Do photo clubs need insurance, incorporation?

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Originally Posted by rdenney

Rick "who had to deal with this last year when a member had a medical emergency that ruined a carpet at a retirement home where we were performing" Denney

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Please don't leave us hanging like that.

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Originally Posted by SMBooth

Not sure what country your in but you do in Australia.

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We are in California, USA.
Thanks

Thanks, Rick "Great info as always" Denney

Great info, as always.

Insurance due to fear of getting sued...I guess extortion has many faces.

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Originally Posted by Richard Johnson

Please don't leave us hanging like that.

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He lived.

Rick "but lost about a quart of blood" Denney

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Originally Posted by rdenney

It depends on the nature of your activities. If people meet in regular public places that do not require prior arrangement, then there's probably little liability. So, a group that gets together socially at a restaurant can usually hide behind the restaurant's liability insurance. But if a photography club meets at a school, the school administration will probably demand insurance indemnification.

The issue is when someone plans an event at a private or normally inaccessible public location (like a school or the meeting area of a community center) that is not their home. (At home their homeowner's insurance would provide liability protection). If you plan an event, and someone outside the club is injured at the event, or in any way because of the event, the person who planned the event may get sued. Even if the injured person doesn't want to sue, their insurance company that covered their medical expenses may sue for reimbursement outside their control. Even if the suit is without merit, the cost of defending against it will often be more than the person can afford.

Protection from individual liability is one of the main reasons clubs that hold such events incorporate, and one of the main reasons they buy insurance. Every community band I've been in, for example, was incorporated and carried insurance. In part, the insurance was required to hold public performances in public spaces like schools. And in part, it was to protect the officers from personal liability. The cost of one such group that performs in public half a dozen times a year is several hundred dollars to provide the required $2M in liability coverage.

It's all about risk, and risk is about exposure and consequences. If the exposure is low enough, even severe consequences might be so unlikely that the risk is supportable.

Rick "past and present officer of several simiilar organizations" Denney

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So a group plans a shooting day at the local waterfall and someone falls in the river and breaks their leg and claims that they only went to this event because the club had a planned outing there. Or maybe the local camera store holds a shooting day at the wolf preserve and someone gets bitten, or trips. Or the club invites a speaker to address the group on portrait lighting and the light falls on the model.

Who has the liability?

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Originally Posted by Bob Salomon - HP Marketing

So a group plans a shooting day at the local waterfall and someone falls in the river and breaks their leg and claims that they only went to this event because the club had a planned outing there. Or maybe the local camera store holds a shooting day at the wolf preserve and someone gets bitten, or trips. Or the club invites a speaker to address the group on portrait lighting and the light falls on the model.

Who has the liability?

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If it's a member-run group and the person is a member, then my understanding is that the group is not liable, and the person is on his own. If the person is not a member and is injured because of what the group has done as a group activity, then the group can be held liable. If there is no group with membership, then everyone is liable for their own torts, which is how most of us go through life most of the time anyway. But the organizer can be the person liable, and for some activities, the exposure can be enough to want to manage the risk, especially if it makes sense for the group to be incorporated anyway (such as for tax status).

That's how I understand it, anyway. I'm sure there are state-to-state differences.

Rick "not a lawyer" Denney

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Originally Posted by ic-racer

Insurance due to fear of getting sued...I guess extortion has many faces.

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I view it differently as insurance against the possibility go getting sued.

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Originally Posted by ic-racer

Insurance due to fear of getting sued...I guess extortion has many faces.

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Definition from Merriam Webster - Extortion: the crime of getting money from someone by the use of force or threats

It would be extortion of the insurance company threatened to cut a photo club member with a piece of ground glass if they did not buy an insurance policy from them.

Do people buy health insurance because they fear getting sick? Do people buy life insurance because they fear death? No. They choose to buy insurance because sh*t happens and for them it is more prudent to have insurance just in case.

It's not the insurance companies to blame, it's the people who sue out of greed and the lawyers who entice them. If you didn't have unethical people making frivolous lawsuits then the reasonable cases would be settled quicker with greater satisfaction and true justice. We'd also have lower insurance rates and a nicer society to live in.