18: Public Liability
This thorny subject surfaces from time to time: exactly who is liable if a dancer has an accident?
The following information is distilled from an informal conversation with a practising solicitor, so can be taken with some degree of authority. However, we live in an increasingly litigious society where people are out for what they can get, so you might wish to take your own view or obtain your own advice.
Hear-say is rife. Don’t assume somebody who knows somebody that knows somebody who got sued (successfully?), must be right, until you see documentary evidence.
Who Is Liable?
There is no liability where there is no culpability. “Where there’s blame there’s a claim”, but first of all there has to be blame.
Let’s assume the organiser has taken all reasonable measures to ensure there are no trip hazards, or slippery patches on the floor, but somebody falls and injures themselves. Who is to blame? Nobody. There is no claim, you’re dancing of your own volition and at your own risk. Dancing is a physical activity, it carries physical risks.
Suppose the venue is in disrepair and, for example, a ceiling tile falls and injures somebody, or you trip over an uneven paving slab. That’s not the organiser’s fault – the venue itself is liable.
If somebody collides with you on the dance floor, again that is not the organiser’s fault. The collision might have been the result of someone being reckless, in which case there may be a claim against them personally. If you slip on talc, the blame is against whoever put the talc down.
I once lived at a property with an alleyway adjacent. The local yobbos pushed over my wall, which fell into a neighbour’s garden causing damage. Of course, they wanted me to pay for it, but they got sent away with a flea in their ear: I was not responsible for the action of yobbos, we both had a claim against the yobbos (if they could be identified). Failing being able to sue the yobbos, each of us had a claim on our own insurance – but only for our own damage, not for each other’s.
Insurance Pay-Outs
Having insurance doesn’t necessarily mean it will pay out. Insurance companies will avoid paying out to the policy holder if they can, although they might automatically pay out to a third party if that’s cheaper than challenging the claim (they really ought to check with the policy holder first, but that doesn’t always happen). If the organiser had not taken reasonable care to ensure the situation was safe (no trip hazards etc), then they may be in breech of the conditions of their insurance.
The situation is clear: make sure not to leave trailing cables where dancers can trip on them, make sure there are no spills, and drum into people not to trail talc around the floor for others to slip on... then not only will you have performed your moral duty, you will have a cast-iron defence against anyone trying to sue you. They have to prove you are liable.
Food
Serving food is a very different matter. There are all manner of hygiene standards to adhere to, and somebody might still get sick. If the food was bring-and-share, it might be difficult to make a case stick. If however you are providing food and did not follow hygiene regulations, you might get taken to the cleaners. Public liability insurance is well advised for this.