In January of 2006, grandmother Hannalore Hoffmann offered to help her daughter by taking her 6-month-old granddaughter Molly when the child didn't go back to sleep after an early morning feeding. It was 5:30 a.m., and the Australian family was on vacation together at a rental cottage. Hoffman held the baby in her arms as she headed downstairs, but she stumbled on the stairs -- and unfortunately, she fell to the bottom, still grasping little Molly.
The baby was badly injured, and today the 5-year-old girl is severely disabled as a result of the fall.
It sounds like a tragic, random accident ... but shockingly, Hoffman's daughter and son-in-law sued her for tripping on those steps in 2006. Even more shocking: this week the court ruled against the grandmother and found her legally responsible for the child's head injuries.
In court, Hoffman claimed that she had been to the holiday home several times and knew the staircase well. She'd asked her daughter to keep the light on in the room to illuminate the stairs—but she didn't turn on the staircase lights themselves, out of concern she'd wake other family members.
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Although she says she descended slowly and carefully, she still lost her footing towards the bottom, and although she reached for the balustrade it didn't stop her fall.
In his court decision on Tuesday, Justice Robert Shallcross Hulme said,
Did (Hoffmann) exercise such care in this case? In my view she did not. I accept that she thought that she was being careful. I accept that often babies are attended to in the middle of the night, and in order that other members of a household are not disturbed, without lights being turned on. Nevertheless, when regard is had to the totality of circumstances ... I am persuaded that she did not take that reasonable care.
So now liability has been established and I assume they'll move on to damages, and this grandmother—who has surely lost any kind of family connection with her daughter and granddaughter by now, not to mention dealing with the guilt—will probably lose every last cent show owns.
I don't know about you, but I think it's unbelievably awful the family sued this woman. I mean, assuming she wasn't DRUNK or something, this sounds like the sort of accident that could have happened to anyone. Yes, she probably should have turned on the light, but it was a mistake made at 5:30 a.m. while she was trying to help the whole family get some sleep—and who's to say that would have stopped her from falling anyway?
The accident is tragic enough on its own, I can't imagine how it could possibly help anyone to break up the family for the sake of a lawsuit. I feel terrible for everyone involved, but maybe especially for Mrs. Hoffman, who surely would give anything to go back to that morning ... and let her daughter be the one to deal with her wakeful baby.
What do you think of this story? Can you imagine suing your own parent for an accident that happened on their watch?
Image via Flickr/lilzeto
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Comments 154
i agree that this seems to be dispicable.. but is it possible there is some sort of homeowners/ renters policy that will pay out in cases like this and suing her was the agreed upon family decision to gain access to the funds?
i only ask this as i saw that option excersised when a friend in hs got in a car accident and hurt another friend. the parents had to sue to get to the insurance. it seemed like an evil move- but everyone agreed it was the best way to go before any paperwork was filed.
jasmine - I really hope you are right. That would be the only explanation that would make sense.
While I feel for the parents that life has taken such a turn due to the accident, it is exactly that, and accident. The grandmother didn't do anything to intentionally harm the baby and in fact was trying to help both the baby and the parents when it happened. I think the daughter and her husband are very selfish and are in the wrong here for sure. Terrible.
This is one of my worst nightmares...that I, or someone else, will fall down the stairs while holding m baby...*shudders*
It was an accident. Was she negligent? Absolutely...but really? Suing her? Why? What do they stand to gain?
What a terrible story. I hope jasmine is right, and that it's to get access to insurance funds. If not, what a terrible daughter. Clearly, it was an accident. Should she have turned on the light? Sure, but when I'm in my parent's house, I rarely turn on the light to go downstairs at night. Why? Because I've lived there and know my way around. Perhaps she also thought turning on the light would disturb the baby and make it harder for her to get back to sleep. In any case, it was an accident. A tragic accident, which Grandma is likely to never forget or forgive herself for.
Also, the math seems to be wrong in both this article and the linked one. Both say the little girl is 5, but if she was 6 months old in January of 2006, that means a June or July 2005 birthdate. Wouldn't that make the girl 6...almost 7?