Probably afraid you're gonna start an Axl kind of riot. I'm betting Great White wished they had liability insurance, following that tragedy. Hope it's never required of my band. Though I could see needing it from our performance causing grave damage to the audience's ears and brains.
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This is basically what I suspected when I posted earlier. I suspect that the chamber of commerce either has no insurance or they are under-insured. Rather than purchasing adequate liability insurance for the event, they want to pass some of the cost to vendors participating in the event. If this is what the chamber is doing, I think it's foolish. First, if there is an injury at the event, it may not be the fault of a vendor. Even if an injury is the fault of a vendor, there is no guarantee that the injured party will go after the vendor. They may just file a claim with the organizer. The smart thing for any event organizer to do is have adequate insurance regardless of whether or not any vendors have insurance.
I have been involved with organizing charity events, and we ALWAYS purchased adequate insurance for the event. We never tried to pass this cost onto our vendors. Most of our entertainers worked for cheap or free. If we had required entertainers to carry insurance, they would have just walked--or charged us a lot more money so they could buy insurance.
And in 30+ years of gigging, no bar or club has ever asked if my band has had liability insurance. Why? Because the venues carry adequate insurance, so, they don't have to worry about getting sued for injuries to their patrons.
Regarding Great White. I read a lot about this case. There's a LOT of shared responsibility starting with the Station Club not using fire treated acoustic foam (as required by code) but instead using furniture grade pyramid foam. The club had also hidden one of the exits behind a bar and the main doors opened in so the crowd pressing forward up the entry hall jammed the door against the stops so no one could get out that way. The majority of people did not burn up they died of the poison gas given off by the foam. Then there's the failure of the fire code compliance dept. in Rhode Island to catch any of this even though the building had been inspected yearly. None of this is to say that Great White didn't fail to do their due diligence either...
The defendant was the owner, so he was paying for his own insurance. I used the anecdote only to illustrate how easy it is to be sued these days, not to make a direct comparison between boiler repair and a performing musician.
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Stage collapsed. Many people were sued -- including the band:
Indiana State Fair stage collapse - Wikipedia
You folks stating you would be covered under your umbrella policy had better check in with your insurance agent to be sure. Most if not all umbrella policies will extend coverage beyond your typical homeowners coverage but will not cover job or business-related incidents. And the insurance companies have a fairly broad and comprehensive definition of "business." Playing music in a venue outside your home for even free beer qualifies you as engaging in job-related duties, and if you've ever been compensated any time in the past it will deem your performances as a "business."
In order to get your band endeavors covered outside the home you typically need a special endorsement on your policy to cover you for business-related incidents. Your deck sheet will list specific business duties and the additional premium charged.
In order to get your band endeavors covered outside the home you typically need a special endorsement on your policy to cover you for business-related incidents. Your deck sheet will list specific business duties and the additional premium charged.
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Gotcha. My apologies.The plaintiff was the owner, so he was paying for his own insurance. I used the anecdote only to illustrate how easy it is to be sued these days, not to make a direct comparison between boiler repair and a performing musician.
I hear ya, but I would argue that if an insurance company sees too much risk in a policy they provided to a customer, then the policy is in fact inadequate. Rather than requiring vendors to be insured, the insurance company could have required the organizer to buy an additional policy from another company to share risk. No matter how you do it, if someone is requiring additional insurance, it means the primary policy is inadequate. This means the customer is under-insured.
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And this means the attorney on the committee is admitting that the chamber is under-insured for the event. Rather than buying an adequate insurance policy, the attorney is essentially asking the chamber to pass the insurance cost to the vendors. If I was a vendor, specifically an entertainer at the event, I would either charge the chamber more for my services or I would bow out.
Plaintiff's attorneys can name anyone even remotely related to the incident, no matter how far-fetched it may seem. You can't put liability in neat little containers like that, it's not what happens in the real world. Anyone even loosely connected to the incident with insurance and/or material assets can and most likely will be named.
PA falls over? Well, the venue for sure gets named. Did anyone else touch the PA? Who? Was anyone else near the PA? Who was using it? Did they fail to notice it was not set firmly and may fall? Isn't the user of the equipment charged with some responsibility to ensure it is safe for him and everyone around him?
We're way beyond just the venue now. Several parties will be faced with defending themselves against liability.
Also, you better check in with your agent to be sure your homeowners or renters policy will cover this kind of loss. They almost always exclude work- or business-related incidents.
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...and The Venue states "that's not our PA. It is owned by the band, carried in by the band setup/secured by the band...." etc. We actually had a FOH cab fall over once and landed on our drummer's foot, which was broken in the incident. Had that been a "paying customer" who would have been at fault?
If it happens under your roof, you can be held partly accountable.
If a PA cab fell on a patron and broke her foot, both the band and venue could be held accountable.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
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Ric5
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Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
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- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
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