> My local club decided years ago to become an ACA club, in all honesty, > primarily for the liability protection the ACA offered. We had a disgruntled > paddler sue a trip leader on a trip that was canceled at the last minute > because ( despite the leader's best efforts ) the paddler didn't get word of > the cancellation. So because they were unhappy about driving to the put in > needlessly, they sued the leader. Al, That's absolutely shocking, even to me, who makes his living around the personal injury industry. I thought I had heard them all by now! Without getting too technical about it, suing somebody doesn't necessarily mean winning the case. I hope they were laughed out of court (It would be small claims, so anything is possible). As president of one of the clubs I paddle with, I think about this subject a lot. Our answer has been "If you buy it (Insurance), they (Lawyers) will come". No attorney worth their sheepskin would sue an entity that has no attachable assets, so we keep the club as close to zero assets as we can. We also have a "no leaders" policy -- there is a contact person who has the launch site and destination info only, and all other decisions are by consensus of the participants (A little raucous at times, but it seems to work OK). That doesn't protect the club officers or any participant in a club paddle from being sued personally, but that's what the liability portion of homeowner's insurance is for. Bottom line is that in the US, somebody can sue you if your dog dumps on their lawn (speaking of poop)...........if they're greedy enough, they'll find a way no matter what you do to protect yourself. Do nothing, do everything, same result. Go paddling, be safe, and enjoy! The odds are still in your favor, no matter what you may hear otherwise. Wayne Smith -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ Wayne Smith wsmith16_at_snet.net Check out my sea kayaking & homebrewing page: http://pages.cthome.net/wsmith16/home.html *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Apr 24 2002 - 18:56:37 PDT
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