As I'm sure you know, the "right thing" to an insurance company is limited to, at best, paying for a covered incident under the applicable policy of insurance. In this case, I think we can safely assume that the insurance will only apply in the event that the condo owner was at fault in some way. I only practice in NC, not SC, but I can tell you that you're much better off in SC. NC has contributory negligence, meaning that if your mom was 1% at fault and the property owner was 99% at fault, your mom is entitled to nothing. In NC, a property owner has a duty to inform an invitee of hidden defects of which the owner is aware. If the invitee is aware of the defect, the duty has basically been met. In either state, her knowledge will be an issue. If she had been using this shower for days/weeks and knew it leaked in the way it did, that's an extremely tough case.