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Leader's Liability, Leadership Instruction Paper

• Club Outdoor Leadership Requirements & Guidelines
• NY-NoJ Chapter Leadership Development & Safety
• AMC Outdoor Leadership Development Introduction
• Club Recreational Activities and Liability Insurance

AMC VOLUNTEER LEADER'S LIABILITY

If I become a leader for AMC activities, what liability do I have? As an AMC leader, you are helping people to learn about and to enjoy the great outdoors. What your "liability" might be is a legal question, because only the courts can decide liability issues. The AMC is not able to set limits or determine your potential liability. Leading a group of people in any outdoor activity carries the possibility of injury to someone and the potential for liability suits against the leader as well as the Club. Volunteer Activity Leaders for AMC have several forms of protection from these possibilities.

SUPERB OPPORTUNITIES FOR LEADERSHIP TRAINING

The absolute BEST protection is to never let anyone have an opportunity or reason to make a claim of liability for damages against the Club or yourself. The Club, most chapters and many activity committees offer excellent courses designed to improve both your technical and leadership skills. Leaders should have a skill level at least equal to the difficulty of the activity that they are leading. While there are some who feel that good leaders are born, not trained, the leadership training programs offer potential leaders the opportunity to gain experience without actually leading.

These courses help new leaders learn to anticipate and avoid difficult situations that might otherwise result in a claim. Plus, because these situations do happen to even the best leaders, the courses give you the opportunity to learn how to deal with them, so that the only result is a "thank you" for doing a great job under difficult conditions. If instead, a situation results in a lawsuit, we have lost. We do not want to have to WIN a lawsuit; we want to avoid having a lawsuit.

In spite of our good intentions and the excellence of our leaders, bad things do happen to good people. In the unfortunate case where someone is injured, or dies, and they, or their heirs, blame the leader or AMC for it, a lawsuit may result. AMC leaders also have additional protection in those cases.

FEDERAL VOLUNTEER PROTECTION ACT

The federal Volunteer Protection Act of 1997 went into effect on September 18, 1997. This new law shields volunteers working for non-profit organizations from unreasonable and costly lawsuits, and allows states to impose conditions for granting liability protection to volunteers. It does not protect persons guilty of willful or criminal misconduct, gross negligence, or reckless misconduct. According to the bill's author, Sen. Paul Coverdell of Georgia, "We know that more and more citizens are refusing to volunteer because they fear the financial consequences of absurd lawsuits, and [this act] will free volunteers - the heart of America's charities - from the burdens of unreasonable litigation. . . The Volunteer Protection Act will encourage the spirit of civic involvement and volunteerism that is so crucial to a healthy society and stronger communities."

Please note that you have to be a volunteer working for a non-profit organization to be protected by this act. This act was primarily created to protect Little League Coaches and Umpires, and non-profit volunteer officers who sometimes must discharge volunteers who may be offended and claim damages because of their removal from office. The lawyers with whom we discussed this have indicated that it would also protect volunteer activity leaders for organizations such as AMC.

It is also clear that any lawyer preparing a suit against a volunteer known to be working for a non-profit would charge the volunteer with acts that would not be excluded by the act. The suit would probably charge the volunteer with willful, reckless or criminal misconduct, and/or gross negligence. Then the court would have to decide if the act applied to this specific case.

AMC LIABILITY INSURANCE

The Appalachian Mountain Club (not your chapter or the activity committee) maintains a general liability insurance policy. This policy protects the Club from financial loss due to liability claims, and, in addition, it protects leaders of Club activities from personal financial loss due to liability claims when they are acting for the Club.

This policy is not intended to pay the medical expenses of persons injured on an AMC activity.

Individuals participating in Club activities are expected to be covered by their own medical insurance or have other means of providing for their own medical expenses. If an individual does not have any coverage, the Club and its insurance company will, on a case by case basis, review any claim and make a determination as to provision of any medical payments.

Activities Covered

The personal liability protection of the Club insurance policy applies only to leaders of official "Club" activities. "Club" activities or trips are those that have been approved by some committee or unit of the Club and are led by an approved leader for that activity. Approved leaders must be Club members, over 18, and meet the other requirements of the sponsoring committee. The trip must be announced, advertised, or listed as a scheduled event in some regular Club, chapter or committee publication. The chapters' Outings Committees, Hiking Committees, other activity specific committees, camps and the Major and Interchapter Excursions Committees are examples of trip sponsoring/approving Club units. AMC Outdoors, the chapters' activity schedules, newsletters, chapter or Club operated Internet web sites and voice mail systems, or camp postings are examples of publications.

