I bet you didn’t know that when you signed up for Beer League Softball this year?!  When you are involved in any type of sports league, youth, adult, co-ed, etc there are two types of policies that you need, Commercial General Liability and Accident/Medical.

I Thought You Were Supposed to Kick the Ball?

General Liability is fairly straight forward and is the policy that everyone thinks of first. Here are two examples:

1. Little Leaguer fouls off a pitch which strikes a car driving by the field and causes an accident.  The driver of the vehicle sues the league for the damages.  Boom! Commercial General Liability, no problem…
2. A participant in a Men’s recreational soccer league kicks a ball which veers off course and blasts a Wife watching the game.  She has to be rushed to hospital and sues the league for her medical bills.  Boom! Commercial General Liability, no problem…

The tricky coverage, the coverage that most league officials don’t know exists, don’t understand, and don’t have explained to them by crappy agents and sports insurance direct writers is Accident/Medical Insurance.

Let’s use the second example from above again because as it is one that I have actually come in contact with.  However, this time instead of the ball striking a spectator lets say that ball strikes another participant in the face who wasn’t paying attention.  The player who is struck (who was actually on the same team as the Kicker) immediately hits the ground and needs to be rushed to hospital.  Once coherent the injured player sues the league for his medical expenses.  Do you think the General Liability is going to cover this?  NOPE!

Participants in a sports league are NOT covered for their injuries under the Commercial General Liability policy (This goes for Dodgeball leagues, Badminton leagues, Horseshoe leagues, etc).  Sports Leagues = Participants Not Covered!

There is hope! Accident/Medical Insurance provides coverage for participant medical expenses (And was used by the league in the example above to cover the player that was blasted in the face). For most carriers the minimum policy provides $25,000 in medical expense coverage but I have seen policies that cover up to a $500,000 (An incident) and I’m sure they go higher if there is adequate need and you can afford it.

I do not participate in leagues that do not have Accident/Medical coverage, period.  Try suing a local sports league for your medical bills, good luck.  I would also be careful of stand-alone aerobics class studios (Nothing against these studios, it has been my experience that these owners just aren’t always aware of this coverage). If you get injured doing aerobics and the owner does not have an Accident/Medical Insurance policy you are not going to be happy.

Disclaimer:

This article is for informational purposely only. There is no legal advice being suggested or proffered and the author assumes no responsibility or liability for the actions take or not taken by the readers based upon such information.

Thank you,

Ryan H.

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