THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 13, 1996 TAG: 9607110301
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 32 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: COMMON GROUND
SOURCE: G. ROBERT KIRKLAND and MICHAEL INMAN
LENGTH: 64 lines
Q. My daughter who lives in another state was shocked to learn that our association still has a diving board at pool. She said in her area everyone had taken them down due to potential liability form injuries.
Do you agree with my daughter? Is there an unwarranted danger to people, especially children using our pool? In the event of an injury to what extent is an individual owner held liable?
I understand that my association is insured, but is it possible that an association might have to levy a special assessment on each member to satisfy a judgment in excess of insurance coverage?
Are we risking both the fiscal and physical safety of our families? Should I request the association board to remove the diving board?
A. Yes, we do agree with your daughter. Most associations have removed their diving boards and slides because of the potential for liability due to injuries.
The tendency has been that some insurance companies will not issue the policy if the association has a diving board or slide.
The liability does not result from the diving boards being in place. The liability occurs for the association because either the pool is unguarded or the guards are not properly supervising the use of the board.
In this day and time when someone is injured, there is the tendency to look for someone to blame even when the injury is the result of the negligence of the injured party.
Rather then take the risk we feel that most associations would be better off without the dining boards or slides.
There is risk for children in pools with diving boards and slides that is greater then for pools without these features. Again, it is not the diving board that is dangerous, it is the use of the diving board.
Children do not look before diving. The resulting crash can injure both the child in the water and diver. Better safe than sorry.
As to the risk to the individual owner, if the association was to have a judgment issued against it in excess of the amount of the insurance, then the individual owners might have to pay through a special assessment.
This is one of the reasons that it is important to have an annual insurance review to maintain adequate levels based on recent settlements and inflation. We feel that a minimum that an association should have $1 million of liability insurance and another $1 million of umbrella coverage.
Amounts greater than this may be necessary under some circumstances. Contact your insurance agent for more information.
Also your personal homeowner's policy can be endorsed to insure you against special assessments because of judgments of this type.
We do not believe that if the association has a diving boards or a slide that you are automatically incurring a significant risk to yourself or to your children. But the association is risking a lawsuit should an injury occur.
The easy and least expensive way to remove the risk is to remove the source of the risk. We do advise discussing the matter with the association board, and the insurance agent. MEMO: G. Robert Kirkland, president of a Virginia Beach property
management consulting firm, and attorney Michael A. Inman specialize in
Virginia community association issues and are affiliated with the
Southeastern Virginia chapter of the Community Associations Institute.
Send comments and questions to them at 2622 Southern Blvd., Virginia
Beach, Va. 23452. To submit questions by phone, call 486-7265; by fax:
431-0410; by E-mail, grkirkland(AT)aol.com by CNB