Insurance and Liability for the 2016 event and beyond

[The Rod]

Hey everyone,

There's an old thread surfacing lately that serves as a cautionary tale for those of us who aspire to or already build big dangerous things at Burning Man.


My camp had a close call or two this year playing with fire and now we are planning a large art car for next year (we're really going to do it this time!).

Currently we are considering forming an LLC which will own and operate camp and the art car to protect individuals and their property in the unlikely event of a tragedy. Insurance will be researched and attained.


What are other ways that camps, projects and mutant vehicles have prepared and protected themselves against malicious lawsuits? Insurance recommendations? Bad legal advice?

I am looking for input!

[torrey.smith]

Google Fractured Atlas.

[GreyCoyote]

Start by having a separate entity own and operate the art car. Keep it totally separate and apart from the camp. No mixing of funds, support or control. Make the sole asset of that entity the art car. All of the handlers and spotters (except the driver) are volunteers and covered by the policy. The driver is an employee, paid to work the job. Keep logs (just like a trucker) of his hours of service.

For safety, have a pull-cord that runs the length of the car that is accessible to anyone. When pulled, the driver hits the brakes, hard, no questins asked. Have low-light video of passengers and surrounding zones that spools to hard disk. Have radio comms with spotters and spool this to tape as well. Capture a GPS position, bearing and velocity feed as well. Have a MURS radio (154.600 mhz with PL tone of 100 hz) and screw the FCC power limits. Stick a 6 db mobile antenna up 15 feet and run 65 watts. When you need help fast, blast away.

If something happens, have one person per shift who will immediately take custody of the video and data. Have plans to get this off-playa fast, and only turn it over to your lawyer. If someone else wants it, they can subpeona it.

Of course, that just my opinion. I could be wrong.

[Doctor VonBacon]

An LLC is an excellent idea. Insurance (with someone who is familiar with the event) is even better.

Just remember, if you go with some insurer who is unfamiliar with the event, and you do have some sort of incident/claim, the insurance company can fight paying it on the grounds that you were deceptive in getting the insurance.

Also, for the LLC and the insurance. Pony up the couple of bucks for a PO Box, whether from the post office or a private business center (Mailboxes Etc or the like)
you do not want to have any LLC tied to your home address (ESPECIALLY if you are an owner.) You will want to isolate YOUR personal assets from that of the LLC,

It's not bulletproof, but it's a good start.

[bm_cricket]

Start by having a separate entity own and operate the art car. Keep it totally separate and apart from the camp. No mixing of funds, support or control. Make the sole asset of that entity the art car. All of the handlers and spotters (except the driver) are volunteers and covered by the policy. The driver is an employee, paid to work the job. Keep logs (just like a trucker) of his hours of service.

For safety, have a pull-cord that runs the length of the car that is accessible to anyone. When pulled, the driver hits the brakes, hard, no questins asked. Have low-light video of passengers and surrounding zones that spools to hard disk. Have radio comms with spotters and spool this to tape as well. Capture a GPS position, bearing and velocity feed as well. Have a MURS radio (154.600 mhz with PL tone of 100 hz) and screw the FCC power limits. Stick a 6 db mobile antenna up 15 feet and run 65 watts. When you need help fast, blast away.

If something happens, have one person per shift who will immediately take custody of the video and data. Have plans to get this off-playa fast, and only turn it over to your lawyer. If someone else wants it, they can subpeona it.

Of course, that just my opinion. I could be wrong.

At least you didn't go overboard about anything. When I drove a terrifying death trap of an art car we needed to forcibly pull people off the underside of the stupid thing and it was a scissor lift! Back then we always wished we had a radio. Now I have a radio for all those emergencies that somehow only happen when you aren't quite prepared enough. Grey Cyote, as a side note, Burning Man doesn't seem to actually publish what their correct PL tone was supposed to be! Or at least they didn't on the documents I found... I got to the playa with my new HAM radio this year and followed their instructions to configure the radio... which didn't specify the PL (or I couldn't find it). It's a noobie problem and I didn't know to ask! Since I wasn't "prepared" for it we had a random passerby on our street have a middle of the night seizure! (All is well, we flagged down a BLM... who called it in moments after our failed attempt) All that planning for the radio this year and it's as if the playa provided me with a test of my preparedness. "The playa provides" afterall, right?.... So the lesson here is this. Now that you, A-RockLeFrench, know what you should do to protect yourself from the liability, the playa ...will...provide you with a test.

[GreyCoyote]

Another point that should be considered: having a million dollar insurance policy paints a target on your ass. The upside is you have a million dollar buffer between you and the plaintiff. The downside is lawyers always go for deep pockets. If there is no possibility of recovering, most lawyers will simply walk the client.

Consider this carefully before you choose.