Monday, October 22, 2007

Speculative Photography - Risks and Liabilities for Leagues, Venues, and Teams

A common practice in business is to carry liability insurance. I certainly carry a $2m policy in the event that an incident takes place on an assignment and I am sued to determine liability. Every time there is a major event at the US Capitol, they require me and all other press organizations to provide a Certificate of Insurance, listing them as an "also insured", so, in the event I drop something onto someone from my perch making images, or otherwise injure someone, that the Congress isn't liable. Further, on the occasions that I have done weddings, venues like the Four Seasons hotel have a contract that protects them, that requires me to provide a COI.

The leagues have language that talks about errant fly balls, and so forth, but with photographers so close to multi-million dollar player-assets, the risk of their being injured is significant.

Examples abound of problems that have happened:

(Continued after the Jump)
  • When John Iacono of Sports Illustrated laid a 600mm lens down on a slanted roof above a seating section during Game 2 of the 2004 World Series, and it slid off, it apparently missed a direct hit onto a fan, but the debris alledgedly was enough to cause one California baseball fan to sue both Sports Illustrated and the photographer, according to the Boston Hearld.

  • Sports Illustrated reported an incident where, just before a playoff game a TV cameraman tripped up Yankees first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz. "It's not a problem. It's not going to stop me. It's not that bad.. I've played through a heck of a lot worse." But it could have been a lot worse. And who would be responsible for the millions that player is worth, or for the damage to the playing ability of the team, and lost revenues from a shortened post-season run?

  • An ESPN cameraman was knocked over, as shown here during the College World Series in 2006, and while it could have just as easily been an injury to a player, it was apparently only the cameraman who came away with limited injuries.

  • Here is a video showing a photographer causing one of the lead cyclists in the Tour De France to crash.

  • Here is a video showing someone not paying attention during warmups, and getting crashed into by a runner. From the looks of it, she was probably hurt, but what about the athlete?

  • On a lesser note, ESPN reported "John Daly was injured trying to stop his backswing after being distracted by a fan taking his picture...". While this may be a risk of the game for the player, and not attributable to the professional photographers on hand, for the inexperienced, it could easily happen with hair triggers, especially if those fingers are inexperienced.


If you were a league attorney, you'd want to ensure that those operating a business in your venue has the proper coverage in the event that these things happen to your athletes and fans. Same for Sports Information Directors and team PR staff. WIth all the security on the field protecting the athletes from errant fans, those entrusted to be within the secure perimeter must also be experienced enough to know what they are doing so as to not get in the way, and when an accident does happen, the proper insurance is in place so that damaged assets can have their diminished values recovered.

Further, leagues which allow overhead photo equipment have very specific requirements for safety cables/cords, power, and so forth. They too should be concerned about other things that could affect their player-assets on the side-lines.

Major organizations like Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and the newspaper conglomerates all carry a standard package of insurance, covering their employees' actions while working. Many professional photographers, who earn a living as a photographer, carry insurance covering their loss of equipment from theft, and so forth, and most all of those packages also include either $1M or $2M in liability coverage, standard.

The risk comes when an organization hires a part-time photographer, where they earn their living from another non-photo-related job, and see shooting sports as a way to get better seats, or make a few extra dollars on the side. Most, if not all of these photographers are not carrying standard insurance coverages, if for no other reason than they can't afford it, or they rely on their homeowner's insurance to cover their cameras, and don't carry a separate business policy. If a photographer is producing work at hometown/youth-league sporting games, and carry insurance for that, that coverage will likely not include protections for the photographer working a stadium or other sporting venue on a regular basis.

It would be as simple as those photographers getting season passes to provide a Certificate of Insurance naming the league, venue, and team as an "also insured", or for the media organization to provide the same. The one additional requirement would be that organizations also certify that their coverage covers contractors. One organization - US Presswire, has the following language in their contract, absolving the organization of all liability that results from their photographers:
Indemnification. Photographer hereby agrees to indemnify, defend and hold Agency, its affiliates and subsidiaries, and their respective officers, directors, employees, representatives and agents, harmless from and against any and all claims, demands, actions, causes of action, settlements, damages and expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees and court costs) arising directly or indirectly from: (i)the breach or alleged breach by Photographer of any representations, warranties, covenants or agreements made by Photographer hereunder; (ii)from any erroneous or inaccurate information supplied to Agency regarding the Images; and (iii) personal injury (including death) or property damage caused by Photographer at any event under credentials issued to Photographer by or through Agency. (emphasis added)
The above language in some form or another, is probably also found in other organizations' contracts, so USPW is not alone in this requirement. However, this type of clause would extract the agency from having to pay, in the event of a lawsuit, and place the league/venue/team in the position of suing an individual photographer, who, for the most part, is "judgement proof." Insuring that your remedies are not limited by a contractual clause between and organization and it's sub-contractors ensures that you can obtain relief in the event of an incident where a loss occurs.

Requiring all photographers to have proper coverage and liability limits is just common sense. In speaking with one of the sub-contractors of one of the major sports leagues' photography departments, the league requires all sub-contractors to carry that insurance. With all the incidents reported above, it's only prudent to require the same of the rest of those working on-field. In fact, not doing so is more than likely accepting an unnecessary liability, and thus, irresponsible.

Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

John - Thanks for your excellent blogging, but a side note: the video "showing a credentialled photographer not paying attention during warmups, and getting crashed into by a runner," appears to show two athletes in the collision, not a careless credentialed photographer. The woman appears to have an athlete's bib number, not credentials, and is wearing athletic clothes - running shorts or a unitard and running shoes. Plus, her pack appears to be more gym bag than camera bag, and that does not appear to be a camera in her hand.

John Harrington said...

updated - thanks for the note.

Anonymous said...

Yes, John, thank you for all of your excellent efforts to educate photographers. But to pick a nit, the video showing a person with a camera getting hit by Guiseppe Guerini is just that, a fan with a camera. It's the unfortunate CDB for pro cyclists in major stage races.

Anonymous said...

John, it saddens me that you include no real research - just your opinions. Lack of fact makes piece completely baseless and pretty much renders the thought as useless.

John Harrington said...

No research? I've illustrated the post with examples of athletes being injured/affected/interrupted by either photographers, or fans, as a basis for several points, and suggested it would be prudent that those allowed in close proximity to player-assets be insured in the event they do something.

Anonymous said...

John,

I worked at Time Inc. for over a decade. I am almost positive that Time Inc. (and Sports Illustrated) does not generally insure with third parties against theft or other liabilities. On the other hand, they do practice self-insurance. If they are using a major insurance carrier to provide coverage, it's news to me. I would think that the premiums would be prohibitive. Can you cite your source of information for Sports Illustrated's "standard package of insurance?"

Anonymous said...

yes, you posted examples of injured players, but I see no percentage of what type of shooter carries what type of insuracne. It was all SPECulation and hyperbolye.

John Harrington said...

To the "Time Inc" question -- feel free to call the US Senate Press Photographer's Gallery, and ask them to confirm that ALL photographers must provide a $2M COI, in order to cover events like the inaugurals, and then look to see how many photographers they have assigned - I know that this past inaugural, they had a photographer on the A stand, and had to provide that insurance coverage, and no, the US Congress does not allow "self insured" organzations!

Anonymous said...

i get confused when people attempt to find someone to blame when they suffer an accident at work? the first question seems to be whose fault rather then are you ok? with the nature of everyone sueing everyone else when the get a personal injury it wont be long before people wont want to help anybody in case they make the matter worse and end up being made bankrupt!!

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