Looking for Advice: From people that make things

[Wade]

OK, so you make a widget and sell it to guy, that puts in on their snow rocket, and takes off.

What the hell do you do to cover your liability? Is there any way, or just roll the dice? I hear small part time business liability insurance costs between $350 to $2500 a year. Heck, you may only make $1000 a year. Just wondering what most of you "might do".

 

[spring snow hero]

application is gonna dictate a lot of that. your liability is pretty low if you make a hood or snow flap, yet a brake lever as simple as it is could be a hugo lawsuit. I would invest the $$ to get the verbage right on your packaging if you are worried.

 

[swampwater]

A lot of doctors with high exposure and tired of the high insurance rates simply make sure they have nothing attachable in their name, corps, trusts, limited partnerships and say go ahead sue than see what you can get. I dropped my liability insurance in 79, got tired of paying high premiums. I don't make things but I have put in some pretty expensive and elaborate equipment that if they had problemems and the customer wanted to could surely prevail leaving me to go after the manufacture to bail my arse, allmost impossible. A couple of dealers I know have been sued and they would not go away so they had extreme legal costs and headaches one I knew actually lost his business.Swampy

 

[LM.]

Set up a LLC, Corp or Sub S Corp. All business transactions are done thru the business and not thru you. Check with your Lawyer. Also depending on what your product is you can purchase a blanket liabilty policy. You can do one on yourself for 1 million and the same or more for your business. Check with your insurance guy. You can purchase what ever qty that you feel you need.

 

[2XM3]

Set up a LLC, Corp or Sub S Corp. All business transactions are done thru the business and not thru you. Check with your Lawyer. Also depending on what your product is you can purchase a blanket liabilty policy. You can do one on yourself for 1 million and the same or more for your business. Check with your insurance guy. You can purchase what ever qty that you feel you need.

Correct, umbrella policy + LLC. Someone dies you still get sued LLC or not but you have a much better shot. We carried a 5 mil umbrella when I owned my race shop.

 

[Disco Dan Richter]

ALWAYS OVER-INSURE!!!! Form an S-Corp, get a good lawyer that does not sue people but defends them, that will be huge.

When you forma corp, you will have to have "minutes" of meetings, this will prove you are not tying your biz into your personal life, making it harder to prove that you are in it just for the liability seperation, do it by the book, and you should have nothing to worry about.

Good lawyers if they come after you, will always try to tie your biz into your personal, but it is an intimidation thing. Stand your ground and you will have nothing to worry about. The people that file a corp just to save themselves usually dont do it right and get caught.

 

[dmkhnr]

Corps can be penetrated. Great to have, but put all your personal stuff in a trust.
I too dropped my liability, and have the attitude of "go ahead and try to sue me".
I won't even get an attorney, and will drag it out for years costing you $100k before it goes to trial.
I was involved in 1 this last year as a 3rd party defendant. I was told by the judge that I was being foolish not having an attorney, I pissed off the other attorneys by not having one retained, and after I told every one of them to kiss off, the end result was that I was released of all claims, and I wouldn't counter sue the 2 attorneys and their parties for abusive procedure.
You want to piss an attorney off, tell him to kiss off, I'm not playing in your sandbox.

Don't like insurance companies much either!!!

 

[swampwater]

Agreed but make sure it is a proper trust and make sure assets such as cars or other highly exposed items are not in the same trust. Swampy

Corps can be penetrated. Great to have, but put all your personal stuff in a trust.
I too dropped my liability, and have the attitude of "go ahead and try to sue me".
I won't even get an attorney, and will drag it out for years costing you $100k before it goes to trial.
I was involved in 1 this last year as a 3rd party defendant. I was told by the judge that I was being foolish not having an attorney, I pissed off the other attorneys by not having one retained, and after I told every one of them to kiss off, the end result was that I was released of all claims, and I wouldn't counter sue the 2 attorneys and their parties for abusive procedure.
You want to piss an attorney off, tell him to kiss off, I'm not playing in your sandbox.

Don't like insurance companies much either!!!