Insurance, Liability, and other legal woes in the boardbuilding industry

General Discussion
1

So here’s a post of a different context.

After years of shaping and glassing my own boards, they are finally starting to look like something that might be mistaken as a board one might find in a decent surf shop.

I have several contacts in a few local shops and all have ben very supportive in my shaping and have said that they would save a place in the corner for a board or two of mine.

My questions are these: in this litigous society we live in, do i as the maker of the surfboard assume any liability in case of an acciddent? Do any of you pro shapers carry insurance to protect yourselves from situations such as this?

Thanks in advance

Drew

2

In General, I think it might have to do with whether you sell the boards to the surfshop, or directly to the customer. In either case there is always the possibility that some kid’s parent is a professional litigator. In most cases it comes down to the deepest pockets.

I don’t know of any “little big guys” who have liability coverage for such things, but I sure bet some do. It’s probably safe to say that if you are thinking about such a sinario some dweeb might just try to pull it off and sue you for your Hitachi planner, or maybe your V.W. bus. In our world, one never knows what is next…

I bet there are stories of such things. I have known of curtain pointy nosed boards brought into court for depositions in personal injury cases

3

Drew -

Although I can’t speak to the issue of liability insurance, I think that I can help you on the lawsuit issue.

The short answer to your question is “it depends.” Basically, it is always possible that someone could file a lawsuit and try to haul you into court. As long as their suit had some “colorable claim” (meaning that a judge, when viewing the facts in a light most favorable to the plaintiff, decides that there is a legitimate basis for the lawsuit) and it wasn’t “defective” (meaning that it was properly prepared, filed, etc.), they would at least be able to get you into court. If their lawsuit failed to state a colorable claim or it was defective, you could get it booted without having go through the headache of litigation. In either case, however, you are probably going to be running up at least a small amount of legal fees and/or experiencing the angst/anxiety/whatever that accompanies being sued.

Having said that, unless you manufacture your boards in such a way as to make them abnormally dangerous (e.g., retractable piano wire leash built right into the board, leading edge of fins made of stainless steel and honed to a razor’s edge), you probably don’t have much to worry about in the way of liability. Put differently, there are a number of defenses that would be available to protect you (e.g., assumption of liability by the “injured” plaintiff).

So, my $.02 is - YES, there is always a theoretical risk that someone could haul you into court if they were injured while surfing one of your boards. And YES, you would probably incur at least some small amount of legal fees in defending yourself (although you may be able to recover those from the plaintiff if you prevail, depending on the state you live in). HOWEVER - and this is a big HOWEVER - that is a risk that each of us faces as part of a very litigious society shaped (in my opinion) at least in part by an overly paternalistic federal government. Think about it - do we REALLY need warning labels on handguns to tell us that someone could get hurt if you shoot them?!

Anyway - political rant aside - my advice is that if you want to manufacture and sell your boards, go for it. Don’t let the risk of lawsuits/liability stop you from doing what you want to do. In reality, the likelihood that you will ever be called upon to defend a lawsuit is probably very, very slim. If it makes you feel better, print up some type of warning label and stick it on your boards. Just collect a few warning labels from sporting goods products and rogue the language from them to make your label.

It occurs to me that there is an analogy here - perhaps a strained analogy - between your dilemma and surfing a new spot. Specifically, when you are sitting there watching perfect peelers at a new spot, you naturally feel a bit of anxiety about paddling out b/c you don’t know what to expect. Are the locals gonna hassle me? Are there rocks or other hazards that I can’t see but should know about? Etc. etc. But counterbalancing the anxiety are those perfect waves! So what do you do? You paddle out, of course!

4

Ross Houston of Atlantic Surfing Materials of Melbourne, Fla. brought the mfgs, together about 15 years ago to discuss this problem. There were only a few areas of which we as mfgs. had to watch ourselves, they were pointed noses and pointed fins. Ross had consulted with a product liability attorney and the meat of the conversation was, are pointed noses neccessary to the construction and perfomance of the surfboard, same for fin shape and leading and trailing edges of fins. Fins need to be sharp on the edges, but not pointed on the tips, nor do noses need to be razor tipped spears. It would be your expert testimony in court defending the reason why this is neccessary for your boards to function properly. Before this came about, I had been using blunted nose tips and rounded outlines on my fins.

One of my dealers is facing action over a rentalboard (not mine) with a sharp fin tip and an injury from it (and no liability insurance)

5

why not only put a sticker on it which says use at your own risk? Isn´t that enough? At least that´s what all the snowboard stuff has put on it

6

So do we know of any custom shapers out there that carry any liability coverage?

And for that matte does a company as large as say Channel islands carry any coverage?

Thaks again

great responses so far

Drew

7

If you’re worried about liability, I’d suggest the same thing that others have already suggested. Putting some kind of warning label on the board with all kinds of fancy legal-ese and a big red “CAUTION” at the top of the sticker.

I also think since there’s little or no precedent for this type of thing any court would consider that your boards were constructed in like fashion with current boards and are no more or less dangerous than other boards.

I’d be willing to bet that Channel Islands and Rusty carry some kind of liabilty insurance just to cover themselves. I have also noticed that CI puts warnings on their boards, as do most skate and snowboard manufacturers.

Or maybe you could just sell the board as ‘art’ or ‘sculpture’ and what people do with it is their own business. Nobody ever sued anyone b/c they hurt his/herself with a Rembrandt!!

I say go for it! Your boards are looking great!

8
Quote:

And for that matte does a company as large as say Channel islands carry any coverage?

I’d doubt it… but the latest generation of those epoxy CI’s I’ve seen do have a warning sticker on them. Hopefully that lady who sued McDonalds for spilling hot coffee on herself doesn’t have a son who surfs.

9

All I know is I just signed a $3,500.00 check for the deposit on our Surf Related Products liability coverage and I need to pay another $5,500.00 in deposits for the remainder of our Property, liability and workers comp with in a week. Insurance now constitutes about 5% of our gross sales. Man it sucks to try and stay in business in the US.

10
Quote:

Man it sucks to try and stay in business in the US.

Perhaps, but I wouldn’t buy your product or recommend it if you moved off-shore.

11

What about drawing up a liability waver, which would state the risks of surfing, that the customer would have to sign at point of sale?

12

We pay a policy that covers our place of manufacture. We need to be covered if somebody gets hurt on the premises whether it is using tools or slipping on the floor. Workers comp really took a bite out of us as well; it’s almost as if our state is “anti-business” but someone has to pay this coverage. As for product liability we had to become a corporation (approved by the Federal Trade Commision) which creates an entity that is liable for taxes (though it is not a person) but also insulates my business partner and I from personal financial burden like an injury lawsuit. One industry guy was sued in our area for a wrongful death stiuation; how’s that? The guy’s leash broke and he drowned; it didn’t save his life. I believe it got to the courts.

13

Well, you don’t have to worry about us going anywhere. My partners family have owned the property since 1957 and this business has been on going for over 32 years. We are also a very clean deal. So, aside from getting sued out of existance, that’s pretty much the only way we’d go anywhere else. I’ve lived here since 1962. So, you can be pretty assured we’ll be here in San Clemente for pretty much ever.

14

I did see some boards up on the Central Coast of Cal. once that had a “Buyer beware, use at your own risk” label lammed right on the board. Can’t remember the company name. McDing

15

I belive that CI boards do carry a release of liability sticker on everyone of their boards - at least the ones carried in their shop on State St. It’s a day-glo orange sticker.