Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Insurance coverage for your pond/lake

A friend of mine mentioned that I should consider insurance to cover a potential accident at my property. My pond is on a remote piece of land � no buildings or anything else out there. My friend�s Dad had a guy try to sue him one time for twisting his ankle on his boat. What a jerk! Anyway, people do all kinds of crazy things now a day, so I checked with my Insurance Company, AAA. Come to find out I can add personal injury protection, same coverage as at my primary residence, by adding an additional address to my policy. It cost an additional $10 per year for the secondary address. Wow, that is cheap and easy � I thought you might find this information useful.

Gator,

Thanks for that..I'll check into it also...does it provide protection against poachers?

And water turkeys?

Nope, you have to rent my gator for that!

You can add an additional umbrella policy (say $1M or $2M) quite cheaply. We did. I think it was a couple hundred for a year, but having a couple of million extra can safeguard you against the larger suits you could get hit by.

Alligator, ain't that something -- sueing over an ankle. I knew a guy that sued someones insurance because he did not have insurance on himself and while working on their property he got hurt. What a jerk, but guess it reminds us to only hire people insured and bonded to work on your property.

Little Dog,

That isn�t the half of it. My friend owns a condo and boat down in the Bahamas. He took some friends out there for a pleasure trip; fishing, boating...etc. One guy brings a buddy. The buddy twists his ankle on the dock, doesn�t say anything about it. Next thing you know my friend is getting questions from his friend about insurance coverage when they get home...blah blah blah.

The net of the story is that this JERK got a freebie fishing trip to the Bahamas, then takes my friend insurance company to the cleaners for medical bills, pain and suffering. The so-called friend insinuates that my buddy �must have enough money if he can afford a boat in the Bahamas�. What a genuine A-hole.

Needless to say, for a few extra bucks, it�s worth the coverage. I cringe at the thought of someone having an accident or worse, drowning in my lake - much less the aftermath of lawsuits�etc. Makes me think twice about inviting "friends" out to my place for some fishing...

I guess I'll tell anybody that asks that we ain't got a lick of coverage/insurance -- tell em "Why should we, we only let friends come around that would never sue us" lol.

Sometimes the "Friends" are the ones ya gotta watch out for..........

Gator, I guess I just assumed (yes, I know what that means) that everyone had insurance coverage on their ponds. Ask your agent what would happen if you had a 6 foot chain link fence around your pond with plenty of NO TRESPASSING signs and a locked gate and someone either cut the lock off or climbed over the fence to tresspass and fell off your dock and drowned. The jury award might be a tad smaller because of the fence and signs but in this part of the country the most likely outcome would be your insurance company would settle out of court for enough $$$ that the bozo could go out and buy his own property and put his own pond in. Pretty sad the way this country is headed.

Dan

I don't worry about someone sueing me, it is their insurance company that I'm worried about. Their insurance company doesn't want to get stuck for any more money than they have to and will try to pass on the cost any way they can.

Bottom line, get more nsurance than you think you need. Liability isn't pretend.

I've carried liability through my homeowners policy for years. A guy told me a story about a Fort Worth City Councilman who owns a bunch of unfenced land overlooking the City of Fort Worth. He allowed a film crew to use his property to shoot some pictures of the city. They had a good looking model. A guy came riding by on a horse and they asked to let the girl sit on the horse or use the horse to get some pictures. Bottom line is that the model and the horse parted company and she landed on her face, thereby harming her chance to earn a living. She sued, he was uninsured and paid out a ton of $$. The story goes that he didn't know who the horseman was. My insurance guy tells me that I can be held liable for injuries to uninvited guests. The jury is out on whether I am liable for injuries sustained during an illegal act like poaching. But, I bet a thief could find a plaintiffs attorney who felt like he had been harmed by my negligence.

I think I will call State Farm today and revisit this matter.

Since I have a house, barn and 2 old tractors on my property where the pond is I carry a farm and ranch owners policy on the place with the same liability coverage that I have on our primary home. From the days we had a condo that we rented I've continued the umbrella liability coverage. I may be over insured but I have more peace of mind about it. There are too many stories of people coming on your property and the law suits that follow.