Virginia Dixie Youth Baseball: Important Information
D O E S V O L U N T E E R I M M U N I T Y R E A L L Y P R O T E C T A G A I N S T L A W S U I T S ?
D O E S V O L U N T E E R I M M U N I T Y R E A L L Y
P R O T E C T A G A I N S T L A W S U I T S ?
Most states have Volunteer Immunity Laws on the books which
protect sports volunteers against lawsuits under some
situations. Most of these state laws are now obsolete as a
result of the US Congress passing the Volunteer Act of 1997.
The state laws are still in effect only to the extent that their
protection exceeds that which is offered through the new federal
act.
The Volunteer Act of 1997 protects volunteers on a nationwide
basis in all states from liability if the act or omission
occurred within the scope of their duties. There is an
exception for willful criminal misconduct, gross negligence,
reckless misconduct or flagrant indifference to the safety of
others.
With such a powerful law in effect, you might be asking yourself
why you even need to worry about safety or insurance if
volunteers can't be sued? As usual, if something is too good to
be true, it probably is. And this is certainly the case with
Volunteer Immunity Laws on a state and federal level.
Quite simply, there are just too many loopholes that are caused
by the various exceptions for willful or criminal misconduct,
gross negligence, reckless misconduct or flagrant indifference
to the safety of others. Virtually every lawsuit filed in the
sports context at least claims that the behavior on the part of
the volunteer falls within one of these categories. Plaintiffs'
attorneys representing the injured party must claim this in
order to get punitive damages in addition to actual damages.
So, if a volunteer gets sued, he says, "Judge, throw this sucker
out because I have immunity". The attorney for the injured
party then says, "No way! He was grossly negligent and immunity
doesn't apply". In many cases, the judge won't rule that
immunity applies because he doesn't have enough facts.
Unfortunately, the end result is that it can easily cost the
volunteer $10,000 to $30,000 in legal defense costs just to
prove that immunity applies.
The final drawback is that Volunteer Immunity doesn't protect
the sports organization itself or its compensated employees or
volunteers. The federal law sets a limit of $500 for
compensation that is allowable for volunteers. Also, don't
forget that many sports organizations have huge budgets and it
is not uncommon for even the smaller ones to have over $50,000
in their bank account.
While Volunteer Immunity is certainly a step in the right
direction, it falls short of providing the real protection that
is needed by sports volunteers. For this reason, your sports
organization must still purchase quality insurance and must pay
close attention to risk management and safety.
For more information on Sports Insurance and Sports Risk
Management, call us at 1-800-622-7370 or visit the Sadler &
Company website at
http://www.sadlersports.com to review our
risk management reports which include sample Waiver
Release Forms, Insurance Coverage Checklist, Written Safety
Program For Sports Organizations and Child Abuse
Molestation Protection Program.
John Sadler
Sports Insurance Specialist
Sports Risk Manager
Licensed Attorney
Founder of National Sports Lawsuit Protection Association
