SACKRISON INSURANCE AGENCY

Let’s talk about the insurance responsibilities that go along with these summer-fun things.

Attractive nuisance

Attractive nuisance may sound insulting, but it’s an important term to understand. It’s a legal doctrine that applies when you have something on your property that could attract children, and that thing is potentially dangerous.

Here’s an example: You have a rope swing in the backyard for your grandchildren to use. It can be seen by the neighbor kids.

Kids, being kids, just can’t help themselves, and they periodically sneak over to swing on it. It practically says, “hey kids, come swing on me!”

Because it attracts them, and they can get hurt by swinging on it, under the law it’s considered an attractive nuisance. And you can be held liable for their injuries, even if they trespassed to play on it.

Pools, tree houses, and trampolines are also considered attractive nuisances.

Pools

The first rule of swimming pools is to make sure you tell your insurance agent that you have one. You should preferably tell them before you get one. This applies to above-ground pools as well.

Second, you need to make the pool is as safe as possible. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 3,000 people a year drown in pools in the United States.

Many more are injured. There are safety steps your insurance company expects you to take, which may include:

• Having proper safety equipment
  
• Having a pool cover
  
• Posting a sign
  
• Having a fence around the pool

Every insurance company will want to inspect the pool as well. They may have additional requirements before committing to covering the risk. Failure to be upfront with the insurer could nullify your policy.

Tree houses

We all remember how fun it was growing up and playing in someone’s tree house. It may have been just a sheet of plywood a few feet off the ground in a small tree, or something more elaborate.

But we also remember our parents yelling out... “Be careful up there!”

Tree houses are an additional risk, and something that should be discussed with your insurance agent. Do it before someone falls out of it.

Trampolines

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that trampolines can be an insurance problem. But it is a surprise for many homeowners... and often they find that out when a claim is denied, or a policy cancelled.

Never get a trampoline without first talking to your insurance agent.

Trampolines send over 100,000 people a year to the emergency room, and over 4,000 per year are hospitalized or killed by them, according to a famous study in 2006 by the Consumer Product Safety Review.

Many insurance companies (not all of them) will refuse coverage to you if you have a trampoline.

My advice:

First, if you have one of these attractive nuisances, please call your agent to discuss the unique risks, and solutions that may be offered.

Second, it’s possible that you will need higher liability coverage if you have one of these summer-fun experiences in your yard. You may be surprised at how affordable it is to increase your liability coverage.

Call your agent now. If you don’t have a local insurance agent, feel free to contact me.

Do you own or manage a restaurant? If so, I have three tips especially for you.

1. Think about your unique risks

Your place of business is a magical place. It’s special and amazing among all businesses.

There’s nothing quite like a well-run restaurant. People walk in the door hungry and thirsty. They leave with full stomachs and happy hearts. And you made that happen!

You make someone’s day, and you do it over and over every day. But making magic comes with special risks that are unique to your industry.

Part of the “job of insurance” is to help you assess the daily risks you face as you make magic in your restaurant. Sitting down and thinking about all the things that could go wrong doesn’t sound very fun, so many restaurant owners don’t do it. Maybe you haven’t done it in a long time, either.

Let me mention a few unique risks that you face every day:

Food spoilage:

It takes only a blown fuse in the middle of the night, or a lengthy power outage, to ruin thousands of dollars of food. Do you have enough insurance coverage if this were to happen to you?

Inebriated customers:

If you serve alcohol, you know that some customers have more to drink than grandma would approve of. You can be held responsible under California law, in certain situations, for damage an intoxicated person does. Do you have enough coverage for this?

Slips and falls:

According to the National Restaurant Association, more than 1 million customers slip and get hurt in restaurants each year. And more than 2 million employees have slip-and-fall injuries. Restaurants are slippery places with claims waiting to happen. Are you ready for that?

2. Learn about your unique solutions

Restaurants in the Napa Valley are known the world over as unique and special places. So, they deserve unique insurance solutions.

Beyond the basics of restaurant liability insurance, and beyond covering your building and property adequately, there are other coverages that you may need to consider. Here are just a few coverages that are sometimes overlooked:

• Flood
  
• Equipment breakdown
  
• Food spoilage
  
• Off-premises catering
  
• Liquor liability
  
• Employee theft
  
• Data breach
  
• Loss of business income

In addition to these oft-forgotten coverages, there is umbrella coverage. When you hear the words ‘Umbrella Coverage’, hopefully you don’t picture insuring your customers’ umbrellas.

Umbrella insurance is a way to add higher liability limits on top of all of your other coverage. It’s always much less expensive than people think, and it’s worth every dollar. Lawsuits happen to restaurants every day, and they often are for staggering amounts of money.

An umbrella policy can make sure you have enough to settle almost any claim.

3. Work with a specialist

Anyone can sell you a restaurant insurance policy. But not every agent has years of experience working with restaurant owners. The needs and solutions can be complex.

If at all possible, work with an agent who either has those years of experience or can partner with another agent who does. I’ve spent years specializing in restaurants. Feel free to call me if you have any questions.