Lawyers deal with the importance of risk management guidelines and exemptions from industry activities.

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Sara Mazzolla is a senior assistant in Marshall Dennehey's casualty department. Sara is actively involved in place responsibility, entertainment,...

Lary is the co-chair of Marshall Dennehey's amusement, sports and leisure litigation business group, which is a theme park, water...

John Czuba has 28 years of experience in the publishing industry. He has been working for AM Best since 1994,...

Lawyers Lary Zucker and Sara Mazzolla from the law firm of Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin discussed risk management guidelines and accident prevention in the entertainment, sports and entertainment industries.

Special thanks to our sponsors AM Best Company, Best insurance professional resources, including qualified member lawyers, adjusters and expert service providers.

John Czuba: Welcome to "Best's Insurance Law Podcast", which broadcasts timely and important legal issues affecting the insurance industry. My name is John Czuba, the executive editor of Best Insurance Professional Resources.

We are very happy to have lawyers Lary Zucker and Sara Mazzolla from the law firms of Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman and Goggin. Lary Zucker is Marshall Dennehey's legal counsel and co-chair of the company's entertainment, sports and entertainment business group.

Lary has nearly 50 years of trial experience in state and federal courts in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, including 25 years of experience as a certified civil trial lawyer in New Jersey. Lary started his career as defending roller skating cases and drafting risk management guidelines for the International Roller Skating Association.

He often serves as a risk management lecturer and author, sharing his experience with the amusement industry, bowling industry associations, trampoline owners, water parks and other groups. Lary is also a founding member of IALDA Incorporated (International Recreation and Recreation Defense Association). He serves as an advisor to the New Jersey Attractions Association.

Sara Mazzolla is a senior assistant in the business group. Her background as a former Olympic skater has provided her with unique insights into litigation cases involving skating and skating rinks, world and Olympic coaches, athletes, sports teams and contractors.

Along with Lary, Sara is a member of the International Recreation and Recreation Defense Association.

She is also a member of the National Defense Research Institute and the United States, New Jersey and State Bar Associations.

Lary and Sara, thank you very much for joining us today. Sara Mazzola: Thank you for inviting us, John.

John: Today’s discussion is about "new risks in entertainment, sports and entertainment." Sarah, we will start asking you questions today. Can you tell us something about Marshall Dennehey's entertainment, sports and entertainment practice group, and why there is a group dedicated to this field?

Sara: Well, John, when I arrived at Marshall Dennehey, I was already a figure skater and an experienced personal injury defense attorney. In my first week here, I received this sliding refrigerator and two skaters collided in my cab. Lary has moved it from his office to my office, which is closer to northern New Jersey.

Soon, he received a call and wondered: "Why does this colleague who just joined our company deal with this case?"

My colleague said: "Larry, you absolutely want to join this particularly experienced colleague in your team, especially in this skating case. Sarah is the national figure skating champion. She is on the American International team. If anyone knows Sara knows about this sport. You will be glad that she worked with you on your sports bag."

Needless to say, when I joined Marshall Dennehey, I was happy to find that there was a team dedicated to entertainment, sports and entertainment defense, which was founded by Lary more than 20 years ago.

Combining my sports experience with legal training has made my dream come true. As an elite athlete and coach, I understand the ins and outs of various sports, industries, biomechanics and protocols.

Due to our unique sports background, our practice team brings a special team approach to the needs of our clients. We cover everything from amusement parks to ice rinks, ice rinks, rock climbing facilities, bowling, football, and even yoga facilities.

As people seek to participate in these types of interesting and engaging activities, we work with our clients to develop offensive strategies and the importance of developing risk management agreements.

John: Sara, thank you for your background and introduction to the team. Lary, how do you define risk management? Is there anything besides accident prevention?

Yes, I have been defining and learning about risk management in the entertainment and leisure industry for nearly 50 years. Believe it or not, it all started with the disco roller skating boom in the 1970s. My first job after graduating from law school was with an insurance defense company that had a carrier client and provided insurance for most ice rinks in New Jersey.

When roller skating reached its popularity and the number of accidents and lawsuits skyrocketed, I started experimenting with cases. In fact, in the first three years of my practice, I tried 50 cases involving roller skating claims.

Although the inherent risks of losing balance and falling in roller skating are obvious, I immediately noticed a common pattern of negligence claims against my customers based on three theories. Defective roller skates, lack of supervision and ground defects.

The problem is that there is no consensus among roller skating rink operators on compliance or non-compliance with the rules. There are no risk management guidelines designed to reduce the frequency of these accidents. The guidelines (if any) vary by skating rink.

