insurance

[WhatWuzThatBlue]

Recognizing that $40 is a platry sum for a little peace of mind, I find this topic interesting. About four years ago, I got into a pretty heated debate with Carl and a few others regarding liability insurance and umpires getting sued. I recall another member mentioning that an umpire in his group was on teh field when a youth was struck by lightning and killed. Aside from that incident, this board was hard pressed to find a documented case of an umpire being held liable for actions that occurred during a game he worked. Plenty of umpires are named parties to lawsuits and a monthly rag likes to scare the pants off new umpires with tales of leagal woe. However, I have looked high and low and cannot find a recent case of a baseball umpire being successfully sued.

Before the debate beigns, I also realize that many cases get settled out of court by the insurance companies. They view the risk as unacceptable or too costly, so a financial settlement is a more convenient way out. So...my question is this; why would you pay for liability coverage when U.S. case law doesn't have a single incident of umpire accountability on the books?

Lastly, read the fine print on those policies. Do they cover the expense of an attorney you hire or must you utilize theirs? Does the policy provide for your primary coverage (homeowners policy or like) to be exhausted first? Must you be responsible for a deductible? What does the policy actually cover? (Player injured through your action? Fan injured dues to player's action? Coach has heart attack and dies after seeing you incorrectly enforce a penalty against his team?) Let's see what's out there.