Can You Sue a Superhero for Damages, Part 1: Who’s Paying for this?

In The Article

Who is Really at Fault for Damages Caused in Superhero Movies?

Even though we’re discussing fictional scenarios, understanding who is at fault is essential to understanding how victims can recover from physical, emotional, and property damages left in the wake of epic superhero battles.

It’s easy to immediately place fault on the villain or alien race attacking. If they didn’t attack, the superhero wouldn’t have had to throw him through six stories of a skyscraper, after all. However, when it comes to protecting the lives of citizens, superheroes are responsible for doing so in the safest way possible. They have a duty of care.

If we think about the laws the same way we think of how law enforcement at local, state, and federal levels have to conduct themselves in public safety situations, we can see that government officials (including police officers) “do not owe a specific duty of care to individual members of the public. Instead, their duty is to protect the public as a whole,” according to the public duty doctrine. Therefore, superheroes working under government groups, such as The Avengers, may not be held liable for damages that occur when they are fighting against supervillains who put members of the public in direct danger.

However, superheroes that don’t work under the scope of local, state, or federal government can be considered vigilantes, and may be at-fault for destruction caused when they are trying to protect the population. It doesn’t matter how noble their intentions are, vigilantes are held under the same laws as civilians.

In addition to a superhero’s associations, what they are protecting matters when it comes to fault. For example, if a supe is stopping a bank robbery in which no civilians are present of in the line of danger, that supe is protecting property, not people, so his affiliation with a government entity could be necessary to help him avoid property damage lawsuits. If he is a vigilante, he may be held liable.

When it comes to superheroes that work under a private entity, like Vought International in The Boys, the corporation may be held liable for damages caused by supes acting under their direction. This could be held true, even if the private entity holds government contracts.

On the other hand, if a supe is stopping a villain from attacking a large crowd, and some people in that crowd get hit with pieces of falling building, the supe, even if he is a civilian, could be protected under Good Samaritan Laws.

Are Superheroes Protected Under Good Samaritan Laws?

Even though Good Samaritan Laws protect those acting in good faith against ordinary negligence (think of an off-the-clock doctor performing CPR and accidentally breaking the victim’s ribs), they do not protect against gross negligence or willful misconduct (think of a superhero picking up a building and throwing it at a villain, when there are several other, safer options).

According to the National Library of Medicine, “Gross negligence involves a conscious and voluntary disregard for the need to use reasonable care, leading to a foreseeable risk of serious injury or harm to people, property, or both.” With gross negligence, someone who has a duty of care knowingly disregards that care, like in the case of Liebeck v. McDonald’s, in which McDonald’s corporation knew their coffee was hot enough to cause third degree burns, and didn’t change their company safety policy.

Gross negligence can be applied to superheroes if a different path of care could have been taken, a superhero may be found liable for property damage and injuries caused by his fight with a villain. For example, if a superhero doesn’t need to pick up a car and throw it at a villain to stop him, doing so could be considered gross negligence, in which case, he wouldn’t be protected under Good Samaritan laws. (Tie back to slip and fall or other case types that we offer)
But what about catastrophic damages cause by superhero-supervillain fights?

How Much Does It Cost to Rebuild a City?

Hundreds of billions of dollars could be lost in a single superhero battle, and that is just property damages. If you include loss of life, injuries that require extensive medical care, loss of wages, and pain and suffering, this number could reach trillions of dollars in damages.

The biggest fights in superhero movies can keep audiences on the edge of their seats, but they can make a personal injury attorney’s stomach turn, and they likely boost the anxiety of insurance adjusters. A single skyscraper could cost over a billion dollars to rebuild, but that is just the materials and labor. Additionally, even if a building doesn’t come down during a supe fight, the structural damage caused could still lead the building to be considered a total loss.

It is clear that the skyscrapers in most superhero movies are occupied, as papers and office supplies go flying when supes explode out of glass windows. Therefore, additional property damages of companies and corporations conducting business from those buildings should be included. The number could multiply, depending on how many businesses operate in a single skyscraper, and their losses could include: electronics, furniture, personal items, loss of life, loss of wages, and time lost conducting business as many companies would need to find a new place to operate, should their building or floor be considered a total loss.