The Club recognizes that it is not appropriate to advertise certain approved outings and that some outings cannot be advertised by any of the methods above because of time restraints. For these outings to be considered an official AMC activity, the sponsoring Club unit must keep a log consisting of the dates of approval, the date of the activity, the leader, the kind and general location of the event. Also, all report forms that the sponsoring unit requires for publicized trips must be completed.

The Club liability insurance does not protect you as a leader of a pick-up or private trip.

Who Is Covered

This personal liability protection for "leaders" extends to any person who takes on any leadership role (lead, sweep, rescuer, instructor, first-aid giver, etc.), on or off the trail or river.

Club Membership

Club membership is required of the listed trip leader, to make it an official AMC activity, but otherwise, membership is not required for this personal liability protection. The insurance policy covers ANY person acting for the Club in a leadership role, whether they are AMC members or not.

OBTAINING YOUR OWN LIABILITY PROTECTION

If you do lead and are concerned about your personal liability protection and/or want to be absolutely certain of your own protection, you can obtain additional personal liability coverage through a rider on your homeowner's, or tenant's, liability insurance policy. These riders are usually available at reasonable cost, as long as you are a VOLUNTEER leader for the activity, and you are not charging for your services.

PROTECTING OURSELVES

Disclaimers

To help protect yourself and the Club, the people who go on your AMC activities need to understand that any outdoor activity can be dangerous to them and that they are accepting a element of risk by participating. AMC Outdoors, most chapter schedules and other activity publications inform readers of this generic risk, but you should also include specific information about your activity (disclaimer) similar to the following, which has been used for many years by a chapter Canoe & Kayak Committee:

Paddling is a risk sport. You alone assume responsibility for your own safety and equipment and must be both physically and mentally prepared and equipped with the appropriate gear. Only you can judge your skills relative to the conditions found on the river (or any other body of water) and any possible risk. You alone decide when, where and how to paddle, or not.

Waivers or Releases

As of this writing, the Club, and most chapters and activity committees do not require people who go on their activities to sign a waiver or release form. AMC Major Excursions, and staff led activities do require participants to sign waivers or releases from liability. Two AMC Chapters and several activity committees do ask members to sign waivers/releases. If your activity committee does not require waivers/releases, as a leader, you are strongly encouraged to ask participants in your activities to sign a waiver/release, or to use a sign-in sheet that includes a waiver/release. The Club is currently studying the possibility of recommending the use of a sign-in sheet that includes the release statement (written by Club's lawyers.) below, which you may use for yourself.

I agree to the following terms in consideration of my participation in this activity. I am in adequate physical and mental condition and my skills, equipment, clothing, water, and food are appropriate for this activity. I am aware that this activity involves hazards, both known and unknown, that can result in personal injury, including death, and property damage. I release, to the fullest extent permitted by law, for myself and my heirs, the Appalachian Mountain Club and its directors, officers, employees, and leaders from any and all liability for personal injury, including death, and property damage that arise out of this activity.

Sign-in sheets with a release similar to the above should be kept by the leader until there is no likelihood of a suit arising from each activity. Releases like the above are not fool proof, ironclad protection from lawsuits. If the signer, or heirs, later believe that the leader was negligent, they can still bring suit. But the signed release is (1.) evidence that the participant was warned, which is not negligent behavior, and (2.) it is an indication to the court that the participant intended to take responsibility for their own safety. Both may be useful in negotiations prior to going to court, and in court, if the case ever gets there.

USE COMMON SENSE

The BEST way to protect yourself and the Club is to lead your activity so that there are no problems that could result in a liability claim. Nevertheless, things happen. If someone is injured in spite of your excellent leadership, you and the Club may be sued for liability. Most liability claims are based on the assertion that the defendant(s) were negligent in some way. In general, the courts evaluate a defendant's behavior against the expected reasonable behavior of a prudent and knowledgeable person. The best advice is to become as knowledgeable as possible about your activity and outdoor leadership, and to use the common sense that your experience and knowledge provide.

Al Braley, Mid-Atlantic Regional Director & Past Chair
AMC Outdoor Leadership Development Committee
Appalachian Mountain Club
Revised: August 12, 1999