Insurance and compensation within sport & fitness - how does it work?

[Shef_Fitness]

Sports coaches or instructors pay out for insurance etc...

 

If you are working with lots of different people each week, every week and over a period of years, then you will be coaching or training 100s, if not 1000s of people over the years.

 

The law of averages would assume that someone during that time would have an accident, for example, pull a muscle, trip over their own showlace or run into a wall and cause a minor injury.

 

Lets say the person who tripped over their own shoelace put in a claim and was successful, surely the insurance premiums would double in the same way as car insurance does, and of that happens the training fees for the remaining class members would go up.

 

What is the policy towards injury? if I played Rugby and got injured as a result of a rugby tackle, would the coach then be sued, or is there a point whereby people have to accept that in life there are risks?

 

If that is the case, then what is the point in paying out for insuance as it keeps going up?

 

Do any of you legal forummers know how insurance/compensation works within sports coaching and fitness ?

[truman]

if I played Rugby and got injured as a result of a rugby tackle, would the coach then be sued, or is there a point whereby people have to accept that in life there are risks?

 

?

 

I think members of a bona fide rugby club have a minimum insurance coverage by the RFU somethink like death or total disability...you can of course take out your own insurance to top this up..

[Moosey]

Sports coaches or instructors pay out for insurance etc...

 

If you are working with lots of different people each week, every week and over a period of years, then you will be coaching or training 100s, if not 1000s of people over the years.

 

The law of averages would assume that someone during that time would have an accident, for example, pull a muscle, trip over their own showlace or run into a wall and cause a minor injury.

 

Lets say the person who tripped over their own shoelace put in a claim and was successful, surely the insurance premiums would double in the same way as car insurance does, and of that happens the training fees for the remaining class members would go up.

 

What is the policy towards injury? if I played Rugby and got injured as a result of a rugby tackle, would the coach then be sued, or is there a point whereby people have to accept that in life there are risks?

 

If that is the case, then what is the point in paying out for insuance as it keeps going up?

 

Do any of you legal forummers know how insurance/compensation works within sports coaching and fitness ?

 

It's very difficult to pursue most sporting injury cases. In games such as rugby and football, unless someone is so reckless as to practically criminal, there's no liability for a negligent tackle. In football, it'd have to be the most reckless two footed psycho lunge basically. Even then, if the game has been run correctly, properly supervised/refereed, there'll be no liability for the club, although the psycho player could be liable. Some clubs have player v player insurance though.

 

Your other examples (tripping over their own shoelace for example) wouldn't lead to anything. Despite the media portrayal, although people might try it on with such claims, they don't succeed. That said "fat man sues mcdonalds for his weight" is a miles better headline than "fat man tries to sue mcdonalds, gets turned down by every law firm he approaches, takes the case to court on his own and then loses" really isn't it. The truth isn't anywhere near as glamorous.

 

Finally, there is a legal principle called "volenti non fit injuria". Basically, you consent to a risk of injury, and although you can't consent to someone's negligence, you can consent to a risk of being injured in a normal tackle for example, and it would be a defence to such a claim.

 

Hope that helps!