Would Insurance Cover Damage Done by Superheroes

In some cases, insurance would cover property damage and personal injury caused by superheroes, but in other cases, you may be in for your own epic battle to recover damages from insurance companies.

If you own a business that operates inside a skyscraper, and that skyscraper is destroyed during a supe fight, insurance companies could claim that the damages were caused by an act of terrorism. If you purchase Terrorism Risk Insurance for your company, the government would have to officially declare the villain’s attack as an act of terrorism before the insurance company would be responsible to pay out.

However, if the government doesn’t declare the attack as an act of terrorism, it could be considered an act of war, and, unfortunately, nearly all insurance companies have a War Exclusion Clause, in which they are not liable to pay out for acts of war, even if the act of war happened during peace time. After September 11th, War Exclusion Clauses became more standardized on insurance policies because insurance companies can’t accurately calculate premiums that could cover the risk of total destruction for so many large structures. Additionally, having to pay out all of it could potentially bankrupt insurance companies.

While you may be able to file appeals for denied insurance claims, there are other routes to take that could potentially help you recover from damages. If you think of how some insurance companies will deny claims for natural disasters, there may be ways to seek compensation, but it could require a long legal process, appeals, and out-of-pocket expenses (like hiring inspectors, public adjustors, and an attorney); however, you can find other avenues to get compensated.

If you’re sure your insurance company has a rock-solid denial for your claim, seeking compensation from individuals involved could be your next step. But how do you know who to hold responsible, and if your insurance company doesn’t cover damages for supe destruction, can you really sue a superhero?

Can You Sue a Superhero?

In some circumstances, yes, you would be able to sue a superhero for damages. However, you’d have to prove that the superhero had a duty of care to you, he breached that duty of care, and the breach caused your injury or damage. In some cases, you may have to prove that the supe acted under gross negligence.
These days, it might be easy to prove negligence due to the amount of cell phone videos that would potentially be taken. Finding a personal injury law firm that has an investigative team could help in cases like these. Sorting through a lot of video evidence and finding witnesses can be difficult for someone who is trying to recover from an injury or loss of property.

In addition to collecting evidence, if that case goes to trial, you may find that juries aren’t necessarily sympathetic, as a defense might argue that you wouldn’t be sitting in that courtroom if the superhero didn’t stop the villain, and a superhero’s attorney may argue that the supe is only partially liable for the damages.
Having a personal injury law firm would give you a team that includes private investigators to help sort through mountains of evidence to create a linear story that a jury can follow that directly connects a supes actions to your losses.

Can a Superhero Argue Partial Liability?

Yes, especially if the villain had specific plans to destroy your area. Partial liability is the legal notion that more than one person can be responsible for another person’s injuries. In cases like this, you may find you’re limited to what you can sue the superhero for, and may have to seek compensation from the villain, building owners, and/or local governments.

In addition to partial liability, you may have to deal with your state’s negligence laws. New Mexico, for example, is a Pure Comparative Negligence State, meaning that if climb on a secured area while attempting to get a video of supes fighting, you may be held partially responsible, as you were acting negligently at the time of your injury.

How to Recover from Supe Damage

In the next article, we will cover what could happen to help collateral victims of superhero fights, how victims could potentially recover from damages to persons or property, and how personal injury law could change the superhero universes. We’ll also explore The Federal Tort Claims Act, and if the Sokovia Accords were, in fact, constitutional. Join us next week, same personal injury time, same personal injury channel.

Credits, Sources, and Acknowledgements

Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and is owned by DC Comics/Warner Bros.
Spider-Man was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, and is owned by Marvel Comics/Sony Pictures
Iron Man was created by Stan Lee, Don Heck Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby, and is owned by Marvel Comics
The Avengers was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and is owned by The Walt Disney Company
The Boys was created by Eric Kripke and owned by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
How Much Does Superhero Destruction Actually Cost? An Insurance Lawyer Reviews | Vanity Fair – YouTube
Federal Tort Claims Act | house.gov