Injured at Someone’s House in Kentucky: Can You File a Claim?

Kentucky premises law depends partly on why you were there:

• Social guests (a party, a visit, dinner) are generally treated as licensees. The homeowner must warn about dangers they know about that a guest wouldn’t notice, like a rotten deck board, a broken step or a loose railing. In Perry v. Williamson, 824 S.W.2d 869 (Ky. 1992), the Kentucky Supreme Court treated a visitor who came to a front porch with implied permission as a licensee.
• People there for the owner’s benefit, such as a hired worker or someone at a home business, may be owed a higher duty to inspect and fix hazards. See contractors injured at a home.
• Tenants and their guests may have claims against a landlord for hazards the landlord controls. See apartment and landlord injuries.

• Falls on broken or unlit stairs and steps. See stairway falls.
• Deck and balcony collapses. See structural collapse injuries.
• Icy walkways and driveways. See ice and snow falls.
• Dog bites, which follow a separate, stricter Kentucky rule (KRS 258.235). See dog bite lawyer.
• Pool and trampoline injuries, especially to children. See pool injuries and drowning.
• Carbon monoxide and fire hazards. See carbon monoxide poisoning.

• Medical payments coverage: many homeowners policies include a small amount that pays a guest’s medical bills regardless of fault.
• Personal liability coverage: pays for the homeowner’s legal responsibility, including your medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering, and provides the homeowner a defense.
• Renters insurance often includes the same liability coverage when the person you visited rents.

The insurer, not your friend, usually handles and pays the claim. Your friend has a duty to cooperate with their insurer, but the adjuster works for the insurance company. Be careful about recorded statements. See recorded statements to insurers.

1. Get medical care and tell the provider how you were hurt.
2. Photograph the hazard right away, before it’s fixed.
3. Write down who was there and what they saw.
4. Ask the homeowner for their insurance company’s name.
5. Don’t sign anything or accept a check before you understand what you’re releasing.

See what to do after a slip and fall for a full checklist.

Kentucky uses pure comparative fault. If you were partly careless, your recovery is reduced by your share, not barred (KRS 411.182). Most Kentucky personal injury claims that don’t involve a motor vehicle must be filed within one year of the injury (KRS 413.140(1)(a)). That deadline is short, so don’t wait to see whether the insurer will “take care of it.”

Learn more on our Louisville premises liability lawyer page and in how to prove property owner negligence.