Bella Vista civic group survives the night, thanks to high-risk insurance carrier
A complicated lawsuit three years ago had made the civic association's liability insurance unaffordable and so the meeting at
"It was down to the wire but they saved us,"
Yet the issue that almost sunk Bella Vista's civic remains, as it does for the dozens of community organizations across
Registered Community Organizations, or RCOs, have to provide their own liability insurance to protect their volunteer staffers, and all it takes is one or two lawsuits for premiums to reach untenable heights.
And getting sued can be fairly routine, since the city's Zoning
"All developers who are unscrupulous have to do now is whisper 'Bella Vista' to get the desired effect,"
In Bella Vista's case, the trouble stemmed from a 2015 lawsuit against
Still, the civic group racked up thousands in legal fees and in May learned it was being dropped by its insurance carrier. The group previously had a
"I don't think anyone really had the insurance industry knowledge to anticipate the magnitude of the effect," Desyatnik said. If you get into a car accident, he said, your rates go up a bit and you drive more carefully. "Here, we weren't even at fault and we saw a 20-fold increase."
Civic groups can be difficult to insure because of their vulnerability to lawsuits.
"When an insurance company is taking in
It can cost as little as
When
"I don't see any reason why it wouldn't repeat," Schiavo said. "In land-use decisions you might say there's a winner and a loser and it will always be the case that the loser may decide to take action. They may lash out."
Complaints are almost always sealed, said Schiavo, who is under a gag order for the two lawsuits he was named in while heading the Old City group. This leads to a lack of transparency about the frequency and absurdity of some of the claims.
"You never get the option of publicly sharing the ridiculous terms of the complaint," Schiavo said. "How you 'maliciously interfered with their business opportunity' just because you went to a (zoning) hearing and you presented your community group's letter."
Since the city requires RCOs to weigh in on land use issues, several of the organizations' leaders have asked why the city doesn't insure the RCO groups.
City spokeswoman
"The City can't provide insurance on our own, we're not an insurance company, obviously," Hitt said.
Sen.
The bill, which passed the
The survival of the
They'll do so with a better appreciation of the stakes, said treasurer
"We have a job and we won't shirk from that but we will be more aware of the controversial decisions we make," she said. "Also, understanding we could potentially be sued at any time, we need to step up our fundraising."
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