Re: [Paddlewise] Now I'm curious: how dangerous _is_ kayaking?

From: Joe Pylka <pylka_at_castle.net>
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 02:03:07 -0500
>I wonder what clubs in the US do about potential liability for personal
>injury. Our club here is currently going through a period of discussion
>about how best to avoid problems. My take is:-
>1. Be careful. You will be, but things go wrong anyway, so...
>2. Agree on an exemption clause in the club's constitution excluding
>liability, and ...
        Not a few clubs here in NJ are incorporated as 501C3 entities.
There are a number of reasons for this; chief among them is the separation
of club officers from the organization should there be litigation.  Don't
know how well that works, but it can't hurt.
        We also do not have trip leaders running a given event,  but trip
coordinators.  Same reasons -- concerns about potential litigation.  We also
all sign waivers on an annual basis.  The wording differs between clubs but
again, the intent is the same.  At least one club requires a waiver be
signed by anyone participating in a club trip as a guest/nonmember.

>3. Carry suitable insurance, as exemption clauses are not reliable when
>litigation follows.
        Again, nearly all the clubs in NJ carry insurance --  rather large
amounts in some cases.  We also list some trips or events as ACA sanctioned
in order to utilize their rather excellent insurance coverage for some
events.


***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not
to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission
Submissions:     paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net
Subscriptions:   paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************
Received on Sun Feb 27 2000 - 23:03:35 PST

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:30:20 PDT