Someone already attempted to file an accident claim against me

So I have been working on getting moved into my new location.

My lease doesn't officially start until March 1st, yet I have already had someone attempt to file a claim against me.

I was in the building to day, working in the warehouse when I heard someone yelling for help at the front, so I go to the office part of the building. There was a father, with his 20 year old son standing in my empty office space.

He told me his son smashed his finger in the garbage dumpster in the back of my unit, and that he had to take him to the emergency room to get it checked out and bandaged, and that his finger ended up broken. He then asked who my liability insurance was under. I told him to take a hike.

The dumpster isn't my dumpster, it belongs to the garbage company. Matter of fact, I haven't even had my dumpster delivered yet, it was the business in the next unit over, it was their dumpster not mine. But I wasn't going to throw my neighbor under the bus so to speak, so I told them they had to leave, now. He argued he wasn't going to leave until I gave him the name and number of my liability insurance, so I said a few choice words, then I got out my cell phone, told him I was calling the police, and started to dial.

Needless to say he left.

About an hour later I received a call from the property management company asking me for my liability insurance.

It's all sorted out now, but this entire experience has really soured me allowing anyone to ever look in my dumpster. I am planning on putting a lock on it and a camera right above it with a sign that states clearly no dumpster diving. I feel bad that I have to do this to protect myself, I would prefer to allow people who wouldn't make a mess to look through my dumpster for things they might re purpose or make money off of. I am in California though, and the laws governing these types of situations are never in favor of the business owner.

Has anyone run into this type of situation before?

Scott

This just proves that people will try to sue/blame you for literally anything, even if what they did was in no way your fault or under your control. Just their plain stupidity.

This has actually happened to some people I know.
"Sir, I was textin' and tripped over your curb and scraped my elbow, I'm gunna sue you out of your mind. You should not have a curb there. I mean, come on! Sir, you just have no consideration for other human beings"

You just can't fix stupid, no matter how much duct tape you use.

Thanks,

I learned from owning grocery stores that having camera's are just as important for people attempting to claim against your insurance as they are for security and theft reasons. I cannot even begin to recount the number of times I have caught customers attempting to fake a claim, and proved so with camera's.

Good point about the camera's, inside the building no such signs are required to be posted, but outside you are right. The other issue with putting video camera's outside and posting signs is that they always have to be working, and if not so, only a reasonable amount of time to get them working again is allowed. For example, you cannot legally put fake camera's outside your building to lead people to believe they are real. The reason for this is because a victim may believe the camera is real, and attempt to draw their attacker or whoever it is attempting to commit a crime against them, under a fake camera instead of a real one and thus be abused without video footage when they thought there would be.

I just wish people were "good" and all this wasn't necessary. Because I deal with precious metals I am also going through the process of getting a carry and conceal permit. I feel as our economy becomes worse and worse, more and more people are going to get it in their head that stealing is justified and attempt to do so.

Scott

Some people insist on ruining all the fun for others. What a fine example he set for his son...and we wonder why younger folks don't take responsibility for their actions.

I did ask him if he thought punishing a newly started business was the proper place to attempt to lay blame, and then went further to ask him what he was going to do about his son poking around places he had no business poking around. I did have a conversation with him before I sent him packing, I was nice and polite until he informed me that since I was a new business, and that I had money to start my business, I must have a little extra I could throw his way as shut up money.

I'm usually polite, respectful and go out of my way to be so because I look scary to certain people, when I'm incensed however it's difficult sometimes to keep my scary in check, I boxed for 17 years, I'm 6ft and 245 lbs with a shaved head and goatee, so when I sent him packing I made it clear that if he didn't leave straight away, he was going to have to sit on his next meal to eat it, and that his son was going to see things he didn't want his son to see. Later I also posted a sign that clearly states that entrance is by appointment only and not open to the public, on advice from an attorney, which when clearly posted negates many of the legal issues of people lurking in dangerous areas. This is not a location that is open to the public, it's only for processing.

Scott

let the property owner deal with it, you are not liable for anything till your lease starts, pass the buck

I already told the management company what happened. But so far as I am concerned I wasn't going to give the father any information. His son was old enough that he should be taking care of this himself, and he knew what he was doing he wasn't suppose to be doing. So far as I am concerned, they are responsible for their own mistakes. I chased them off and could care less if they contact the management company or not to be honest, but I wasn't going to make contacting the management company easy for them so they could file a claim against my neighbor. I did tell my neighbor what happened, he put a lock on the dumpster already.

I feel people like this are just looking for someone to sue, and not being honest anyway. Really gets under my skin.

Scott

Sounds like these two individuals are professional con artists. I am glad you did not hand over any business or insurance info to them. I hope that everyone on the forum reads this thread. If any one claims they were injured on, in or near your property, business or otherwise you are not compelled to give anyone any insurance or personal information. If you did not see the injury happen or are informed by the person who was injured or by a "witness" days after the injury occurred tell them to go chase themselves. These people will try to intimidate you and threaten to call the police...let them. Its a civil law matter not a police matter, unless it involves a vehicle where an accident report will be taken.
These people are the scum of the earth that engage in these scams. They probably singled you out Scott since you were the new business opening up and figured you would pay them to avoid going thru insurance. You should have asked to see the hospital paperwork stating there was an injury. I think its a very good idea to invest in those cameras and signs.
Good luck with the new diggs.

Originally Posted by erewen

Offer him a job. That will get rid of him

I did that the other day... there was a guy standing at an intersection in an affluent area here in DFW holding a sign saying Homeless, need help, yadda-yadda-yadda.

He looked able-bodied to me, and I actually do need someone to help me with a project. I offered him a 2 week job for $1000 cash. He said some words I can't repeat here, but the jist was that he makes more standing on that corner and it's a lot easier. I said, "Yeah, if you have no pride."

I guess if it works... At least they're being supported by people who DECIDED TO reach into their wallets. Not like those on the dole being supported by those who have no choice.

Maybe pride doesn't even enter their equation... they just look at this like acting. People in Hollyweird dress up for their roles, maybe they consider themselves 'actors'.

I've only ever helped one of those types: I noticed a guy that apparently lived under a bridge here in DFW. Every Saturday morning I would go by this bridge and see that guyat the same spot, and he always had a dog with him.

So, one Saturday I was on vacation... more of a staycation... and me & the missus were heading through that same intersection about the same time of day, so I said, "Hold up... let's go do something." So I went over to the nearest place I could park to where this guy was, and went over to talk to him about his dog. Heartworm is pretty much ubiquitous here in North Texas... either keep your dogs on heartworm preventative, or they WILL get heartworms... it's that simple. The stuff's expensive, though, for folks on marginal income. Like $100/year per dog. So I point-blank offered to get the guy's dog in to my vet for a checkup, shots, and get him started on HW preventative. He was so happy, and I called right there & made an appointment for that Monday, went down (without the missus) and picked him & the dog up & drove them up to the vet's office. Doc charged me half, and then paid part of my bill out of her own pocket. Every once in awhile I'd take him some dogfood.

He told me that that dog was what kept him out of jail. Once, when he first got the dog, he got arrested & asked some 'friends' to watch the dog. Let's just say that didn't work out well, so after he got out for that stint, he stayed on the straight & narrow for the dog's sake. Hey, whatever works, right!