Hey everyone, its Dusty Druffel again at the Equine Insurance Shop. Every day we get calls from people who have insurance but do not understand the coverage’s they have or the coverage’s they need that are essential to their business. So we wanted to begin to put together a few posts that go through some of the coverage’s that it seems we get the most questions about. One topic that so many people often seem to struggle with is Care Custody & Control Liability Coverage. So we wanted to go through the coverage and discuss it with you.
Why do we need to Insure Non-Owned Horses for Care, Custody & Control Liability Insurance?
Do you have horses in your care that are not owned or leased by you? If you handle, train, service, care for, or board non-owned horses, you have a care, custody and control liability exposure. There is liability insurance available to cover this exposure and you need to consult with an agent as to what limits are needed for your specific operation. If a horse is injured or dies while in your Care Custody or Control, you could be held liable by the horse’s owner or insurer of the horse’s life for the value of the horse, plus veterinary and surgical expenses. Often where the largest expense comes from is your legal defense if taken to court. Often the cases do not even have merit, but you still have to pay someone to defend you. This type of coverage insures you against financial loss if a non-owned horse in your care becomes sick, injured or dies and the owner (or their insurance company) attempts to hold you responsible for the loss because of your negligence.
Why Doesn’t my General Liability Insurance cover Care Custody & Control Liability?
Commercial General Liability Insurance is your premises and business operations coverage. It provides bodily injury and property damage coverage for third parties; customers, clients, guests, and those who may trespass on your property, who are not you and your family members, volunteers, or employees.
Care, Custody & Control Liability Insurance is a secondary type of liability insurance that provides coverage for the loss of a horse that is in your care, custody or control, but not owned or leased by you. Both coverage’s serve a different purpose and are important if you have a care, custody and control exposure. For example, if a horse escapes from its enclosure, gets into the road, and is hit by a car, your GL policy would respond for the injuries to the people in the car (bodily injury) and on the damages to the car (property damage), while Care, Custody & Control Insurance would respond on the loss of the horse.
It is important to know that Care, Custody & Control Liability Insurance is not included in a Commercial General Liability Policy [CGL] unless requested by you and added by endorsement. It is also important to know that some companies do not offer this type of insurance to horse operations. Some only sell it as a separate policy, and you may not even be asked about purchasing it unless you request it. The Equine Insurance Shop always will ask you about Care Custody and Control Coverage when working on a quote for your operation.
When purchasing your Care Custody and Control Limits you will have a choice of limits that are based upon the average and maximum values of a horse in your care (but not owned by you), and the combined total value of all the horses in your care at one time. The latter would be your potential maximum loss, for example, as in the event of a barn fire, smoke damage, or building collapse. For Example If you are boarding ten non-owned horses at a maximum value of $5,000 per horse, the limits you might choose would be $5,000 maximum value per horse/$50,000 aggregate (total possible loss that might be paid).
We also have companies that will offer Care, Custody & Control Insurance as a separate policy.
Keep in mind that Care, Custody & Control Insurance does not take the place of the horse owner carrying their own life and major medical insurance policy on their horse. Your negligence must be a factor before an owner is paid for the loss of a horse. It is important to advise horse owners that because they have the financial investment in their horses, it is up to them to insure their financial loss should the horse become, sick, injured or die.
Here are four Common examples of Care Custody and Control Claims
1. For Trainers, a horse you are training or competing on is injured.
2. While hauling a boarder’s horse for them to a vet, shoeing or show, you stop your vehicle to suddenly and a horse falls down in the trailer and is injured.
3. A gate is left open on a stall or a fence was broken and not repaired and a horse gets on a road and is hit by a car.
4. A boarded horse in your care gets injured or dies due to an unsafe condition. For example a broken fence, toxic plants in your pasture or on your property, feeding bad hay, a hole in a pasture or hazard in a pasture, A socket or electrical wire within reach of a horse or a down board in a stall with nails exposed. Anything that you as an owner should have known about and failed to correct.
If you would like a free quote, or would like to discuss equine coverage’s with one of our experts, call the Equine Insurance Shop and speak with us today. (509) 334-5999
