Liability (USA Based) Trivia Quiz

Answer: No

The hotel must be liable for your injuries or in other words, at fault. Perhaps there was a spill on the stairs and it was not cleaned up. In that case, they would be and you would also be entitled to pain and suffering. However, just falling on someone's property does not make them liable.

Answer: Seek immediate medical attention

These are all decent answers but the most important thing to do is seek medical attention so the doctors can figure out if it really food poisoning or not. If no one else at "Burger King" got sick, there is a good chance you have a bug or picked something up from your own kitchen. Most food poisoning like salmonella takes 24-48 hours to incubate.

It is up to you to prove Burger King is liable.

Answer: Pure Comparative

Every state in the US has different laws on liability. This is an example of pure comparative and you are entitled to the percentage that the other car is at fault. You might be responsible for 20% of the other car's damages.

Answer: All of these

Insurance companies have to save money and will use all of the above as arguing points to lesson your settlement. However, if it was water, on the floor for a half an hour, and you had rubber soled shoes on, they would be in the wrong to argue this.

Answer: 40%

Most personal injury lawyers work on a contingency fee so if you get nothing, then they get nothing. If a claim gets settled before a suit is filed, the lawyer takes a third. However, he has costs in litigation and his fee reaches 40%. This does not include attorneys fees and costs however (deposition transcripts, filing fees, expert witness fees, etc.)

Answer: The driver and the bar

Liquor liability is a tricky subject. For a waitress or bartender to do an "eye test" to determine who is drunk and who is not, is not an exact science because everyone is different. Most restaurants and bars have training on this subject and there is protocol but it is easy to have drinks from the bar, then the waitress and then have others buy drinks for you. Also, the intoxicated person can leave without the bar knowing so the bar is always on the hook especially because they have "deeper pockets" than most personal automobile policies.

Answer: Herniation

This kind of injury, which is very painful usually arrives out of auto accidents because of the way your body is thrown forward and then backward. People usually seek out chiropractic or orthopedic treatment and sometime neurological treatment. However, a "slip and fall" may produce a broken elbow or broken ankle but not a herniation.

There are of course, exceptions and some people have degenerative conditions where a fall exacerbates the situation and makes it a herniation. These are called "eggshell" claimants.

Answer: Yes

Sometimes, insurance companies like any other companies have to make "business decisions". If the insurance company does not feel that their client is liable but to defend a lawsuit would cost more than to settle the case, the decision may come to down to dollar signs.

However, it is the client that should ultimately make the call and if they want to fight something all the way to a jury, they will.

Answer: Statute of limitations

Every state in the U.S. has a different statute of limitations. Florida, where I live has a 4 year statute for both bodily injury and property damage.

Answer: An excess policy

Many businesses have what is called a "self insured retention" (SIR) in which they can hire a TPA (Third Party Administrator), where I work to handle their claims up to a certain limit. However, there has to be a true carrier like AIG involved so they take over the policy limits after the client's SIR is exhausted. An umbrella policy would be over this.

For example, an amusement park might be self insured for $50,000 and then ACE Insurance takes over to the policy limit of $1,000,000. Then, AIG would have an excess policy up to $4,000,000 after that and this is an "umbrella policy".