Other public liablity claim: Do I have to pay ?

I joined a national sports club that santions sports events around the country.
As part of membership and to take part in the events all members are required to take out
insurance cover with the same club. This I have done for the last few years.
In the summer I accidently hit a car and caused some damage while taking part in an event.
The car owner has made a public liablity claim against the sports club for the car damage.
The clubs insurer has now emailed me to say they are settling the cliam made by the car owner
and that there is an excess of 500euros due for the cliam to the insurer.

The club have now told the insurer, to pass this exces fee to me which they say is a condition of membership.
The email I got from the insurer asked me to lodge the 500 euros to their account.

I do not remember ever recieving notification of the insurance policy
when I had taken out membership - other than once you join you are insured.
I also do not remember ever been notified that should a public liablity incident occur I would be liable for the excess or that this was a condition of club memerbship.
Does anyone have a view on this and whether I have to pay the 500euros excess to the clubs insurer ?
It seems strange that I beleived I had insurance taken out but now I am been asked to pay this large excess.

Hi Stars first thing you need to do is ask for a copy of the insurance and it's T&Cs and read them over making sure you are named on the policy. Normally the excess would be paid by the holder of the policy ie the sports club and it is possible that they are trying to get out of paying it themselves. I personally would pay nothing until you had all the details of the policy and as much information about the claim as possible first.

Hope this helps. Bear

Stars

You need to check your agreement with the club. On the plus side, if the insurers are not suing you in turn it looks like you are an insured party. Otherwise, they would pay the injured party and then sue you for it all.

The questions you need to answer yourself are:
1. Are you insured so that the insurer cannot sue you? Check insurance policy.
2. Do you have a contractual relationship with the insurer whereby they can look for the excess from you. Check insurance policy and contract to procure insurance if any.
3. Does you club membership agreement entitle the club to look for the excess from you? Does your club membership agreement entitle the club to direct the insurance company to you? Check club membership rules and agreement.

As i see it, this is purely a matter between you and your club. Insurers have decided to deal with the claim, so liability is not an issue. Insurers will retrieve the excess from whoever is named on the policy, which is probably the club. What you need to establish, is that you have agreed to meet the excess in the event of a claim arising against the club due to your negligence, when you agreed to the terms and conditions of membership. Check the terms and conditions of your membership for the answer.

"The club have now told the insurer, to pass this exces fee to me which they say is a condition of membership."

I think this is the crucial point, your liability is covered by a policy of insurance it's just that there's an excess. If it is a condition of membership that the individual member pays it then you are probably liable for it, you should have been given a copy of the conditions of membership when you joined or the conditions may be displayed in the club house / website etc.

On a more positive note if you have a house policy then your liability may be covered under the personal liability section (assuming the damage was accidental).

no, as I have said - you paid your fee online and were told it covered insurance.
no insurance policy was communicated and nothing about excess condition of membership...I can contact them and ask them but they could at that stage 'create' some document that makes it a condition of membership ?

If a document was 'created' post accident, then you could go to the Gardai and make a complaint of fraud.

Cairn's posting seems very sensible to me. Check your house insurance policy to see if you have personal liability cover, which might cover YOUR liability.

if the club policy covers each and every member, then there is an argument that the member benefiting should pay the excess? would you not agree?