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Question from Prudence_1966Nov-6
A friend of mine owns rental property with four units. One of those units is occupied by a general independent contractor with whom he has a verbal agreement to manage the property, as well as identify and repair any hazardous conditions that exist or may arise. My friend is billed for these services, and the tenant withholds the amount agreed upon from his rent checks. This tenant recently tripped over a chair which he placed on the front porch, fell off the porch, and injured his leg. He is now suing my friend for negligence in maintaining the property in the amount of medical expenses and lost wages. The tenant was unable to work for aproximately three weeks. As an aside, my friend allowed this tenant to forgo paying the rent for the month in which he was injured and unable to work. What legal recourse does my friend have in this situation?
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Fallen Nov-6 79812.2
"He is now suing my friend for negligence in maintaining the property in the amount of medical expenses and lost wages."

And your friend presumably turned this nonsense over to his insurance company.
 
"As an aside, my friend allowed this tenant to forgo paying the rent for the month in which he was injured and unable to work."

That was nice, but silly.

"What legal recourse does my friend have in this situation? "

I have no idea what you mean here.  Your friend's "legal recourse" is, in the context of what you've said in this post, to ensure that he files a response to the lawsuit (or risk a default judgment against him) (this assuming he didn't bother to have property insurance on this property).  :)

I hope there's nothing defective about this porch in terms of code and a lack of railings, for instance.  If so, friend might want to settle (regardless of whether the fall off the porch was the tenant's fault).
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