Insurance / Releases

[Mike Watson]

More and more companies I work for / sites I shoot on have been asking for a waiver of subrogation. Google for more info, but basically if you are shooting at the ACME anvil factory and they drop an anvil on your head, you go to the doctor and call in your insurance, they go after ACME's insurance to pay for it. (After all, it was their anvil.) After your insurance company issues this waiver, they will no longer go after ACME's insurance in the event of an incident. This is a great deal for ACME, because they can fling anvils all day long and not be on the hook for the damage. It is a bad deal for you because your insurance rates will go up, regardless of whether you get hit with an anvil or not.

A site I am scheduled to work on soon, requires $2M of liability insurance from me (which I carry), a waiver of subrogation, and for me to sign a personal release of liability:

"In exchange for (company) permitting me access to the Jobsite, I hereby forever
release and discharge (company), including the particular Jobsite of entry, its
officers, agents, employees, subcontractors and customers from any and all rights, claims and
actions I may now or hereafter have against (company), and said other released
parties, for death or injury to my person or damage to my property, caused by, relating to or
arising from my presence at the Jobsite.

I acknowledge and agree that this release shall be effective regardless of whether such death,
injury or property damage is caused in whole or in part by the negligence of (company) or said other released parties."

I am not sure I'm ready to sign this document.

Curious how everyone else is handling this.

[Shaun Roemich]

Interesting... so they want YOU to be insured for $2 million in case you do something to their precious anvils but don't want to insure you if an anvil runs up and bites you on the ankle...

As a long time workplace safety and health activist and instructor, I think I'd need to take a good hard look at the location as part of my due diligence prior to signing such a document.

[Shaun Roemich]

Originally Posted by Mike Watson

"In exchange for (company) permitting me access to the Jobsite..."

Are you working FOR ACME Anvil? If so, I'd be looking to circumvent this release as you are not being PERMITTED to enter, you are being HIRED as a contractor to enter.

If you are producing a documentary on Bob, the guy who invented the anvil and want to interview him in from of an anvil foundry, I'd suggest the company is doing their due diligence.

[Darren Levine]

It's legalease like this that will eventually make shooting just not worth it.

But if you're set on doing the shoot, what choice do you have? you can talk with them, but i would be surprised if they budged at all on it. Then again, if you did sign it and did get injured because of something they did wrong, there's still a pile of lawyers who would look at the case, especially if your camera was rolling at the time. Just because you sign away, doesn't mean a severely negligent act can go unpunished.

Either way, it sounds unfriendly and i would just ask them some questions about it and express your concern over the terminology and offer your own statement to the tune of "i sign that i maintain insurance for myself, my equipment, and others in my party, and hold the location and its employees harmless of any damage incurred to my persons or equipment as a result of my own negligence or standard operations of the location."

[Mike Watson]

Update: The company's risk management division has decided to allow us to sign a personal liability waiver and not the Indemnification. I'm not sure if I classify this as a "win" or not, but we've agreed to sign it and do the shoot.

Thank you all for your advice.

[Al Gardner]

Mike,
That is common practice in many venues around the country that I work in.
Not sure if your business is insured at all but if you already have equipment insurance $2 million in liability doesn't add that much and it protects you from accidents you may cause.

Al

[Mike Watson]

If you read through my original post, you'll see I carry $2m worth of liability insurance already. The concern is not the damage I cause - I should be held responsible for damage I cause - it's my fault. The concern is that I am also held responsible for damage they cause that impacts me, and I'm promising not to hold them responsible. Without knowing fully what the risks are.

[Steven Davis]

Originally Posted by Mike Watson

If you read through my original post, you'll see I carry $2m worth of liability insurance already. The concern is not the damage I cause - I should be held responsible for damage I cause - it's my fault. The concern is that I am also held responsible for damage they cause that impacts me, and I'm promising not to hold them responsible. Without knowing fully what the risks are.

I had a venue that wanted me to sign it, but I counted on their lack of follow through and just shot without giving it to them. I did consult an attorney about it because essentially the waiver released them from liability if they knocked my camera over, and my attorney said that in the case of gross negligence, it might not stand up. Besides, if something happened, I imagin your insurance agency would go after them regardless since you don't represent your insurance agency and that's who you would be asking to cover any issues. Yeah, pretty crappy of them to ask that of you. I do like the above suggestion of having someone there just to roll camera on anything to cover yourself, even if it's a handy cam.

[Rodger Smith]

I thought about posting this somewhere on here but wasn't sure where to put it so here goes as a response to this insurance and releases post….

Recently, I was working on a filming set as the production company and director/producer and a girl called and asked if she could watch. I thought nothing of it and told her she could watch from a distance. Before filming began, standing in a backyard of a homeowner, filming at the back door, the girl stood at the end of the walk about 20-30 feet from the filming location and when snow and ice fell from the roof she was injured seriously but within a year was OK. She sued the homeowner and me each for $1.2 million respectively for damages, injury, and neglect for not warning her. My insurance company said that the homeowner was responsible his insurance company said I was responsible. The conclusion was my insurance took a hit for $487,000. Good thing I had insurance.

Had I had her sign an injury waiver she would not have gotten a red cent, having been on location at her own risk.

BEWARE !!!!