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Hero to zero via insurance co.
Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 12:59 pm
by tyro
Teen babysitter sued over fire
Aaliyah Braybrook, 14, is being sued for $350,000 after a fire burned down a home where she was babysitting. When she noticed the fire, she quickly got the children and the family pet out of the home and called 911.
Earlier this week, Aaliyah and Douglas Mills, the father of the two boys, were served with a statement of claim.
They are being sued by Mills's parents, Kendall and Dian Mills, who live in the home damaged by the fire
.
In their statement of claim, the couple said Douglas Mills's five-year-old son Damien was playing with a cigarette lighter when the fire started. They said Aaliyah was too young and inexperienced as a babysitter.
Aaliyah's father said his daughter can't believe this is happening.
"She's pretty angry that they would be trying to blame … like she feels like she's being blamed for this, and like the fire department and everybody at the time called her a hero for getting those kids out, and basically she saved their lives," said Ray Braybrook.
Braybrook said his daughter took babysitting courses and was well prepared to look after the children.
He said he anticipates he will have to hire a lawyer to defend Aaliyah.
The lawyer for Mills's parents said Wednesday the lawsuit looks like a father suing his son and a babysitter, but it is actually a dispute between insurance companies.
But Edmonton lawyer Philip Kirman said he is not allowed to say which insurance company he represents
None of the details in the statement of claim have been proven in court.
Note that this all got ugly because the insurance company for the neighbour’s house decided they didn’t want to get stuck with the bill. It’s not like it would be a big payoff.
Re: Hero to zero via insurance co.
Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 8:14 pm
by @meric@nwom@n
Lawyers!
Re: Hero to zero via insurance co.
Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 8:42 pm
by Sue U
@meric@nwom@n wrote:LawyersInsurance companies!
Fixed that for you.
Re: Hero to zero via insurance co.
Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 9:44 pm
by Gob
Lawyers. Insurance companies!
Idiots!
Re: Hero to zero via insurance co.
Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 9:59 pm
by Crackpot
Lawyers. Insurance companies!
Idiots!
Flying Monkeys!
Re: Hero to zero via insurance co.
Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 11:07 pm
by @meric@nwom@n
Sue U wrote:@meric@nwom@n wrote:LawyersInsurance companies!
Fixed that for you.
You don't think the insurance company was advised by a lawyer to sue?
Lawyers.
Re: Hero to zero via insurance co.
Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 12:11 am
by Jarlaxle
She's 14...why can't she simply say, "I'm 14. I'm in middle school. I have no assets. Kindly go fuck a blender."
Re: Hero to zero via insurance co.
Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 12:13 am
by Sue U
No. As a matter of fact, knowing how this industry works, I'm confident in saying that the insurance company directed its lawyers to sue. Lawyers who work for insurance companies (at that level anyway; Andrew D is a different story) might as well be slaves.
The lawyer for Mills's parents said Wednesday the lawsuit looks like a father suing his son and a babysitter, but it is actually a dispute between insurance companies.
As
tyro noted, this is just one insurance company suing another to avoid absorbing the cost of the loss it had promised to cover in its policy.
Jarlaxle wrote:She's 14...why can't she simply say, "I'm 14. I'm in middle school. I have no assets. Kindly go fuck a blender."
Because her parents' homeowners policy covers her. And that's what the suing insurance company is going after.
Re: Hero to zero via insurance co.
Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 4:29 pm
by Big RR
Sue--she was working, wasn't she, when she was allegedly negligient? I would think homeowners policies would exclude any worker's or professional negligience/malpractice; otherwise, everyone could drop their malpractice insurance and just get a homeowners and umbrella policy.
I couldn't access the link, but I note Tyro indicated this was a "neighbor's" house. My guess is their house was damged by the fire that occurred in the house of the family she was babysitting for, and their insurer is seeking o get their homeowners policy to cover by alleging that they should not have employed her as a babysitter because she was so young and inexperienced, and that her foreseeable negligience led to the damage to their house. She was joined as a party, but they are seeking compensation from the father's insurer.
Re: Hero to zero via insurance co.
Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 4:59 pm
by Grim Reaper
The more I read about insurance companies the more I'm reminded about Insuricare from The Incredibles.
"We're supposed to help our people, starting with our stockholders!"
Re: Hero to zero via insurance co.
Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 5:56 pm
by tyro
Big RR said:
. ..and their insurer is seeking o get their homeowners policy to cover by alleging that they should not have employed her as a babysitter because she was so young and inexperienced, and that her foreseeable negligience led to the damage to their house. She was joined as a party, but they are seeking compensation from the father's insurer
.
The link still works for me, but your analysis is as I understand it. The fire caused damage to the neighbouring home (People who live in trailers seem to know how to maximize and compound any tragedy), which was owned by the parents of the owners of the trailer that caught fire.
Given how small the monetary damage seems to be, I am forced to think that the insurance company thought the parents would not pursue the matter if it meant suing their children.
Youngsters get a hold of lighters and matches all the time. Even seasoned parents can’t be expected to know if a child is playing with matches and so the accusation that she was too young and inexperienced should be seen as a non-starter.
Re: Hero to zero via insurance co.
Posted: Sun May 09, 2010 2:34 pm
by tyro
An Alberta teenager who got two children out safely from a fire in 2007 has been dropped from a lawsuit that was revealed on Friday afternoon to have been initiated by TD Insurance.
Earlier this week, Aaliyah Braybrook,14, from the Grande Prairie area, learned she had been named in a lawsuit that was filed in relation to the fire. The lawsuit turned out to be a dispute between two unnamed insurance companies.
In a written statement released Friday afternoon, TD Insurance said it decided to drop the teen from the lawsuit after looking at "all the facts" of the case since it became public this week.
The rest of the story
Re: Hero to zero via insurance co.
Posted: Sun May 09, 2010 9:11 pm
by Gob
"Looking at all the facts", that's a novelty.
Maybe they realised how much damage this was doing to their image?