Q: I'm allergic to bees and I got stung while at a friend's house. Can I sue to recover my medical bills?

A: I doubt the bee has insurance or you would be able to track the bee down to sue.

Otherwise, you would have to show it was someone's fault you were stung, such as they threw the beehive at you.

A: What did your friend do that caused or contributed to you being stung by a bee? For an injury to be actionable you have to show that your friend owed you some type of duty recognized by the law and your friend breached their duty, and as a consequence you were injured or incurred damages.

For example, someone driving a car owes a duty of reasonable care to everyone else driving on the same road way and if that driver speeds or doesn't pay attention they have breached their duty of care, and if that breach of duty causes and accident which results in damages, the person injured can sue the driver. (FYI breach of duty of care = negligence)

So to summarize a cause of action for negligence has to have the following elements:

1. Defendant owes a duty of care to Plaintiff. (The duty of care is what a reasonable person would do in that situation.)

2. Defendant breaches that duty of care, ie acts negligently.

3. Defendant's breach of duty CAUSES the injury that happens to Plaintiff.

4. Plaintiff is injured or damaged.

So given this definition please explain why you might be able to blame your friend for the bee stinging you.

Also, there can be a cause of action for intentionally causing harm as opposed to just negligently causing the harm but I am assuming your friend didn't do something like hold the bee close to your skin intending that you would get stung.