in July 2007.  He didn't have a vicious bone in his body... or so they thought.

One afternoon in August, Adam, the four year old from next door wandered into Phil and Christi's back yard, just as he had done many times before.  Jerry must have been having a really bad day, because normally he loved to play with Adam.  Not that day.  When Adam approached near the dog, Jerry attacked Adam, biting his face and severely injuring his nose. Fortunately Adam's dad was next door, and hearing his little boy's screams, came running. It was too late. Blood was everywhere.  Luckily, the doctors were able to repair Adam's nose, but the scars would be permanent.

One day in October, Phil picked up the mail at the post office and found a certified letter from a law firm in Rochester.  He and Christi were being sued for more than $1 million dollars by Adam's parents. They called their insurance agent. They went to court in March, and the jury awarded Adam's parents $875,000.

Phil and Christi's homeowners insurance company paid the full policy limit of $100,000.  So what about the other $775,000 they still owed.  Well, they had $23,000 in savings, and their house was worth $170,000 both of which they lost to Adam's parents' lawyers, and they still owed $582,000.  Every week a chunk of Phil's paycheck is garnished to go to Adam and his parents.

Phil & Christi lost their home, their savings and a good chunk of their income. They wonder if they will ever get this bill paid off. All of this could have been avoided for about $150 a year if Phil and Christi would have had an umbrella policy.  Many people believe umbrella insurance provides the most "bang for your buck" and if you were to ask Phil or Christi today, they would probably admit that they wished they had spent the $150 for the additional protection.

Unfortunately, you don't have to have $1 million to be sued for $1 million.  Alternatively, consider this:  would you still love your dog if he cost you $875,000... that you don't have?

Photo by OmniNate