And if any of those kids get seriously injured on your property or drowns in your pool, despite fencing being to code (it is isn't it?), and even with warning signs, especially uninvited/trespassing juveniles, you will most likely be facing a lawsuit.
Umbrella insurance is very, very cheap and covers above what your home or auto insurance personal injury provision covers up to 1 million and above. I think ours is less than $300 a year for $500 K (where our home/auto insurance per person/per incidence tops out) to $1 million. It really hasn't gone up in almost 26 years that we've had it. Usually, you have options for payment. We used to pay one payment, once a year, but now have it tacked on to our monthly house insurance payment. We picked it up when daughter started driving. Having a Dr. before your name can be a magnet for personal injury lawsuits because, of course, all doctors are fabulously wealthy.... NOT.
Even trespassing, burglars, have been know to bring personal injury suits from injuries sustained while "pulling off" or attempting a "job". Frivolous lawsuits are a dime a dozen and, in the USA, you are responsible for your legal expenses, I think most of the time, even when the suit is thrown out. And you can't count on a frivolous suit being thrown out quickly or even at all.
I, by no means, claim much of any legal expertise. DH has only been sued once, professionally; frivolous. He was included in a frivolous medical suit that involved, as defendants, several clinics, at least one hospital, a whole bunch of doctors, nurses, councilors, other staff, some professional organizations, etc. There were many, many defence lawyers involved, virtually all provided by malpractice insurance carriers, and it took over a year before the case made it to court and then immediately thrown out. Lawyers made out great. Insurance providers were out bookoos of money. And even though we all knew it was frivolous, it still produced a lot of stress.
We've had GIANT and large dogs for decades. Although they are/were not vicious, most were somewhat protective. Remember, any dog can bite and most can be pushed far enough to bite whether out of fear or protection. At our last residence, in another town, but same county, we had to be very careful about "dog" warning signs, posted on our property, i.e., some words implied vicious dog or biting dog so that even if a malefactor (bad person), approached me/us on our property and had been warned, sign or verbal warning, that the dog could bite or injure, my home insurance would not cover personal injury to that person or cover us against lawsuit. I know, I know..... weird rule.
If a malefactor approached me, in my driveway, for instance, and I had one of my well trained dogs (whether protection trained or not, and with no prior bites) on lead, sitting quietly beside me, and I said, "Don't approach any closer (or please leave) as my dog might take this as a threat and might hurt you..." Or I had any signs implying what I said, I would be out of luck as far as my homeowners insurance covering any injuries to that person or lawsuits by that person.
On the other hand, if any warnings (sign or verbal) did not imply a possible injury from dog(s) my homeowner insurance would cover injuries to any person no mater their intent.
Crazy, crazy world. :grrrr:
I started really researching this when we had some personal threats. We put 6 ft heavy chain link around a tiny side yard and a few feet in front of the house that was not previously fenced (just enough room for a team of serious attack Rotties, on loan from a friend, fellow member of one of the Schutzhund groups I trained with). The front fencing was not allowed by city coding, no matter how close to house or well disguised by plantings (fire/emergency coding I guess). I battled, and battled the city, even asking for special circumstances considerations. Really stupid as all the house sat back at least 25 yards from street, larger than most of the back yards that were allowed to be fenced. City would not budge. We moved.
Bottom line. Become very informed about your city codes and insurance coverage.
gg=alice
