Legal Liability Insurance: Hosting the Summer Party

It’s that time of year again when everyone plans for the warm weather, gets the barbeque out of storage and cleans up the yard – all in preparation for fun-filled summer entertaining with family and friends. When you host a party at your home, most of the planning focuses on ensuring enough food and beverages for everyone and that the guests have a good time. When planning on hosting a summer party, we don’t often consider where our legal obligation begins and ends when monitoring our guests’.

Party Hosting

Have you considered if one of your intoxicated guests leaves in a car and causes an accident? Are you responsible for taking the keys, calling a cab, or offering a bed for the night? Who should be held liable and pay for catastrophic injuries and deaths from your guest’s impaired driving?

If you entertain frequently, consider talking with your broker about increasing your liability limits or adding a personal umbrella liability policy to your portfolio. You can take steps to help minimize the risk to you and your guests. Here are just a few of the things you can do that will be taken into consideration should something unplanned happen:

1. Monitor the amount of alcohol distributed throughout the event

2. Take away the keys from someone that has had too much to drink

3. Arrange a cab ride for your guests

4. Offer your guests a bed for the evening

Pool Safety

Have a swimming pool? As the homeowner, you are liable for everyone’s safety on land and in the water. Injuries caused by a lack of security or maintenance around the pool could be cause for a liability suit. This risk is even higher with children when you have got a wet surface and little ones running around.

Check with your insurance advisor about increasing your liability limit if you plan a big fun-filled party. Your insurance carrier may set special rules regarding liability, children, and swimming pools. Ask your broker today about your liability conditions for swimming pools when there are visiting kids. Here are a few simple pool safety tips to ensure you and your guests remain safe:

1. Keep the fencing around the pool locked when not in use

2. Ask your guests to follow your set of rules as a condition of using the pool

3. Make sure the area surrounding the pool is clean of any debris or toys

4. Always have a responsible adult watching children who are swimming

If you’re planning a party this summer, remember a social host has to take reasonable steps to ensure your guests have a safe experience. Be confident that you have a policy that protects you this summer, and call one of our brokers to schedule a review of your coverage.

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Sourced from Pathway