Bicycle manufacturer liability - any lawyers want to help a fledgling bike company?

[559Rando]

Paging Bob Loblaw Law

I'm trying to start a tiny bike company for fun and to bring an idea to market. I have no intention of making my living at it. While I readily admit riding a bicycle has some risk, I'm in sticker shock from my insurance quote.

Any good (lawyer) Samaritans able/willing to chat with me?

Thanks!

Daniel

[unterhausen]

did you talk to Westlake? (http://www.isuwestlake.com/bicycle.html)

[8aaron8]

Westlake was going to be my response, I will say that it's still pretty pricey. It can be hard to recoup the costs.

[astrov]

Sent PM.

[Gummee]

this (and $) are why I haven't tried real hard to push my bike brand.

While I have faith in the general goodness of humanity, I don't have that faith if an act of doG happens and someone's out looking to get me

M

[bikingshearer]

this (and $) are why I haven't tried real hard to push my bike brand.

While I have faith in the general goodness of humanity, I don't have that faith if an act of doG happens and someone's out looking to get me

M

And the "someone" could very well be a medical insurance company looking to recoup its outlay for a crash victim's medical expenses. It's called "subrogation" and pretty much all such policies give the insurer the right to step into the shoes of the victim to sue whoever the victim could sue and to insist that the victim cooperate in such a lawsuit. Put another way, even if it's your best friend who gets hurt and has no interest in suing you, you may get sued in his/her name anyway.

Bottom line: if you can't afford the insurance, you can't afford to do the side business. Sorry, but them's the facts o' life.

[54ny77]

What kind of product? A frame?

Why not just require buyers of your product to sign a waiver?

I'd sign that as a custom frame buyer if it meant getting it vs. not getting it (assuming the builder is someone I want to buy from regardless).

[oldpotatoe]

What kind of product? A frame?

Why not just require buyers of your product to sign a waiver?

I'd sign that as a custom frame buyer if it meant getting it vs. not getting it (assuming the builder is someone I want to buy from regardless).

'Cept, you sign, get hurt and sue. The manufacturer sees that it's cheaper to settle out of court than go to court, even if the manufacturer wins. Litigation at its finest.

[unterhausen]

waivers are not worth the effort it takes to push print on the word doc for product liability. Kinda sad it's come to this. I don't even know what makes sense for sales volume for buying insurance, but a $10k a year company isn't it.

I build frames, so the liability is obvious. However, if I sold someone a frame and the (insert brand name here) stem failed and the sole breadwinner of the family was killed, do you think I would escape the court case? Not very likely.

[Gummee]

In my case, I'm thinking of starting small: 5-10 frames/time till it gets rolling.

Not really SBC territory...

M

[AllanVarcoe]

I too have gotten sticker shocked. It's really discouraging.

Makes me wanna only build for Daniel! :banana: