Who is liable if a balcony collapsed at a private residence? 23 Answers as of February 17, 2012

You need an attorney to deal with this in most instances. He will have to determine who is responsible, possibly through the work of experts on causation.

If the balcony was not sufficiently robust to handle foreseeable use, it could be the fault of the builder or architect. It could also be the fault of whomever over-stressed the balcony. Or all of the above. You should talk to a lawyer in your area who can ask more specific questions to determine who may be liable for the accident.

Fault is determined by who breach their duty of ordinary care. The standard is what a reasonable person, similarly situated would have done or refrained from doing.

The homeowner is responsible to make sure they provide a safe premises to all guests and has a non-delegable duty to do so. That means, they cannot claim it is someone else's fault in the first instance but, they may be able to seek contribution/indemnity from another party if they feel they contributed to the crash in some way (overcrowding?). Good luck.

You ask who is at fault. I am going to assume you mean "who is liable?" Plus, I am not sure if you are asking who is liable for the property damage (the loss of the balcony) or personal injuries to the guests. Either way, I don't have enough information to give a definite answer. If there was something defective in the construction of the balcony, the builer could be liable. If the homeowners allowed too many people on to the balcony, the homeowners might be liable for any personal injuries, although the homeowner would have a potential comparative (contributory) negligence defense against claims of guests in that the guests willingly encountered this known risk (ie. It should have been as obvious to the guests as it was to the homeowner that there were too many people on the deck). If the guests were minors, it might be more difficult, but not impossible, to argue contributory negligence. Children who encounter a hazard may be held to a lower standard than adults encountering the same hazard. For example, children playing near an exposed power line may not be considered to be guilty of contributory negligence, whereas adults messing around with exposed power lines might be. If the guests were there without the homeowners permission (for example if the homeowners' children threw a party without parental consent), then it becomes more difficult to hold the homeowners liable. If the guests were trespassers, the homeowners almost certainly are not liable. If the homeowner's children threw a party, then any injured guests would need to argue that the homeowners were negligent in leaving the children home unsupervised, or argue that the children's conduct is imputed to the homeowners as agents of the homeowners. I believe the homeowners would likely be liable for the children's actions in this scenario because the homeowners left the children in charge of the household. There really is no clear cut answer to your question, in my opinion.

More specific facts are needed to determine liability. The homeowner and/or the person who planned the gathering of the people and added the furniture on the balcony should consult with an accident attorney for specific legal advice.

The people who overstressed the balcony are at fault because they're the ones who overstressed the balcony.

You answered your own question. You said that furniture and guests caused the collapse. Who was responsible for moving the furniture and inviting the guests? They are responsible. Consult a personal injury attorney immediately if you were injured.

That's an interesting question with no simple answer. There could be multiple people who are legally responsible. The contractor that built it, the contractor that repaired it, the homeowner, the people that sold the house, the person or persons responsible for having the party. The list can long and requires an investigation as well as knowing how many people were on the balcony, what they were doing, how much weight was on the balcony, how it was constructed, when it was constructed and by who. Answer those questions and it's a start.

This is a difficult question to answer w/o knowing more facts. Possible defendants include the homeowner, the builder, the architect, various sub-contractors and whoever was in charge of the house at the time of the incident.