Liability for the volunteer mechanic

[lostagain]

Thanks for all you guy's sage advice. I'm still waiting for my lawyer to tell me what he thinks, and I will be talking to an other tomorrow.
It is becoming obvious that I will be looking for liability insurance coverage soon. It is funny that I have been doing this for several years now without worrying about trouble. In the meantime my wife and I have been in business all our lives and always have been covered properly with liability insurance. It is the volunteer/non profit/good cause/service club thing that lulls you into complacency and carelessness. I'll let you know what we end up doing.

Thanks,

JC

[bevans6]

I honestly think it's less liability insurance than you need a license to do the work that you are doing.  When unlicensed mechanics do work in a shop, they are under the supervision of a licenced mechanic who inspects (theoretically anyway) and signs off on the work.  One of your questions has to be about the real or perceived need to have licenses to perform the work, maybe there is a loophole you can use.

Briann

[pvcces]

JC, this is a very involved subject. I'm not offering advice, but I think there are some general ideas that might give you food for thought.

Attorneys do not avoid making a claim against somebody who has insurance; sometimes they will only make a claim where there is a big enough insurance policy. They are after the money, generally, and not particularly interested in changing the way the world works.

There are at least three levels or kinds of liability.

Strict liability, such as when you are using dynamite, usually means if there is an injury or damage from a blast, the blaster is liable.

General liabilty, in which you have to fail in a duty and that failure contributes to an injury or damage.

Charity liabilty, in which the charity must be grossly negligent regarding the care of the recipients of the charity. Remember the church sexual abuse claims?

Then, there are punitive damages. I understand that insurers do not generally pay punitive damages.

I am sure there are many shades of these and other forms of liability; it's how attorneys make their living.

The best way to prevent a liabilty claim is if no one can show they were injured by anything you had a hand in. Having few resources probably is probably about as good at preventing claims.

I favor being careful as much as possible. Being in a rush leads to many bad decisions.

Good luck.

Tom Caffrey