What should I do about a personal injury on mother's property?

[jomei69]

About 3 weeks ago I was helping place a deck that came with a swimming pool on my mother's property. While deck (being held with a tractor fork lift) was in air, the hydrolics lever lowered, dropping deck on my head. I immediately dropped to ground and could not move anything from neck down. 15 mins later I started getting feeling back and was able to move. I went to ER and they said I had 2 herniated disks but wanted to make sure they weren't from a previous injury (which I believe I would have known of a previous injury of this magnitude) so they sent me to the regional medical center for MRI through their ER. The ER physician requested the neurologist on call to review the scans and he immediately came to consult me on everything. He advised me that I needed to be hospitalized and would need surgery to correct the injury. I had 2 bulging discs, with my spinal cord being about 3/4 reduced in size,almost being severed.this was on saturday. Monday I was in surgery having 2 discs replaced by cadavier bone. My mother ,having homeowners insurance, called to see if medical was covered on insurace policy. The agent told her no, although it states on her policy it does cover accidents and personal injury. I do not live at the residence and was not being paid for labor at time of accident. Is personal injury an option and what can I do to get the money that is due for medical bills, lost wages, etc? Would the insurance company not be in a position for trouble since they lied about policy coverages?

[culley96]

Sorry to hear of your accident, and wish you a speedy recovery.

"While deck (being held with a tractor fork lift) was in air, the hydrolics lever lowered, dropping deck on my head." It sounds like the operator (owner?) of this equipment would be the liable party. Not sure what state you live in, but usually your mother's insurance would cover such things as slipping on unattended ice/snow, etc. A third party (or its faulty? equipmt.) would generally not be covered. Read your mother's policy. Most likely though, your recourse is to the operator of the fork lift, if it was their negligence, or the owner of it, if defective or not properly maintained.

Thank God you're not paralyzed!