by jcalvinmarks » Wed Dec 16, 2009 10:18 am
First, the standard disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. I do not hold myself out to be a lawyer. I don't even play a lawyer on TV. I am giving my strictly amateur opinion based on nothing more than my own thoughts and a very basic understanding of civil law.
You've been warned.
Your club can take measures to limit it's ultimate liability, such as having written policies about individual members being responsible for insuring their vessels and their actions, and having carefully written policies which detail what the club does or does not do, how it does or does not do it, who should or should not be doing it. That way, if an action were to be brought against the club, it would be a relatively easy to show that policies existed, and that reasonable effort was taken to act prudently and enforce the policies, and that the club is therefore not responsible for damages.
Say, for example, a Race Committee member setting and retrieving buoys collides with a boat during race causing injury to the racer. If the club had policies that RC members should possess the necessary skills and qualifications to operate a boat in the waters where the race is taking place, and the club reviewed his credentials before allowing him to operate the RC boat as part of the club's race, and he was operating his own boat in this process, and was clearly acting in violation of Club safety policies, then the Club should be able to avoid ultimate liability. They're sort of throwing their RC member under the bus in so doing, but the club avoids liability.
You cannot, however, take measures that render you immune from having a suit brought against you in the first place. The message from your fellow board member makes it sound as though he wants to be able to say the "magic words" and hey-presto, nobody can sue them. Not even the federal government is immune from lawsuits. It's part of the problem of living in a litigious society as we do that lawsuits can be brought against anyone, at any time, for any reason. And you must respond, no matter how frivilous the complaint, otherwise the plaintiff will often win a default judgement.
The bottom line is this: be very careful as an uninsured club, or buy the insurance and be slightly less careful.[/i]