What Does Not Responsible for Injuries Mean?

No Offense, But… 

You’ve probably heard it before: someone starts something off with, “no offense…” and then proceeds to be extremely offensive. They may have even been surprised that you got offended! That’s kind of how you should think of “not responsible for injuries.” You can’t just declare yourself not responsible for injuries and then proceed to conduct yourself in a reckless manner. Here’s a good example: let’s say you’re hauling a table home from RC Willey and you’ve got it tied up by twine in a 2013 Toyota Prius C. This table doesn’t fit in your hatchback. In fact, half the table is hanging out of the trunk! You can’t just grab a piece of paper and a sharpie and write, “Not Responsible for Injuries!” and tape it to the table that’s hanging out of your car. Well, technically, you can do that, but it’s not smart, and having that little note isn’t going to be enough to prevent another driver from filing a claim against you when your table falls out, and causes them to sustain injuries. 

The Myth of Liability-Proof 

There’s no such thing as liability proof and there’s always a way around a waiver. Read that as many times as you need to: there’s always a way around warnings, waivers, no trespassing signs, etc. In fact, in some cases, it could be worse for you to have a no-trespassing sign because it could be used as evidence that you knew (or reasonably should have known) that there was a risk of injury. In some cases, the sign could be a good thing. For example, if you took every precaution you reasonably could to prevent injury, the sign could be used as evidence that you went above and beyond to prevent injury. However, if you make a sign, but you don’t do anything to prevent foreseeable injuries, that may be worse because it shows that you knew there was a danger, but didn’t do anything to prevent the accident. Here’s an extreme example: you’ve got a large dog who’s got a bite history. In fact, she’s already bitten ten people. You decide to let her run around the neighborhood unsupervised, but you put a collar on her that says “WARNING, I’VE BITTEN A LOT OF PEOPLE; NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR INJURIES.” That would almost certainly be used as evidence that you knew there was a risk but did nothing to mitigate the risk. 

Reasonable Precautions 

While you’re not responsible for knowing the future, you are responsible for preventing foreseeable injuries. For example, if you know that a dog is violent, you need to keep them restrained at all times. If you cannot supervise them while outside, they need to be tied to a stationary object in your yard. If they’ve got a bite history, they need to be wearing a basket muzzle while outside, even if they’re tied up. If you know you need a sign that says, “Warning! Danger here!” that should be a signal to you that you might want to explore what else you can do to mitigate injury. 

Sometimes, It Can’t Be Helped 

Sometimes, injuries just can’t be helped. You can take every precaution available and someone else still ends up with injuries and you still end up with a claim filed against you. Even if this happens to you, there are two things to keep in mind. First things first: this is what insurance is for. You have car insurance to pay for the financial cost of damages you cause in an accident, and you’ve got homeowner’s (or renter’s) insurance to cover accidents that happen on your property due to your negligence. If you’ve got insurance, it’s unlikely that a personal injury attorney will go after you personally. Another thing to remember: the more you do to prevent injuries, the less likely it is that you’ll be liable for injuries that do occur. 

When You’ve Sustained Injury

If you’ve sustained injury in an accident, Moxie Law Group is here for you. Our attorneys are dedicated to helping you get the compensation you need to recover from the injuries that you’ve sustained due to the negligence of another person. Our law firm offers a free consultation to all our potential clients in order to help them determine what their next steps could be. If you have questions about your personal injury claim, contact Moxie Law Group today.