legal situation...advice...

[Envious Eric]

ok, I was detailing at this complex, which holds different office buildings for different companies. inside the building I was detailing at was where I was getting my power via extension cord. lady walks in the building (i see her walk in) and a little later she walks out and unplugs my cord while I am vacuuming. I am thinking that I tripped a circuit somehow, so I start walking into the building and she is already outside. She sees me and asks if I am the one using the cord, I say yes. she says she just tripped over it and starts walking away. I ask if she is ok and thats when the attitude comes out...



she turns around and says "yeah as a matter of fact, I tripped and fell on my back, and there was another guy in front of me who almost tripped over it and turned around to see what it was as the cord was sitting about this high (holds hands about 18" apart) off the ground. Do you have a card? I am going to give it to the maintainance man."



I reach in my wallet where i have my cards, but dont have any left. She gets my number off my detailing shirt.



I talked to the guy I was detailing for and asked him who she was if he knew her...he said no. I explained what happened and he said not to worry about it because its the property owners situation, not mine. (he works for a mortgage company, so he might know a thing of two)



here is what I am worried about - obviously the lawsuit that could be put on me...



here is the kicker...



-the cord is laying flat on the ground where she said she tripped

-the only spot where it was raised is out from the outlet, which is under a chair

-when I came back in the building, the cord was coiled up like she moved it

she said there was another guy who almost tripped right before her, but no one was around

-if there was another guy who she watched trip, why did she trip over it too?

-if she knew how high it was (as she claims, which means she visually saw it there), why did she trip over it?

-there is no camera system in the building for eveidence either way (she cant prove she did, I cant prove she didn`t (her word vs. mine)



so what would you all do? i dont have a lawyer currently as this is part time, and have never dealt with a lawyer for anything in life...



I have been getting a lot of phone calls from an unavailable number today, which I never pick up and just let go to voicemail as its usually telemarketers....no message ever left



thanks for the advice, pm me if necessary



eric

[LouisanaJeeper]

personally, I would tell that lady to blow off

[jedovaty]

I see why now my complex requires the car washers, detailers, etc to be insured.... :(

[Envious Eric]

yeah no insurance for me as its never been justified...I am not that busy to warrant it, and it would negate any profits some months...i have had some months with 15 cars, and some with one car. (no advertising)

[JonP]

This is one reason why I have my own power and water. So I can keep the cords and hoses as close to the working area as possible. I take the vehicle and my rig over to the very end of the lot as far away from traffic as possible to avoid people looking for trouble. Plus having insurance helps a lot too. It might be best to use some tape to hold down the cord like they do on stages. Tape is cheap, buy a case of it.

[Envious Eric]

yep, i have done work in other business places with similar situations...always taping up the cord to the ground....

[Buegie]

I doubt anything will come of it, it sounds like she was just having a bad day. Like you said, most of the story doesn`t even add up. I agree though that you should at least try to tape down the cords next time.

[jbone]

I highly doubt anything will come of it. She obviously could not have been that badly hurt if at all since she didnt come to you about it, and didnt call an ambulance for help. And considering she was able to get up after her "fall":rolleyes:, and walk away the pain couldnt have been that bad. Worst case scenario... If she comes back to you, act like you never met her, saw her etc. She has no proof.

[Ruddell]

Take it to judge joe brown! j/k. Seriously though, I think you will be alright.

[Legacy]

Not trying to be sarcastic, but if you cant afford insurance you shouldnt be detailing for money.

[Envious Eric]

its not that I cant afford it, its that its never been justified...until this situation, i am going to definitely be getting it and also setting up the business as a LLC instead of a sole prop.



I think that I am fine as well, for stated reasons, but I was just wondering if anyone had been in this situation before and how it was handled...

[bwalker25]

when a floor is wet you put up a "caution wet floor sign" can we get a sign that says perhaps "detailer at work, watch your step" or "Caution: Watch for the damn power cord" or "Caution: Detailer working, ignorance not tolerated"



Best of luck though, I can`t justify insurance either, just because most of what I do is at my home w/o the owner present.....hope it all comes out alright...

[Driven Auto Detail]

As much as sucks paying out insurance money, this is why you have it. It`s never worth it until you need it, which is why you should always have insurance. The bigger picture with this is your money budgeting. If you aren`t budgeting for insurance costs (which every business SHOULD be paying), maybe you should re-think what you are doing . Insurance is something I would consider an absolute necessity when operating a business. I know it sounds harsh, but I would never think to operate my business w/o insurance. I`ve been fortunate enough to not need it, but if something happened and I didn`t have it, it could put me out of business. I`d be pretty pissed if I used a service company and then found out they weren`t insured.



As for your situation, I wouldn`t worry anymore about it unless you hear from her again.

[5IVE]

I read the story and it sounds like she`s faking it because you said the cord was lying on the ground. This would mean there was some slack and it would not have been pulled out of the socket simply by the cord being pulled a few feet. I`m sure that when you are vacuuming you have enough cord length to go around the vehicle without having to find another socket. She would have made contact with the cord, acknowledged the contact and avoided compromising her upright position.



Also...



-If she tripped & fell over a cord 18" above the floor, it would still be plugged in because the cord would have to act like a solid structure (steel) and support her body weight for a majority of the duration of the fall and not allowing her to regain her balance



-if the cord came loose, she didn`t trip & fall because she was physically strong enough to pull the cord out of the socket and support her own body weight without it being compromised



If a lawyer got your voicemail, they would leave a message and keep a log of it for their own records.

[jimmybuffit]

I just checked to make sure that this is the "Professional Detailers" forum.



BTW, when you are properly and adequately insured, the sole proprietorship should be sufficient.



Jim