Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Common House Use

[James Kacki (jimkacki]

Lets line up all the lawyers, and.....  :-)     :-)
P. Dmitri

Rob Sandelin wrote:
> One of the great fears resident in people is the concept of liability. This
> fear can sometimes override common sense to the point of absurdity.
> Insurance companies and lawyers deal with adversarial liability issues every
> day, cohousing communities rarely if ever deal with it. So the amount of
> "protection" advocated by insurance companies and lawyers needs to be
> adjusted to the on the ground realities. The normal reality of adversarial
> lawsuits between strangers is not your community reality.  The whole POINT
> of living in a community is to build relationships between neighbors.
> Assuming you accomplish this, then the need for lawyers and their
> protections against adversarial lawsuits is largely  diminished. There are
> very few lawsuits within cohousing communities, and they are the rare
> exceptions rather than the rule. This does not mean you should not have
> liability insurance, but worrying about lawsuits should be low on your
> radar.
>
> So getting worried about whether asking for donations for commonhouse use by
> members construes a contract of liability, is in my experience, putting far
> too much energy into liability worries which is not necessary or useful.
> Hopefully, once you have lived together for a few years you will understand
> this. 
>
>
> Rob Sandelin
> Sharingwood resident  of 16 years
> Naturalist, Writer
> The Environmental Science School
> http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm
>
> > <((((º>`·..·`·..·`·...><((((º>...·`·..·`·...><((((º>.·`·..·`·...><((((º>.·`
>
> ·..·`·...><((((º>·.. ><((((º>
> ·`·..·`·...·..·`><((((º>.·`·..·`·...><((((º>.·`·..·`·...><((((º>..·`·..·`·..
> .><((((º>·.. ·`·..·`·....·`·..·`·...><((((º>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dave and Diane [mailto:daveanddee [at] verizon.net] 
> Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2007 5:01 AM
> To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Common House Use
>
> Hi all,
> We are having a big discussion about this in our community now. There is a
> debate going back and forth about whether or not it's OK to ask for a
> donation for use of the common space in terms of its affect on insurance.
> One member asked our insurance agent if asking for a donation made CH use
> effectively into a "contract" and increased our exposure to liability. 
> The
> answer was yes, and we would be safer not to have any money change hands.
> Then another member asked the same question (board changed) and the answer
> was no, it doesn't affect our liability.
>
> How have other communities handled this issue?
>
> --Diane(:^|
> outreach facilitator
> jp cohousing  617-522-2209
> Box 300420 boston ma
> http://www.jpcohousing.
> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  - "The people
> who surround you define the quality of your life."
>
>
>
> On Wed, 21 Feb 2007, at 10:35:49 -0800, Rob Sandelin wrote:
>
>
> > <snip>
> >
> > We allow for private use but charge a fee for such use. And all 
> > private use has to have a member sponsor, who is responsible for the 
> > cleanup and theoretically damages (we have never had any damages from 
> > an event) Members have used the commonhouse for private paid 
> > workshops, in a couple of cases we have also done this as a fundraiser 
> > for community needs. I hosted a facilitators retreat that raised 
> > $1,000 to pay for some improvements in the community. So private use 
> > for money can also benefit the community.
>
>
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