My daughter slipped on a rug in my cousins home- she broke her ankle and required surgery for a plate and 9 pins

You have several options.

(1) Do you have health insurance for daughter? If they will pay the bills you can do that and walk away from it.

(2) Will Allstate pay the medical bills only, and not pain and suffering, out of what is called the "medical payments" provision? They should.

(3) Allstate is known to deny claims. The only thing you can do if either the medical bills are not paid and/or you want to obtain a pain and suffering settlement is to bring a law suit against your cousin.

Of course you did not say a lot about the facts of the incident. If your daughter was engaged in "horseplay" or running, or doing anything like that, the insurance company will defend your cousin claiming contributory ngligence or comparative fault. So, it would be interesting to at least find out what people said in their statements.

Nearly all personal injury attorneys will give a free initial consultation. So, you should take advantage of that opportunity to have someone experienced with injury litigation review the facts of the case and give you a determination as to how the liability looks.

This answer is provided for informational purposes only. True legal advice can only be provided in an office consultation by an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction and with experience in the area of law in which your concern lies.

Give me a call for a free consultation at 800-816-1529 x. 1. I handle slip and fall / trip and fall cases all over California, and have offices in Northern and Southern California. You can also read about these types of accidents on my website at http://www.slip-and-fall.net

This is a case where there may be shared liability between your cousin's homeowner coverage and the rug manufacturer. An expert witness will likely be required to assist in determining the safety of the rug, so please do retain the rug for testing.