Hiring Someone to Work on Property - Liability

[Frankenkubota]

Oh G-- no! Hire a lawyer for law work if you need to, but not for non-professional work.

When I owned rentals, I once rented to a law student. Nearly my worst tenant ever. He tried to negotiate EVERYTHING. And he was stupid. He would come home before dawn dead drunk and crash his motorcycle all along the garbage cans. Apparently seduced the wife of a faculty member, the professor woke me up knocking on my door one morning asking If I had seen his wife. Continual drama.

I sold the rentals. Then they were re-sold to an attorney, a bankruptcy specialist who wouldn't pay on the loan he took over. I shamed him by going to his office with his bounced check and demanding he pay me in cash whatever he had in his pockets ... in front of a client who was waiting there. He said he had nothing so I asked his secretary to front him whatever she had in her purse so he could start making a partial payment. . He nearly threw me out bodily. So I filed legal default on him and that got his attention. The second time I filed, he paid off the loan in full to clear the default and end the default notices that were running in the local legal journal.

Never again! You don't want to get in a situation where an attorney could claim injury or injustice or something and make your life miserable.

you mean i'm not the only guy who got taken to the cleaners by a lawyer?

as i said, AI is projected to eliminate 90% of lawyers but then, who's gonna produce all those class action suit commercials.

 

[Frankenkubota]

Most States are 'Comparative Negligence' States.

That's just how the system works.

In the hypothetical you mentioned above, the stopped person would be considered 1% at fault. Which is totally, completely and absolutely meaningless.

It's hard to understand but it's a good system and it works. Remember when Michigan had a "Better Idea" and started messing with their Insurance? It was quite a while ago but the point is, they have the highest Auto Rates in the Country (by far) now.

And Comparative Negligence has been around since Hammurabi

i'm not a lawyer. all i can say is, according to my buddy's lawyer 20 years ago, there is something unique about this specific law in nc. On tv news the tv lawyer said only NC and 3-4 other states had it.

i'm sure not gonna debate, i will put you in touch with my buddy who got stroked 20 years ago and the lady who's kid got killed.

For what ever reason, there is a pretty strong movement to change our law, not sure about yours.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

School teacher =ALL summer off. Not sure how you need assistance.

How and why I need assistance is not the topic we are discussing here. If you have nothing to contribute mind your own business.

 

[Diggin It]

^^^ Have you checked with the school board yet?

 

[HawkinsHollow]

^^^ Have you checked with the school board yet?

Nope! Why would I do that? But I did talk to his mother, she also works at my school.

Just for the record... This kid is 17, does this exact kind of work for all kinds of people all over the county. He drives a truck WAY nicer than mine that he pays for himself by busting his a$$ working at the local farm store, doing hay all summer, weed eating and building fences.

Thanks for all of the PRODUCTIVE comments. Sounds like I need an umbrella policy.

 

[tamarack]

I am SLOWLY learning that if I am to keep my sanity I need to hire people to help me in life. My goal for the summer is to keep the weeds on my property at bay all summer long Last summer it was a mess, I was too busy with my shop build and the weeds got out of control. All fall I would walk around and end up with a hoodie full of burrs.

I am a school teacher and I plan on hiring one of my responsible enterprising students to weed eat at the property this summer. My question is about liability. I am assuming liability is lessened if you are paying that person to work at your property. Am I correct in this assumption? I do not think he is necessarily going to get hurt, just curious.

We owned 19 acres of timber on very steep ground that was in need of thinning. We contacted the Nazarene Church which has a wood ministry. This ministry will remove any unwanted trees for firewood and it is donated to the needy. We talked with our Attorney and he drafted a document which we distributed to each and every individual which they were required to acknowledge that they had read and understood. While this did give us some peace of mind, we were reminded by our Attorney that we could still be sued if an injury was sustained by anyone working on the project even if they signed the document. The ministry projects are all volunteer Church members that donate their time. The project took several months to complete and thankfully there were no accidents.

 

[Username Taken]

 

[plowhog]

You can still educate a teenager. ... Now we will each sign two copies of the "Contract" and each keep one copy. Congratulations, Jimmy, you are now a contractor.

A minor under 18, in most places, lacks the legal capacity to enter into a contract.

And ... the OP asked about liability. Unless the teen then subscribed to a contractor's insurance policy, which would be unlikely being a teen, and only doing weed whacking, how would this approach help?

 

[Diggin It]

Nope! Why would I do that?

Because, as I said there may:

1. A rule against it that could cost you your job regardless of any insurance or liability issues.

2. A program to help you both, maybe cover your liability issues and give him extra credit.

You won't know unless you ask.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

You can get sued at any time by anyone. Some people live in fear of the lawyers.