Hired Car Physical Damage Insurance For Sports Organizations

Posted by admin | Posted on 27-03-2009

Category : Business Auto, General Liability, Recreation Departments, Sports Camps / Clinics, Teams / Leagues

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Sports organizations occasionally rent vehicles for officers to travel out of state on business and for the transportation of participants.  If a Non Owned And Hired Auto Liability policy is in existence, it will not respond to damage to the rented vehicle itself.

 There are three options available for insuring damage to the rental vehicle:
  
    1.  Purchase Collision Damage Waiver from the rental car
         company.  This is the safest course of action to follow
         as it will often pay for 100% of damages. The cost of
         this coverage typically ranges from $15 to $30 a day.
 
    2.  Purchase Hired Car Physical Damage from the
         insurance agent of the sports organization.  Coverage
         typically costs $250 per year.  However, this policy will
         not pay the following damages that are triggered by
         many rental car contracts:  
 
                *  The difference between Actual Cash Value and
                    Replacement Cost in the event the vehicle is
                    totaled. 
                *  Loss of profits to the rental car company while the
                    vehicle is out of the fleet being repaired.
                *  Diminution in resale value  
 
    3.  Rely on credit card benefits for physical damage.  The
         terms of credit card benefits vary greatly.         
                                                                                                   
 
This is a complex area and consultation with an insurance professional is recommended prior to vehicle rental.
 
 
Source:  John Sadler
 
Copyright 2004-2009 Sadler & Company, Inc.  All Rights Reserved

Sexual Abuse and Molestation Insurance For Sports Organizations

Posted by admin | Posted on 26-03-2009

Category : Abuse/Molestation, General Liability, Recreation Departments, Risk Management, Sports Camps / Clinics, Teams / Leagues

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Part One
 
Sexual abuse and molestation has been a huge issue in youth sports insurance over the past ten years.  The sports insurance carriers that write General Liability have been decimated with a number of large settlements and adverse jury verdicts.
 
As a result, most carriers are not willing to extend coverage for abuse / molestation unless risk management controls are in place.  In other cases, the coverage is only available by tapping into custom programs for larger governing and sanctioning bodies that have significant negotiating power.
 
Coverage for abuse / molestation is important because all directors and officers will be sued in addition to the alleged abuser.  The directors and officers will be sued on the basis of failure to screen out staff with criminal backgrounds, failure to respond to an allegation, and failure to implement policies and procedures such as the use of a “buddy system” and a prohibition of overnight sleepovers whenever possible.
 
As a precondition of coverage, many insurance carriers will require mandatory background checks on all staff with access to youth as well as the adoption of a risk management awareness program.
 
For more information on the various types of background checks and the strengths and weaknesses of each: www.sadlersports.com/riskmanagement/
 
For more information on a simplified Abuse/Molestation Protection Program: www.sadlersports.com/riskmanagement/
 
Source:  John Sadler
 
Copyright 2004-2009 Sadler & Company, Inc.  All Rights Reserved

Athletes At Risk While Transported By Charter Buses

Posted by admin | Posted on 25-03-2009

Category : Auto Insurance, Business Auto

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A recent report by ESPN’s “Outside The Lines” indicates that charter bus safety is an issue for college athletes who are being transported to competitions. Due to the tip over propensity and structural integrity problems of 15 passenger van, college athletics departments started to use charter buses more frequently in recent years. Charter buses are statistically safer than 15 passenger vans but bus crashes have climbed from 8,555 in 2003 to 13,195 in 2007. Over this five year period, there have been 1,651 fatalities.

 

Most athletic department administrators hire charter buses on the basis of price and availability and have never paid any attention to the safety record. However, experts recommend that safety record be given top billing. All athletic departments should refer to The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration website at  http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/ and click on “search company safety records”.  The safety record of a charter bus service can be referenced if you know their DOT number.

 

An “Outside The Lines” study for the time period 2007-2008 found that almost one-third of NCAA Division I schools used charter bus services that had one or more deficiencies on federal safety scores. Of these 85 schools, approximately 35 used companies with an overall safety rating of “conditional” which is one step under “satisfactory”. The U.S. DOT ratings range from “satisfactory” to “conditional” to “unsatisfactory”. These ratings are issued based on drug testing, record books, bus maintenance, and driver qualifications. It is recommended that a charter bus service should not be hired unless it has a rating of “satisfactory”.

 

Another commonly used test of safety is the SafeStat score which keys in on both drivers and vehicles based on tickets, accidents, and violations found during road side inspections. A score 75 of above is considered to be deficient.

 

Examples of common safety violations which raise “red flags” include reports of crashes, driver violations, worn tires, unqualified drivers, failure to record entries in logbooks, driving without adequate rest, allowing drivers to drive prior to passing drug tests, and inoperable emergency exits.

 

It is my opinion that potential legal liability exists for athletic departments that subcontract out their transportation to charter bus services without first checking their safety record to verify adequacy.

