I can’t find e-mail address to contact the AHA directly so I hope someone from the AHA will see this and respond.
With the new Club Insurance program I understand that it covers clubs in many locations for meetings etc. However in some states (North Carolina) there is a Dram Shop law that holds business serving alcohol liable for their patrons. This law also extends to homeowners serving alcohol to guests in their homes. Would this new insurance cover club functions in member’s homes or would the Dram Shop law override and the homeowner would be liable for anyone consuming alcohol at a club sponsored party? Our club normally provides funds to members to cover party expenses, could this be considered a rental agreement for the home or is that too shady for circumventing the Dram Shop laws and allowing the club insurance to be the payer in the event of an insurance claim? All of this is just for clarification for what specific venues the club insurance covers.
I have reached out to West, the insurance agent, through their website for coverage information and have not gotten a response. It’s great that there is affordable insurance, but the roll out has not been smooth.
This past weekend. FYI, I am on a committee of 3 for making a recommendation to the board of our club. We are hoping to make a decision before the Sept. 1 deadline, but would need the information really soon to make that happen. Due to various quirks of Illinois law, we have no need for liquor liability coverage so obtaining insurance is more of a luxury than a necessity. Therefore, we want to see what we are getting before buying.
I had questions also about the insurance program. So I contacted AHA first. I got a response the next day from AHA saying that my questions were insurance specific and I should contact them. So I went to the insurance site provided by the link and used the contact information at the upper right hand corner. That was yesterday. Hopefully, I will hear back soon.
We talked about this last night with the limited info available. We’ll go ahead & enroll so AHA doesn’t lose the rollout, however, there are questions that need to be addressed.
What is the status if you belong to more than one club?
Do we need to record the non-members who attend the meetings and outside club functions.
We’ll have more when our steering committee meets later this month.
The insurance only applies to the club, not the member in the sense that if you’re a member of 3 different clubs then 3 different clubs are paying $3.50 for you if they’re all in the program.
I would think there is a need for better Club recognition, such as clubs required to provide yearly rosters of paid members, up to date by-laws. The way it stands now a club could pay for 3-4 members, even though there are more than that in the club. I would think that the Broker & the Carrier would want a more accurate count other than one done on the honor system. The real test will be when the first claim is filed.
Was the premium per member ever thought to be a portion of the AHA dues? This way there is a defined number that the underwriters can use in determining premium. In addition, it could be a way to increase AHA membership with the clubs driving the membership rolls.
Misrepresenting the number of members in a club on an application for the purpose of paying lower dues would constitute insurance fraud, and would likely be grounds to 1) deny any claim and/or 2) rescind the policy on the offending club. The homebrewers I know wouldn’t behave like that.
That said, my club is not participating. Maryland law does not recognize “social host” liquor liability if someone were to leave one of our club events at someone’s home, and cause injury or damage.
Yeah, if a club tries to defraud the insurance company and pull a quick one, they’ll be providing grounds for denial of coverage for an incident.
And no, this is a program that’s been engaged and created for AHA registered clubs as a benefit for the clubs and not the AHA. The AHA is providing the “umbrella” for the policy and there were agreed on targets to hit for determining the premium.
The one thing that may be explored in the future is the AHA covering the insurance for a club that crosses some threshold of AHA members in the club. (e.g. 75% club members being AHA members means free insurance for the club!) But there’s nothing concrete around that concept.
Hello. I do not see in my inbox that I have received an email from your club. Could you please email me directly at luke@westinsurance.com and I will help you get your questions answered?
Thanks,
Luke
West’s Insurance Agency
The policy provides for an audit for the premium. At the end of the audit, the club will be billed for additional premium or refunded excess premium. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a “mini-audit” annually around about the start of the next coverage period.
From a budgeting standpoint, it would make sense to make a good faith estimate of what your membership is so you don’t get hit with a big bill after an audit.
You would want to keep good records of membership as a lawsuit can happen several years after the triggering incident to make sure that you can prove that club members involved in the incident were in the club so that there is the possibility of insurance coverage.