"dpb" wrote in message
ps.com...
On Jun 3, 9:30 am, "Jackson" wrote:
"WendyC88" wrote in message

...

Hello. I am going to be looking for a painter to paint the trim of my
house. What should I look for regarding insurance? My neighbor had
someone fix her roof and he fell off his ladder and broke his arm. The
company he worked for denied his work comp claim stating he is an
independent contractor, so he sued my neighbor for medical and lost
time.
She went through hell before he stopped pursuing the claim and I want
to
be protected from this. Thanks

Depending on what part of the world you are in there is a very good
possibility that you can purchase a temporary or short term rider for
your
homeowners policy to actually cover for such things like contractors
working
on your home. While I would still recommend an inquiry insurance
coverage (both for liability for damage to your property and work comp)
and
demand they provide proof of same, as you see you could end up in a
battle
between you and their insurance carrier still. Purchasing the rider
automatically puts the battle between the insurance companies.

Homeowners' policies already include liability...it would be most
unusual to have to add a separate rider to cover the homeowners'
ordinary liability for routine and usual types of home maintainance.
Assuming the homeowner has insurance already, the battle is already
between the insurance carriers--all the policy holder has to do is let
them know there's a problem (if and when one arises, even, which is
while not rare, less common than not)...

The problem here isn't the homeowner's problem -- it's the
contractor's and it's the prudent homeowner who ensures any potential
repair/maintenance work is done by licensed, bonded, insured
contractors...


In an ideal world you would be correct but - many homeowners have been sued,
some successfully, based on a contractor claiming that the homeowner was
negligent in maintain their property or some other such nonsense. In some
case your homeowner's liability may not cover such claims or may not be high
enough coverage.