 

John Sadler

 

See Full Article: ESPN, “Outside The Lines”, Paula Lavigne, http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/news/story?id=3997988

Non Owned And Hired Auto Liability For Sports Organizations

Posted by admin | Posted on 25-03-2009

Category : Business Auto, General Liability, Recreation Departments, Sports Camps / Clinics, Teams / Leagues

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Sports organizations need Non Owned and Hired Auto Liability to cover their liability arising out of the use of vehicles that are not titled to the sports organization.
 
A non owned auto is an auto that is not owned by the sports organization but is instead owned by an employee or volunteer who runs errands or transports participants at the direction of an authorized league official.  Sports organizations benefit from the use of the non owned vehicles.
 
When these vehicles are involved in an accident where the passengers or other third parties are injured, the sports organization may be vicariously liable and can be shotgunned into these lawsuits as a deep pocket.  Injured parties often seek out the sports organization as a deep pocket when the owner of the non owned vehicle is uninsured or underinsured for personal auto insurance.
 
Non owned Auto Liability covers the sports organization itself but does not normally cover the individual vehicle owner or driver.  Individual vehicle owners or drivers must look towards their own Personal Auto Policy for coverage.
 
A hired auto is an auto that is borrowed (ex: church or school) or that is leased from a rental car company.  Hired Auto Liability protects both the sports organization and driver from liability arising from an auto accident when a vehicle is borrowed or leased.
 
Non Owned and Hired Auto Liability can be obtained on either a Business Auto policy or a General Liability policy.  However, the insurance carriers are reluctant to write these coverages for sports organizations due to the high severity potential and the fact that sports organizations typically don’t implement loss control protections.  Basic loss control protections include driver screening by receiving acceptable Motor Vehicle Reports (MVRs) and by requiring employees to provide evidence that they carry a Personal Auto Policy with limits of at least $300,000 combined single limits.
 
In addition, many insurance carriers are reluctant to extend these coverages to the rental of 15 passenger vans due to their documented tip over propensity or for the transportation of participants.  The actual policy language must be carefully reviewed for these restrictions.
 
It is important to note that Hired Auto Liability does not provide any coverage for damage to the rental vehicle itself.  Another blog will address this topic.
 
Source:  John Sadler
 
Copyright 2004-2009 Sadler & Company, Inc.  All Rights Reserved

Fire Damage Legal Liability Coverage for Sports Organizations

Posted by admin | Posted on 23-03-2009

Category : General Liability, Property Insurance, Recreation Departments, Sports Camps / Clinics, Teams / Leagues

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Fire Damage Legal Liability is a General Liability coverage that is important for sports organizations that lease or rent buildings from a landlord.  This coverage is also known as “Damage To Premises.”
  
This coverage applies in the event that the sports organization’s negligence results in damage to rented premises, by fire or otherwise, and it is sued for damages.
  
Typical limits for Fire Damage Legal Liability are either $100,000 or $300,00 depending on the carrier.
  
In the event that the replacement cost value of the building that is leased exceeds the Fire Damage Legal Liability limit, you should either increase your limit or should attempt to negotiate a joint waiver of subrogation provisions to your lease agreement.
  
Under a joint waiver of subrogation provision, both the landlord and tenant (sports organization) agree that each will rely on their own property insurance to cover their respective property losses and that each will waive the subrogation rights of their property insurance carrier to recoup its claim payment loss via lawsuit against the negligent party who caused the loss.
 

Source:  John Sadler
 
Copyright 2004-2009 Sadler & Company, Inc.  All Rights Reserved

 

 

AED’s: Does General Liability Provide Coverage For Negligent Use?

Posted by admin | Posted on 18-03-2009

Category : General Liability, Risk Management

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Several state’s have enacted legislation requiring sports organizations to make available Automatic External Defibrillators (AED’s) at the ball park as well as training persons in their location and use.
The question that often arises is “does our General Liability policy provide coverage in the event that something goes wrong and the sports organization and the person administering the AED are sued?”
The applicable provisions in most General Liability policy forms are as follows:

1) Does the policy have a professional medical services exclusion that applies to the sports organization as an entity itself and to all other insured persons?

2) To what extent does the policy limit the scope of coverage for employees and volunteers as follows:

Section II — Who Is An Insured

2. Each of the following is also an insured:

a. Your “volunteer workers”….. or your “employees”….. However, none are insureds for:

(1) “Bodily Injury” or “personal and advertising injury”:

(d) Arising out of his or her providing or failing to provide professional health care services.

According to K&K Insurance Group, the simple answer is that the standard General Liability policy form will likely respond to such a lawsuit if the AED is administered by a lay person. This situation is considered to be more like the rendering of first aid rather than a professional health care service. On the other hand, if the AED is administered by a nurse or doctor, their own Professional Liability policy would likely provide primary coverage.  Of course, they add the normal disclaimer that coverage for any claim will stand on its own unique circumstances and all policy coverages, exclusions, limitations, conditions, and definitions will apply.

Apparently, AED technology is greatly improved to the extent that it is almost impossible to make an error in its use. The later models will only activate if no heart beat is detected or if the heart is so out of rhythm that the patient is in a life threatening situation.

Source: Sadler Sports & Recreation Insurance

 

 

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