[hackerspaces] Hackerspace legal formation and insurance

[john arclight]

I would add that if you are wealthy/have significant assets and are
worried that you might get sued over something that you did for the
hacker space, then a better insurance bet might be a "personal
umbrella" liability policy.  They are usually pretty cheap if you
already have auto/homeowners with the same company. Any comments from
the legal team on this option?

Arclight

On Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 1:01 PM, Nick Farr (hackerspaces.org)
<nick at hackerspaces.org> wrote:
> The problem with D&O for organizations without investors is that the
> polices almost never pay out, if they ever get invoked.  The policies
> are more or less a deep pocket for larger entities to help avoid more
> costly shareholder litigation.
>
> Ask any of those MBAs and/or Laywers one instance where a D&O policy
> paid out for a non-profit and what the circumstance was.  I'm actually
> curious, because in all the states I've worked, I've never seen an
> organization carry one let alone hear of one claim where the policy
> actually covered a definable loss or judgment.
>
> Philippe and Koen are largely correct...but this is no reason to not
> carry insurance as required by one's lessors.
>
>
> --
> Nick Farr / http://nickfarr.org / 8B13F204
> Washington, DC, 20013-1208
> P: +1 (707) 676-FARR
> F: +1 (866) 536-2616
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 19:21, Carlyn Maw <carlynorama at gmail.com> wrote:
>> What I was hearing was more like if someone gets pissed at your policies, or
>> screws up on bookeeping or you miss some a deadline for delivering something
>> that is core to your mission, or someone get hurts on a machine and thinks
>> it is because the safety training policy wasn't strict enough that the
>> officers and directors can end up getting sued. Not as individuals a la
>> piecing of the vail, but as officers and directors, even elected or hired
>> individuals not on the corp paperwork. But I know a lot of MBAs and Lawyers,
>> maybe they're paranoid but they seem pretty adamant...
>>
>> On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 3:52 PM, Leigh Honeywell <leigh at hypatia.ca> wrote:
>>>
>>> On 10-05-25 05:15 PM, Carlyn Maw wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I've been told by a number of people that we should have D&O insurance.
>>>> Anyone have any thoughts on that?
>>>
>>> I was told by a (Canadian, but still seems relevant) lawyer that the main
>>> thing D&O covers that a good common general liability policy doesn't is
>>> slander/libel.  So if you're going to keep a public blog with controversial
>>> content, that would be a good reason to get D&O.
>>>
>>> -Leigh
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Discuss mailing list
>>> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
>>> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>
>>
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>>
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