Our club is currently at an impasse about whether to pursue club liability insurance and require waivers, or to be a loose group of "consenting adults" with no responsibility or liability to each other. Does anyone know of any case law precedence concerning recreational (or specifically, paddling) clubs? I'm all for the status quo, but I'm scared that something bad could happen, and as a club officer (and certified instructor), I could get sued and lose because I "know better". Shawn Yahoo! Games - play chess, backgammon, pool and more http://games.yahoo.com/ *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Shawn, On PW, we've exchanged ideas about carrying poop. And we've talked about peeing on wounds. These topics were important, though distasteful. But the liability topic you raise is, to me, far more distasteful than poop transport, and unfortunately, also important to discuss for paddlers. 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. You asked about case law. To a great extent, in the U.S., that's not necessarily the most relevant risk. The most common exposure is simply the fact that here, you can be sued by anyone for any reason and you'll have a difficult time recovering your legal defense expenses even if they lose. So to be pragmatic, it's worth considering investment in some liability coverage to avoid these legal defense costs. And, of course, it may also make sense to obtain insurance against the rarer legitimate lawsuit because, after all, we do all make mistakes and we should be responsible for those mistakes. Tort reform is long overdue in the U.S.. But even when it's been raised in the past, it's been motivated by large corporations interested in capping their liability and not by making those that sue when they shouldn't, pay for their lack of ethics. -- Al Vazquez KayakGuide.com tm Places to Paddle tm - Kayaking - Canoeing - Rafting - Shawn Baker wrote: > Our club is currently at an impasse about whether to pursue club liability > insurance and require waivers, or to be a loose group of "consenting adults" > with no responsibility or liability to each other. > > Shawn *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
> 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/ ***************************************************************************
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