No insurance to be had for nonprofit non training Club

[Eric Sedletzky]

Good luck with that in court!

And who exactly do they pin it on?
OK, forget about the dive shop because that’s who they’d pin it on. I answered my own question, never mind.
OK, Let’s say the flyer is anonymously pinned up on a community board. Who do they go after?

Another nail in the coffin of anything social and fun.
No wonder people are isolating and choosing to go solo more and more.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

Good luck with that in court!

I fail to understand. No services offered. Nobody assumed any risk but their own. A bunch qualified divers showed up to dive. Or unqualified unknowns that said they were qualified divers and just happened to get in the water at the same time.

OR, somebody goes on to an online forum like ScubaBums and says "Hey, I'm at Bluddy Dive on Bonaire the week of 20-27 May and need a dive buddy. Anybody interested?" and Davy Jones responds saying "Yeah, me too! Let's dive together!" And we do. He falls and gets hurt coming out of the surf at Red Slave. Where would the liability arise?

A poster saying some of us will show up at Soggybottom Point for diving on Saturday is not much different.

A friend and I agree to meet at a Mexican restaurant (her invitation) for a patio brunch. If I choke on a nacho chip and die, how might that be her needing luck in court?

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

This is just getting f absurd!

 

[Jcp2]

It’s not necessarily the injured party initiating the suit. It is their insurance or in the case of a death, their loved ones. Remember this?

Aunt who sued boy, 12: It was about insurance

Woman injured by exuberant boy at his party says she was \

www.usatoday.com

 

[grf88]

It’s not necessarily the injured party initiating the suit. It is their insurance or in the case of a death, their loved ones. Remember this?

Aunt who sued boy, 12: It was about insurance

Woman injured by exuberant boy at his party says she was \

www.usatoday.com

Or the ambulance chasing lawyer.

 

[Bigbella]

While no direct analogy, we had UC marine biology interns working Summers with us, for several years, collecting and processing laboratory samples; even doing some actual diving if sufficiently insured and certified -- back when you could still say intern with a straight face, without references to humidors; but between further and further strictures posed by the UC system (ultimately, restricting anyone from getting wet or left alone on a boat, even while docked -- limiting most everything else to pushing paper and "structuring meetings" whatever the hell that meant) and our own draconic liability insurances, we had to put an end to it.

When later approached by UCSC on why it was no longer possible to continue, we mentioned the increased liability risks and that their own metastasizing regulations rendered interns near useless ("they have to be able to do more than answer a phone," had been my comment); and that dimbo advisor, making 200K a year, seated eight hours a day on a vinyl chair, beneath her Che poster, wondered why we couldn't just put that all aside and somehow do it "out of the kindness of your hearts."

Yeah . . .

 

[tridacna]

And who exactly do they pin it on?
OK, forget about the dive shop because that’s who they’d pin it on. I answered my own question, never mind.
OK, Let’s say the flyer is anonymously pinned up on a community board. Who do they go after?

Another nail in the coffin of anything social and fun.
No wonder people are isolating and choosing to go solo more and more.

Who would they go after? Whoever has the deepest pockets, that’s who. You can blame ambulance chasers and ‘unfair’ tort law all you like but they’re not the plaintiff.

 

[Rick204]

This is just getting f absurd!

Hi Eric, I agree with you, the whole liability insurance issue is absurd. However, the mission statement of our club is “To promote the sport of scuba diving and underwater activities in Manitoba”. Putting up anonymous posters does nothing toward that. We also need to be able to represent divers with the Canadian Life Saving Society, Manitoba Provincial Parks and the Manitoba Government. We are a nonprofit registered corporation and therefore can not sidestep the current state of affairs in liability litigation. With out insurance we can not do these things and the collective voice of Manitoba Divers will be silenced

 

[Rick204]

I’ve looked at our, BSAC, cover, as members worldwide are covered with some exceptions; which do include North America “In addition, North America (USA & Canada) are excluded. Due to restrictions imposed by local laws …”.

BSAC became a company ‘Limited by Guarantee“ because of the reasons cited by @Angelo Farina.

They will look at the assets of the combined club membership. If 10 members each had 200,000 of assets there is a 2m pot to go for, then you have defence costs to consider - winning isn’t cheap.

Thanks for looking into this.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Hi Eric, I agree with you, the whole liability insurance issue is absurd. However, the mission statement of our club is “To promote the sport of scuba diving and underwater activities in Manitoba”. Putting up anonymous posters does nothing toward that. We also need to be able to represent divers with the Canadian Life Saving Society, Manitoba Provincial Parks and the Manitoba Government. We are a nonprofit registered corporation and therefore can not sidestep the current state of affairs in liability litigation. With out insurance we can not do these things and the collective voice of Manitoba Divers will be silenced

I feel for you.
I’m just really frustrated is all. I’m trying to put together some official urchin clearing dives in my area and I’m seriously wondering if it’s even worth it? All somebody has to do is get a few urchin spines in their finger and I lose my house.
No thanks.
It’s completely out of control.
I’m going to have to get off this thread before I throw my phone in the ocean!