Collapse of Temporary Structure Exclusion In Sports

admin — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:25:09 +0000

General Liability insurance policies for sports and recreation organizations sometimes contain a potentially dangerous exclusion entitled “Collapse of Temporary Structure Exclusion.”

Presumably, the purpose of this exclusion is to protect the General Liability carrier against paying a claim in the event of collapse of bleachers or similar structures such as tents, signs, billboards, and fences that are temporary in nature.

Unfortunately, the exclusion does not define “temporary”. Does “temporary” mean a one time event? A season? A Year? Are any bleachers that can be moved considered temporary?

Bleacher collapse is a serious event in terms of both the number of spectators that can be injured and their severity potential. Because of the seriousness of these bleacher collapse incidents, sports organizations can’t afford to have this ambiguous exclusion on their General Liability policy.

Source: John Sadler

Each Occurrence Limit Under Sports General Liability Policies

admin — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:00:42 +0000

The each occurrence limit under a General Liability policy for a sports or recreation organization such as a team, league, camp or recreation department should be at least $1,000,000 at a minimum. The limit is expressed as a combined single limit for both bodily injury and property damage liability.

The each occurrence limit is the amount of coverage that will apply to any one occurrence (incident or accident) even if it results in more than one lawsuit. For example, in a bleacher collapse incident involving multiple injuries and lawsuits, the entire $1,000,000 limit would be available to be split between all claimants.

Many facility and field owners now require facility users to provide evidence of a $2,000,000 Each Occurrence limit before they are allowed access. For this reason, a ports or recreation organization may want to consider carrying a $2,000,000 each occurrence limit. If this option is available, the additional cost is normally 20% of the underlying $1,000,000 limit.

If limits higher than $2,000,000 are needed, the best way to accomplish this is to request a quote for an Excess Liability policy which can be purchased in increments of $1,000,000. The minimum premium for each additional $1,000,000 increment will likely be in the $750 to $1,000 range. The actual premium may be higher than the minimum premium depending on the size of your exposure basis. (ex: number of participants or teams).

Source: John Sadler

Sports Insurance Blog » bleacher collapse

Collapse of Temporary Structure Exclusion In Sports

Each Occurrence Limit Under Sports General Liability Policies