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If you are one of the fortunate political subdivisions who has a pool, or who has access to a pool controlled by a neighboring political subdivision, here are a few tips about how to avoid getting sharkbit. Not understanding the nature of liability when you share a recreational facility with another governmental unit is one of the most misunderstood areas of school and college liability. Most of these mistakes are not ones that you need a lawyer to correct. You just need to be strong and stand up to those who want to negotiate 'informally'.
The single biggest danger - and one that will hurt you worse than a shark bite if it happens to you - is finding out that you entered into an agreement with a fellow political subdivision that was supposed to have liability insurance to cover your activity but did not. When your swim team uses the municipal pool facility and someone breaks his neck or back, that is not the time to be sorting out whether, because the school district agreed to indemnify and hold harmless the city or other recreational facility provider, there is not inadvertently going to be any recovery even if the pool was badly maintained or had a dangerous condition known to municipal maintenance staff. Insist before you ever enter into one of these agreements on seeing all the insuring agreements issued to the owner (typically the city) and the operator of the premises. Check with extra care to see if there are any exceptions if there is a charge for the use of the pool. This simple fact can change coverage quite a bit as well.
What if you are contemplating joint use of a facility in which you own the land and another governmental unit operates it? This occurs quite often with pool and natatorium complexes. Make certain that you have an agreement that spells out who is liable for what and who will insure what. As simple as this sounds, it is routinely ignored, often because Memoranda of Understanding are executed that bind no one and never find their way to the insurance broker who is selling property/casualty insurance to the governmental units involved.
While the Local Government Code Sections 271.152-160 have made it a lot harder for governmental units to enter into agreements to indemnify and hold harmless third parties (the single most painful sharkbite of all if it happens to you) where interlocal agreements either real or imagined are involved, there are still a lot of uncertainties about who is liable for what if one of these clauses finds its way into your agreement.
For an excellent multi-page summary of this area of the law, please read Suits and Disputes Against Texas Public Schools... Where Did Sovereign Immunity Go?
Ms. Fowler will be speaking on this and other topics of interest on November 12, 2007 at the 5th Annual Practical Hands-On Facilities & Construction Advice for Community Schools & Colleges Conference, on November 14, 2007 at the South Plains Area Texas Association of School Business Officials (please contact Eric Gosset at
egossett@lubbockisd.org for more information), and TASBO Schertz Academy on Construction.
If you have not
done so already, consider enrolling in
The Fowler Law Firm's Texas
Preventative School District and Education Law
Program ™. Send in the enrollment
form, which you can find at http://www.thefowlerlawfirm.com/TACS_Conference_2007/PreventativeProgramBrochure.pdf, to re-ceive more information
today!
The important
topic discussed above will be emphasized at the
Texas Association of Community Schools'
5th Annual Practical Hands-On
Facilities & Construction Advice for Community
Schools & Colleges Conference on
Monday November 12, 2007 in Austin, Texas . Please
visit http://www.thefowlerlawfirm.com/TACS_Conference_2007/EnrollmentForm.pdfto
enroll. We are filling up fast but
there is still time to enroll!
If you would like
more information about the 5th Annual
Practical Hands-On Facilities & Construction
Advice for Community Schools & Colleges
Conference, please visit http://www.thefowlerlawfirm.com/TACS_Conference_2007/Brochure_2007.pdf.
If you would like
to return to read the
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of this article, please visit http://www.thefowlerlawfirm.com/newsletter/schools/102507.pdf.
This information is
provided by Laura S. Fowler, Attorney at Law with
The Fowler Law Firm PC. It is not intended as a
substitute for careful review by legal counsel of
your choosing. We would be most honored to assist
you in your every real legal need.
Contact Laura
Fowler at lfowler@thefowlerlawfirm.com
or
call (512) 441-1411.
As with any legal
issues, please consult your attorney with
questions.
