Do I have to cover someone's medical bills if I accidentally caused an injury? 29 Answers as of December 07, 2011

You can be held liable for causing another to become injured. It appears as though you admit to having injured the other guy; the question is whether or not you were negligent when you injured him. There are not enough facts mentioned for any lawyer to say one way or the other. We would need more facts to be able to really answer your question with any confidence. And to answer your question, enough is enough when a negligent person who is liable pays for all the damages.

If his hand was broken while you played basketball (or any sport) together, probably not. If you broke his hand by driving over it in your car, probably yes. The answer very much depends on the circumstances, especially in Maryland. In Maryland, if a court finds that there is contributory negligence on the part of the victim, the victim is not entitled to recover.

Quite likely you would be held responsible if the injury was your fault, in most circumstances.

If you negligently cause injury to someone, the law holds you responsible. However there are ways to take care of those bills other than you paying them directly as those bills will most likely exceed $10,000. One way is to determine if there is insurance coverage for the incident. Depending on the circumstances, homeowners insurance or automobile insurance may cover it. Also health insurance may cover it as well.

If you have insurance covering whatever caused this difficulty, notify the carrier and have this person contact the carrier. If you do not have coverage, see a PI attorney and bring whatever records you have.

Yes. Turn claim over to your auto or home insurance carrier.

If you broke his hand, "enough" is when the bills are paid. Be grateful he is not suing you. Have him sign a release that if you agree to be responsible for the medical bills, he will not sue you.

If you caused the injury you are liable for all damages reasonably incurred. Do you have homeowner's or renters insurance? Or an umbrella policy? Any of these may cover you.

You should get a lawyer immediately so that you don't have to pay whatever this guy decides you owe. It sounds like you have an informal agreement to help him with some of the bills, but not all. An open-ended agreement like this is ripe for abuse by the other party. You may not be to blame as much as he thinks. Or you may not be liable for the injury at all. There's nothing to stop him from suing you anyway. Please talk to a lawyer before paying any more money to this person, no matter how much you wanted to help in the beginning.

The key phrase you use is "accidentally." If, in fact, it was a pure accident that you injured his hand, then, no, you should not be liable for the damage done, but whether or not something is the product of negligence or pure accident is often tough to determine and left up to the court.