General Liability insurance policies for sports and recreation organizations sometimes contain a potentially dangerous “Collapse of Temporary Structure Exclusion.”
The purpose of this exclusion is presumably to protect the General Liability carrier against paying a claim in the event of collapse of bleachers, tents, signs, billboards, fences or other temporary structures.
Unfortunately, the exclusion does not define “temporary.” Does temporary refer to a one-time event? A season? A year? Are any bleachers that can be moved considered temporary?
A bleacher collapse can be a serious event in terms of both the number of spectators that can be injured and the potential severity of injuries. Because of the seriousness of these bleacher collapse incidents, sports organizations can’t afford to have this ambiguous exclusion on their General Liability policy.