Thirty years ago, I established an organization called IALDA, the International Entertainment and Leisure Defense Association, which is composed of lawyers and claims professionals who focus on entertainment defense just like me. Together, we drafted a set of roller skating risk management guidelines, which have become accepted practices.

This is a set of voluntary best practices followed by the skating rink to prevent accidents and investigate accidents. These risk management guidelines have been endorsed by the roller skating industry association RSA International, enabling RSA to actually establish its own approved liability insurance plan with a major operator.

Fast forward, I think history will prove that our efforts for RSA are the first national entertainment organization to develop risk management guidelines. Many other associations are based on the same or similar templates.

Risk management is a process. When you try a case as a defense lawyer, you will see patterns and understand the risks in a particular activity. Then, you research the industry and develop best practices to reduce the frequency of these incidents.

John: I have talked about some risk management guidelines. From a practical point of view, are there any common ideas that should be followed?

Larry: Anyone who participates in the sports and activities we are discussing-roller skating, trampoline park, skating rink, bowling-there is a lot of information there. For example, along with the Roller Skating Association, the National Roller Skating Association is the International Roller Skating Association.

They published the IALDA Risk Management Guidelines adopted by IALDA in 2008. There are also magazines, publications, and annual regional and national trade shows. During the trade show, there is always an IALDA seminar on risk management.

In addition, every roller skating rink operator and every operator interested in providing roller skating rinks should be aware of the roller skating liability regulations that have been passed, beginning in Michigan in 1988. These regulations include a list of skating responsibilities and requirements for ice rinks and skaters, such as maintaining the ratio of one floor guard for every 200 skaters.

Every ice rink must comply with these state requirements because they are public policy. The 11 states that have issued roller skating liability regulations are Michigan, New Jersey, Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Ohio, and Georgia.

The national organization of trampoline courts is IATP, the International Trampoline Park Association. This particular organization does not have its own set of risk management guidelines, because in 2013 ASTM International adopted a standard called ASTM F-2970, which is a comprehensive treatment of trampoline venues, covering manufacturers, suppliers, and operations. Familiar with the requirements for operators and ASTM F2970, which includes many very critical information, such as the weight of jumpers and the number of jumpers on the trampoline at a time, is the responsibility of each trampoline playground operator.

No matter where the trampoline park is located, everyone must be familiar with these contents. Due to the history of trampoline parks, there are still some state regulations emerging. New York has a new regulation to regulate trampolines, and according to public policy, any pre-match exemptions required by trampoline operators are also invalid. There is a statue in Utah that adopts ASTM standards as Utah law.

Bowling has a national organization called the Bowling Owners Association of America, or BPAA. This is a large group with a very active risk management committee. They actually adopted the risk management guidelines developed by IALDA. Brunswick and other manufacturers have also prepared other risk management guidelines.

There is a national organization for skating called ISI or the Skating Institute. There is another organization called the Metropolitan Skating Rink Managers Association, MIRMA. They organize conferences, trade shows and seminars. They published a list of risk management guidelines called "Public Guidelines for the Management and Supervision of Public Skating."

This is how the risk management guidelines are disseminated and adopted. They come in the many forms I just described.

John: Sarah, can you talk about ex waivers as part of risk management. Are they useful and executable?

Sara: Yes, it depends on their content and your state.

We wrote many exemptions for our clients at Marshall Dennehey. In New Jersey, as in many other states, the exemption is effective for adults. For example, in terms of arbitration options, some of them can also be enforced against children.

In this regard, it is important that the facility has an enforced waiver of the parent or the individual who owns the facility’s filing authorization. Following many other states in the United States, New Jersey has just released a case. You must be designated as a guardian or have a legal authorization from the parent of the child to give up the child.

In this regard, it is recommended that facilities use electronic forms to collect these data and make written records. In other words, if I bring 10 children with different surnames to Jumpnasium to attend my child’s birthday party, unless I have the authorization form of each child’s parent, I cannot legally sign the waiver for these children.

In terms of exemption, you cannot exempt intentional infringement or gross negligence. For example, in 1994, after the infamous Nancy Kerrigan nightclub incident, I found myself in the hallway preparing to go to Detroit for a competition.

This is when she is still on the floor. When I arrived at the scene, she screamed, "Why me?"

Pestle to her knee, it was an attack and a beating. In the civil field, this is regarded as an intentional infringement. You cannot give up on this.

