shopping for insurance for my saddle making business

[Tangent Creations]

Hey all! We also have a shop on our land seperate from our house. We cover it through the same company as our house and vehicles (which are great advertising!). Part is for liability for injuries of customers or workers and part is because of the nature of some of our equipment (we also do alot of metal work) that we're covered if our shop were to burn down. As for product liability, it keeps me from offering tack, though I'll make specific breakaway halters, and do minor repairs. I make my own tack, but I'm not going to sue myself . But on the customer end, we don't run a 'retail shop' on our land, so that wasn't too much of a problem. People come out only for special occasions...

I did talk to a good friend of mine who runs a tack store, and she said that companies like Abbeta and Circle Y and such have some super serious liability insurance and that she had to have insurance too because she sells the product.

[Seasoned Warrior]

If you are in California, I'd like to submit an insurance quote on your leather shop and see what we can work out.

Click here to email

~~I hid your email from the spammers. Johanna

[Michael Sheldon]

I've you're a small independent, household insurers will often write a "rider" to cover business issues, but be careful that it might only cover loss, not product liability.

If you're incorporated, or more than a small shop, you're probably looking at getting a commercial policy. We're in the process right now of getting a quote from Hartford.

[daviD A Morris]

Is there a database anywhere that one can find out about the outcomes of lawsuits? I have heard of a number of cases both here (in Australia) and in the USA that involved people suing over faulty saddlery gear. But some of what you hear is myth, and it would be nice to be able to "check it out".

One of my questions is: Does anyone know of any retailers who sell that sub-standard junk saddlery from 3rd-world countries being sued for injuries caused by poor quality horse gear breaking? I recently had a guy show me his "new" saddle that he bought from a tack store. The saddle was made in India, the rider is 6' 4" and weighs in at around 260 pounds, is a very novice rider and had also just bought a clydesdale horse to ride. I explained to him that I had seen a lot of those saddles with broken trees and/or the stirrup leather hangers break and that I did not consider it safe for him to use. If he had a serious accident from that poor-quality saddle, it is not much use him trying to sue the maker in India, so I assume the tack store's negligent sales person selling a product which was not "fit for its purpose" would be sued. From all this I can only guess that the tack store has a very good product liability insurance policy.

For how many years after selling a new item is a maker liable for the safety of that product??? and check your insurance policy carefully, some policies have to be in place when the claim is actually made, which means that if I stop making saddles ( and go get a real job) I will still have pay insurance for product liability in case a claim comes in!! or conversely - if a claim was made against a saddle that I made and sold 4 years ago, when I was not insured, then I would not be covered.

Insurance premiums might buy some "peace of mind" but not much!! I assume you guys read your insurance policies very carefully.

regards

dam

[DWL]

New member and first time poster...

Great topic... and unfortunately very important.

Earlier this year at a local rodeo during slack, a calf ropers saddle swell broke clean off his saddle as the rope came tight. With the rope still tied on the horn it lodged against the neck rope on the horse as the calf strained. There was a certain amount of panic from the horse, but not too bad as several others came in to help. This could have been a real bad wreck.

Would the saddle maker be responsible for an expensive rope horses injuries? The saddle was a production saddle, however very popular among tie down ropers and after a closer look at the damage, it appeared the only thing holding the tree together was a thin single layer of fiberglass that was torn away from the rest of the tree. The tree may have been an inexpensive one made in Mexico (?) Would the saddle maker take the full liability if the failed saddle tree was made out of the country? I would think if a saddle is sold as a roping saddle, most of us would believe it would stay together when roping a 400 pound calf. Would labeling a saddle as a roping saddle increase ones liability? Also, this was not an old saddle, it appeared to be a newer looking saddle with plenty of tooling. (the insides apparently did not live up to the outside)

All my saddles are handmade with good USA made trees and I feel confident that when I rope a steer everything will stay together. Now, more than ever I would be afraid to put that kind of stress on a cheaply made production saddle.

Thank you for such a great forum, keep up the good work...

Dave

[RyanCope]

A good accountant and an umbrella policy will get you a LONG way. Good accountants know how to "layer" your assets. My saddlery business isn't worth any more than what I have built in inventory. And, the limited liability partnership that I "rent" my shop and all my tools from is completely removed from the process. No liability there. A good accountant is GOLD! A bad one is....well, that's another story.

Ryan Cope

Edited November 25, 2007 by RyanCope