Anonymous wrote:Don't want to revive this whole thread because WOAH but question:
Does anyone with a background in insurance know if allowing people to use your yard as a shortcut sets you up for a claim if someone gets hurt (by slipping, tripping, dog, etc.?) when they are walking through? What if you expressly tell them that they have to provide in writing that they are crossing through your lawn at their own risk and they acknowledge that it's "not safe" to walk there?
Yes it does set you/your homeowners insurance and/or your umbrella policy up for potential liability. Let’s say your behind neighbor cuts through your yard to get to the main road, they trip and fall on a patch of icy or wet grass in your yard, and fall and break their arm. Their health insurance would cover all that but then the health insurance would, in all likelihood, try to recoup their costs and collect from your homeowners insurance. No insurance company wants to be on the hook where some other company could be on the hook instead.