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AGENTS & BROKERS ONLY |
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Other Sports & Recreation Insurance Programs |
Products and Completed Operations For Sports OrganizationsSports organization such as teams, leagues, camps, and recreation departments need to carry General Liability policies that protect against Products and Completed Operations lawsuit exposures.
Product liability for sports organizations can arise from the sale of defective products that injures someone away from the premises after control of the product has been relinquished.
Common examples include injuries arising from concession sales such as food poisoning or a broken tooth from a hard object hidden in food. Other exposures can result from the sale of fundraising products, team identity items, and proshop sales.
In addition, it is possible for a completed operation of a sports organization to result in liability exposure. An example would be a construction project off premises such as temporary bleachers or a stage that results in injury.
Most sports organizations don’t have a large Product/Completed operations exposure and as a result the minimum recommended limit for the Products/Completed Operations General Aggregate is $1,000,000.
Source: John Sadler
Copyright 2004-2009 Sadler & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Covered Persons Under Sports Accident InsuranceAn Accident policy customized for sports and recreation organization should cover all players and staff whether paid or volunteer.
Staff typically includes all head coaches, assistant coaches, managers, umpires, referees, concession workers, scorekeepers, field maintenance workers, and league officials such as directors and officers. Our statistics indicate that approximately 6% of Accident claims occur to non player staff.
Your General Liability carrier may require that Excess Accident insurance is carried on all “participants”; otherwise, General Liability coverage may be voided in the event that the injured participant files a lawsuit. The definition of “participant” must be referenced in the General Liability policy. Typically, the definition will include all persons that are granted access to restricted areas where the public is normally not allowed. Therefore, your Accident insurance policy must cover all players and staff.
Some may argue that paid staff should be covered by Workers’ Compensation. However, Workers’ Compensation laws vary from state to state and most state laws exempt certain employments where payment is less than a certain threshold. In addition, very few private sports organizations carry Workers’ Compensation.
Source: John Sadler
Copyright 2004-2009 Sadler & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Financial Strength of Accident Insurance CarrierAn Accident insurance carrier for sports and recreation organizations should have a rating in A.M. Best’s of at least A-, VII.
It is not acceptable for an Accident insurance carrier to have a rating of B+ or lower according to most risk managers. A financially weak insurance carrier may not be in existence when it comes time to pay your claims.
See www.ambest.com
Source: John Sadler
Copyright 2004-2009 Sadler & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Covered Activities Under Sports Accident InsuranceAn Accident insurance policy customized for sports and recreation organizations such as teams, leagues, camps, and recreation departments should cover all sports organization sanctioned and adult supervised activities including tryouts, practices, games, tournaments, non-sport outings and authorized group travel to and from the above.
It is very important for an Accident insurance policy to cover non-sport outings such as awards banquets, celebration trips for ice cream, backyard cookouts, swimming parties, trips to see college or pro ballgame, etc. Some of the most serious injuries in youth sports can arise out of these non-sport activities.
Coverage for travel to and from covered activities is a controversial subject. At a minimum, coverage should be provided for authorized group travel to and from these events. Examples of group travel would be in single vehicles such as a bus, mini van, or a caravan of vehicles.
Some sports organizations would like to see coverage extended to individual travel to and from the covered events. However, many Accident insurance carriers will balk at providing this coverage due to the high severity exposure as they argue that the sports organization is not responsible for injuries arising from individual travel for which it does not direct, control or supervise.
Source: John Sadler
Copyright 2004-2009, Sadler and Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Protecting Children Against Sexual Abuse And MolestationI recently reviewed a very good article on how to protect children against sexual misconduct in the school setting. Almost all of the advice given in this article also applies to the youth sports and recreation environment. I will review some of the highlights in this blog.
Child sexual predators fall under one of two categories: “grabbers” and “groomers”. Most sexual misconduct involves “grooming” which can easily be confused with innocent behavior. The best way to protect children against “sexual grooming” and thus sexual misconduct is to protect them against “inappropriate boundary invasions”.
Sexual grooming involves a process with the following elements:
1. Find a vulnerable child with low self confidence, low self esteem, or that is paid little attention by his or her parents.
2. Involving the child in peer like activities such as hanging out away from the ball park.
3. Desensitizing the child to touch such as by tickling, patting, stroking, or wrestling.
4. Isolating the child by spending a large amount of time with the child and urging them to keep secrets.
5. Making the child feel responsible for the sexual misconduct that has occurred.
Inappropriate boundary invasions involve the adult invading the child’s personal life or personal space by the following actions:
* Showing undue interest in a child.
* Giving gifts
* Peer like behavior like hanging out
* Granting special privileges
* Discussing adult matters
* Keeping secrets
* Being alone with, attending outings with, transporting
* Sexual jokes, showing pornography, asking sexual questions
* Hugging, kissing, physical contact
The steps for preventing inappropriate boundary invasions are as follows:
1. Educate administrators, employees, and volunteers on the definition of and interrelationship between inappropriate boundary invasions, sexual grooming, and sex abuse / molestation.
2. Expressly prohibit inappropriate boundary invasions
3. Require all employees, and volunteers to report all inappropriate boundary invasions to administration.
4. Correct and discipline offenders and those who fail to report.
It is also interesting to note that litigation for sex abuse and molestation can occur decades after the incidents since there is no statute of limitations for this type of behavior. In addition to the he alleged abuser, the legal entity, and respective directors and officers will all be sued for failure to screen, failure to respond to an allegation, or failure to implement policies and procedures to prevent occurrences. It is critical for organizations to keep all General Liability policies on hand indefinitely in the event of future litigation. In addition, the past administration will be held accountable for their lack of oversight based on today’s standards instead of past standards which were much more relaxed.
The delayed reaction nature of litigation for sexual abuse and molestation is another reason why a claims made policy form is inferior to the occurrence policy form under a General Liability policy. See prior blog on “claims made vs. occurrence”.
Source: Protecting Children From Sexual Misconduct By School Employees, Donald F. Austin and Michael Patterson, Patterson Buchanan Fobes Leitch & Kalzer, Seattle Washington.
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