Is it my college's fault? iPhone Damage?

Question

Tonight, I walked outside and stepped down the first set of stairs and completely wiped out with my laptop bag and iPhone. My laptop hinge is cracked, and my iPhone 4 (Which I just bought) has cracks and indentations on the lower right corner. My elbow has a nice bruise, but that is the least of my concerns. It was straight black ice everywhere, I slipped even holding on the railings. There was no salt or anything. I told my RA's who told me to tell the police. The lady I talked to 's response was "Well we'll have someone put salt on there", completely ignoring the whole part about my stuff getting broken. Should they be held responsible? There was no salt at all, and the stairs were extremely unsafe. I'm not trying to be a pussy about this but at the same time I make minimum wage at college and the phone's $650!!! I doubt AT&T will replace it, even though I have a warranty, but I will check with them first thing tomorrow. Any opinions or suggestions? I really don't wanna give into not doing anything just to avoid confrontation

evilattorney · Accepted Answer

Yeah, they're liable for the personal injury and for the property damage.  And no, your warranty doesn't cover physical damage.  You need insurance for that and, unless you bought a policy from a third party, you don't have that.  Tell your RA, you want to make a claim.  If that doesn't get you anywhere, get a lawyer.

Natalie · Answer

I'm not sure if its the same in the US, but you would be best off calling up an Accident Benefit number so you can claim compensation. You won't be able to claim as much as if you'd been seriously injured, but your stuff is damaged, so at the very least they should compensate you with enough money to get a new iPhone 4 and laptop. 
Plus the college might be ordered to have lots of salt put down every cold night from now on. Anyone could have slipped, and could easily get very bad injuries. You're very lucky it was only your stuff broken and a bruised elbow. In a worst case scenario you might have hit your head in just the right place and died.

john · Answer

Yes, in fact I would think they are very liable. I would check the laws in your state but for the most part it is common that every building must have a safe entrance and exit which means shoveling snow or salting ice and if failure to do so leads to an injury or person or property they are generally responsible.

Tramp Stamp ® · Answer

Yes the college is liable, you pay a lot for tuition and housing, They have insurance and should know better about safe walkways and salting ice.

? · Answer

Should you ran into him you are at fault so you do legally owe him for the damages. If your insurance will pay a technique, which i am assuming is liability, then they should pay him and you could pay your coverage any deductible that's required on your contract, maybe 500 tops is my bet. It is unlawful to force with out insurance so that could be that guys predicament about now not wanting to deal with the stuff however technically you're at fault so it's not relevant. I here you about being a poor school pupil, i've about 20 bucks in the financial institution proper now. :-(

? · Answer

Take it up with mother nature. I doubt u have any recourse unless u were seriously injured.

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Is it my college's fault? iPhone Damage?

6 Answers