|
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Important Message Regarding USA Rugby Liability Insurance Dear USA Rugby Member,
One of the many benefits of USA Rugby membership is coverage under USA Rugby’s General Liability insurance policy. This umbrella policy provides coverage to all actively registered individuals and clubs. This policy affords clubs the opportunity to reserve publicly and privately owned playing fields for practices, matches, and tournament play.
Our insurance provider, ESIX, has asked us to pass along an important message to our member clubs regarding Waiver and Release forms. Please take the time to review the letter below and we appreciate your assistance with this matter. If this e-mail has reached you by error, please feel free to forward it along to the appropiate member(s) of your club.
Thank you for your support of USA Rugby.
Sincerely,
USA Rugby
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Rugby Club,
As you all know, you are required to accept and maintain properly executed and signed USA Rugby Membership Application forms, with the properly signed Waiver and Release of Liability.
USA Rugby’s General Liability insurance provider relies on a signed Waiver and Release to defend an allegation of negligence which results in injury. A Waiver and Release provides the following:
- Contractually obligates the athlete and/or parent not to sue the organization
- Many do not consider litigation with the knowledge that they have signed a Waiver and Release
- Provides a first method of defense against allegations of negligence
- Most sports require a signed Waiver in order to participate
In addition to your collection of these documents, we also need to stress maintenance of these documents. While we recognize that this may be encumbering, please note the following statistics:
- Most states “Statute of Limitations” is two to three years
- There are a number of states/jurisdictions whose statute of limitations is in excess of the 2-3 standard, and as high as 6 years
- A minor’s Statute of Limitations does not begin until they reach their age of majority which is generally 18 years of age (there are 2 or 3 states which majority is 19)
- A minor can therefore reach majority, and file litigation for an injury suffered a number of years earlier and still take advantage of the Statute of Limitations
While we are not suggesting that you maintain membership applications/Waiver and Release of Liability forms for 10 years, we must ask that you maintain these documents for a reasonable time period, such as 3 years.
Please feel free to call our Risk Managers, ESIX for information concerning the Statute of Limitations in your state, Trish Beyer at 678-324-3325 or email at tbeyer@esixglobal.com.
We appreciate your cooperation in this matter, as we want to be able to maintain the integrity of our insurance programs, and with your assistance, we can continue to provide superior insurance for your group, and actively defend allegations of negligence.
Thank you,
ESIX
|
