Re: [RC] Question for legal eagles/advice from an expert - Dean A. Conti
Chris,
I consider myself something
of an expert on this subject. My wife and I have owned and operated our own
manufacturing business for the past 18 years. Approximately 5 years ago we were
sued by a disgruntled employee and we did not have employee practice insurance. Without booooring you with the
details let me assure you that you haven’t really lived until you have been dragged through multiple, long depositions
by intelligent and well trained lawyers who’s sole purpose is to figure
out how to extract as much of your personal wealth as possible. You would also
learn that no good deed will be left unpunished. Something you would think
would be a positive suddenly turns
into a tremendous negative. Alice in Wonderland stuff…
An agreement to end the suit
was reached and of the $300,000+ that changed hands approximately $145,000 came
out of our pocket and almost put us out of business. I have estimated perhaps $85,000 went to the plaintiff; the balance ($215,000) was consumed by the
legal system practitioners (lawyers on both sides). Remember the legal
system is like any other for profit business in that they are always looking
for new “customers” and trying to develop new “markets”.
No matter what release has
be signed and by whom, you can still
be sued and it will be up to you to defend yourself. The clear take-away, IMHO,
is to have a LOT of GOOD insurance. This does make you more of a target, but
trust me, if you have any assets (house, business, farm) you can’t afford
to not have it. We now carry employee practice
insurance at the business and have a multi-million
dollar liability umbrella coverage on top of our existing
auto/homeowners insurance (which, BTW, is surprisingly affordable).
Dean
From: Chris Paus
<paus@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [RC]
question for legal eagles
I hope this doesn't start
the war back up about whether or not AERC should provide insurance to ride
managers....