In addition, it is clear that being hit on the knee is not the inherent risk of the sport that Nancy expected. When we talk about exemptions, we are essentially talking about claims for negligence and making harmless regulations for the risks inherent in sports in most parts of the country.

The timing of giving up is important. It must be implemented as a condition of entry and before participation. Finally, the establishment of facility procedures and the production of written records are a very important aspect of risk management.

John: Larry, Sarah found the trace on the paper. How does good record keeping lead to effective risk management?

Larry: John, I always think that written records are the cornerstone of a good risk management plan. A good written record, document retention, can help you prove what you did, when you did it, and what happened when the accident happened. This may be controversial.

When we talk about paper records, I also include video, because for me, the most critical and important development in the past 25 years is the use of surveillance video, first VCR, and now digital video, because it helps to prove What happened, although there may be any claims at the trial.

For example, in a roller skating rink, liability issues always boil down to the number of floor guards, the ratio of floor guards to skaters on the floor, and the skaters’ behavior on the rink at the time of the accident.

Your floor guard and attendant training certificate and your checklist are crucial to winning these cases.

The ice rink now numbers the skates and uses barcode skates to determine when each set of skates is distributed, maintained, and repaired. There are many things about paper in the roller skating industry.

I mentioned ASTM 2970. The standard requires manufacturers to provide operating instructions, maintenance procedures, inspection requirements, and all service announcements, as well as manufacturers' certification that the parts meet industry standards. This paper record is very important for the maintenance of every trampoline business.

In addition, the video is very important because people will remember it wrong, and if you want to call it that, it's how the accident happened. The video brings everything back to the truth.

For bowling, you want to record the application of the lane adjuster because the lane adjuster got into the method in some way. This is where most accidents involving bowling occur. You want to check the schedule regularly.

Regarding bowling, video is very important, because I have dealt with many, many bowling cases, and individuals will claim that they have not crossed the free throw line, but when you show them the video, it will show them crossed the free throw line very well. They brought the conditioner back into the arena. That's how they slipped and fell.

These are some things about bowling. In terms of skating, the Skating Academy has some specific documents that need to be maintained, such as when the ice cubes were processed with Zamboni, the names of all floor guards, the number of skaters on the ice, and the number of floor guards or floor guards who worked at the time of the accident. Training of ice guards.

John: Sarah, Larry played several points. What new problems have emerged in the risk management of sports enterprises?

Sara: It is important to understand mandatory reporting of safety campaign compliance, child abuse, sexual behavior or other misconduct. You saw it in the news recently. It is absolutely necessary to fulfill the obligation to prohibit the categories of abuse and misconduct.

Encourage clubs and facilities to appoint a compliance chairperson. The designated person acts as a key person and initial contact to verify coach compliance, report, monitor policies and procedures, and submit reports to various sports organizations when necessary.

For example, maintaining compliance and supervision of the coaching staff is also very important for the facility.

They need to know that the coach is progressing and has acquired the necessary compliance, such as background checks, purchasing insurance, meeting educational requirements, completing your safety exercise education requirements, and maintaining the required membership.

We consider other emerging items of COVID terms and exemption trends. We have received many calls about whether they are effective. I think this will boil down to what that particular state considers to be effective in terms of the overall exemption and overall law. When we talk about sports, we need to consider the risks inherent in sports.

I think there may be a good argument for indoor sports where there is close contact between individuals. You may want to review your waiver and update it with COVID terms, especially in this new world we live in.

It is also important to return to the game and return to the sports field. These are related to the doctor's orders. We are talking about COVID isolation and concussion prevention.

We also want to highlight some issues related to the equipment we see. It is important to communicate with your operator to understand whether the equipment you use for sports and sports learning is in your insurance policy.

You might want to develop a policy that allows those who might want to use a particular device to run it first by you, so that you, as the manager and facility owner, can run it by your operator.

For example, in public meetings, there are orange warning cones in the center to keep the center for private guidance. You want to know from your carrier whether they are involved.

Do you follow industry guidelines regarding equipment use? Does your factory follow its own guidelines regarding when and where the equipment can be used?

John: Larry and Sara, thank you very much for joining us today.

Sara: Thank you very much, John. Our pleasure.

John: You just listened to Lary Zucker and Sara Mazzolla from the law firms of Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman, and Goggin. Special thanks to today’s producer Frank Vowinkel.

To subscribe to this audio program, please visit our web page www.ambest.com/claimsresource. If you have any suggestions for future topics related to insurance legal cases or issues, please send an email to [email protected].

I’m John Czuba, and this is the news now.

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