Understanding No-Fault Accidents vs. Injuries Due to Negligence

Updated February 6, 2025

Planning a wedding is exciting, but it's important to be prepared for the unexpected.  eWed Insurance can help protect your special day. Here’s what you need to know about no-fault accidents and injuries due to negligence, and the coverage options available.

No-Fault Accidents: 

Imagine you have a beautiful outdoor wedding. As guests are leaving, one of them trips and falls. No one did anything wrong; it was just an accident, not caused by anyone. This is an example of a no-fault accident. No one intended for this to happen, and the ceremony walkway was smooth, level, well lit and not slippery; it was simply an accident. This no-fault accident was unforeseen, and occurred without anyone's intent or negligence.

  • No-Fault Accident Coverage: In these such cases, your liability insurance generally doesn't cover these incidents because no one was at fault. If you got sued by the guest, even though you were not at fault, your liability insurance from eWed could defend you in the lawsuit and cover your legal fees.

  • Optional Medical Expense Coverage: eWed does provide an option to add coverage for situations like this. For an additional $20, you can add up to $5,000 in medical expenses coverage to your policy. This helps cover medical costs for accidents where you were not at fault.

Injuries Due to Negligence: 

While no-fault accidents are often beyond anyone's control, injuries due to negligence involve a level of responsibility or fault. For instance, if you decide you want to make a surprise entrance to your reception and turn off all the lights on the walkway leading to your reception and one of your guests’ trips and falls due to the lack of lighting, this could be covered by your liability policy since you were technically “at fault”.

  • Negligence Coverage: Your liability insurance can cover legal fees if you are sued because of negligence.
  • Vendor and Venue Responsibility: If the injury was due to the venue's unsafe conditions, like a walkway being uneven or unsafe and a guest tripped, or a vendor caused the accident, their insurance should cover the damages. This is why it's important to hire vendors with liability insurance and have yourself named as an additional insured on their policies.

In the alternative, if the walkway was well lit but the surface was uneven or unsafe and a guest was injured, your liability insurance could defend you in a potential lawsuit but generally would not pay damages to the guest, since you did not cause the injury. In a situation like this, the injured guest would normally look to the venue’s insurance since they may have been negligent in maintaining their walkway.

What if the injury was caused by one of your vendors? Once again, your liability insurance could defend you in a potential lawsuit but generally would not pay damages to the guest, since you did not cause the injury. In a situation like this, the injured guest would normally look to the vendor’s insurance since they may have been negligent in the performance of their duties. This is a good example of why it’s essential to only hire vendors with liability insurance and have yourself named as an additional insured on the vendor’s policy.

eWed Insurance helps protect your wedding against unexpected events. By understanding your coverage options, you can be sure your special day remains joyful, even if something goes wrong.

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