Special Events Mean Special Coverage By Lynn Bren, Director of Member Services, SDPAA Your administrative board has greed to allow Harry Henderson’s family reunion to be hosted at the community center. When he came to the board for permission to use the facility, Harry described the upcoming event as ‘epic’ in nature; they expected eight generations of family coming from five states. They executed the Facilities Use Agreement, which was created using the sample documents from the SDPAA website (www.sdpaaonline.org). The event was held, and it was as epic as Harry had promised. So epic in fact, that Great Uncle Fred threw his back out and fell, breaking his hip while doing his version of the funky chicken. The Hendersons assured the board that all of their coverage was in order, but Harry’s insurance company won’t pay. Now what? Who’s going to help take care of Great Uncle Fred’s medical bills? Who’s going to pay the legal bills when Great Uncle Fred decides to sue? Help protect your entity from having to try to answer the question; “Now what?”
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When special events such as reunions, dances, craft fairs, and the like are held on public property, you need to be sure to transfer as much of the risk as possible to the individual or group hosting the event. However, the existing liability coverage of individuals and other vendors may not provide appropriate liability coverage for those events being held away from their covered location, and they may not be willing - or able - to add your entity as an additional insured for this event. Therefore, when entering into the Facility Use Agreements, take time to discuss insurance coverage for the event. The Tenants’ and Users’ Liability Insurance Policy (TULIP) is one option that can be offered to those individuals and other third party vendors seeking to host events. When individuals purchase TULIP coverage, your entity is automatically named as an additional insured on the policy, which gives added assurance that your entity will be protected from claims arising from an event held on the entity’s property. TULIP coverages provide $1,000,000 in liability protection for many types of special events, including but not limited to: receptions, reunions, craft
SOUTH DAKOTA MUNICIPALITIES
