2 Big Broncos Forums
John Robert Miller
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• Baton Rouge, LA, USA |
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• Registered on 12/21/2002 |
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• 596 posts |
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 Posted:9/26/2003 16:45 |
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I snatched this from LA4x4, but I thought it might be of interest to all of us.
Ok everyone.....here's a little history before the good news.....
A few weeks ago, I was searching on the internet for some info on off roading in Louisiana and came across a bill that was passed this year in the Legislature (Louisiana) that was designed to release land owners and event sponsors from liability for off-road events they host or sponsor. Needless to say, I was pumped!
Here's a summary of the bill:
ACT 1011 Limited Liability Law
Here is the law we passed in the 2003 Legislature to limit liability for ohv recreation providers. This law is intended to help groups and individuals, public and private, for profits and non profits, provide ohv recreation with less risk lawsuits. It is also to encourage insurance companies to begin writing policies for ohv recreation providers. Many thanks to those who gave their time to travel to Baton Rouge to make this happen, and to the LORVA members that followed up with their legislators.
Many thanks to State Rep. Billy Montgomery for sponsoring the bill for us. Now we need to pass the word that this law exists to our ohv recreation providers so they can take advantage of it. The law does have a requirement to use signage or written warning of inherent dangers relating to OHV operation. (We could provide this as a "courtesy" to the landowner) The law specifies! the this exact verbiage necessary for immunity to be granted.
"The signs, written warnings, and contracts described in Subsection E of this Section shall contain the following warning notice: "WARNING Under Louisiana law, a motorized off-road vehicle activity sponsor or motorized off-road vehicle professional is not liable for an injury to or the death of a participant in a motorized off-road vehicle activity resulting from the inherent risks of the motorized offroad vehicle activity, pursuant to R.S. 9:2795.3."
Well....I decide to read the actual bill which is only 6 pages long. In case you'd like to view it, you can download it below.....Well...I get into the fine print and there's a catch.....a MAJOR catch. Within the bill, an off-road vehicle is defined as a "two- or four-wheeled combustion-engine powered vehicle WEIGHING LESS THAN 1,500 LBS!!!!!"
Well, I rant a bit to a few on this board and send it off to the LA4x4 Board and the members who are attorneys. We communicated a bit about this and it turns out there is really no way around it. Once again.....
After a few weeks, I realize that I've got nothing to lose by trying to get the bill amended so as to not exclude Jeeps/Broncos/etc....I'm in my car yesterday with a decent drive ahead of me so I contacted Mark (TehMidget) and he gets me the telephone number of the Representative who sponsored the bill. I call........NO ANSWER. I call again.....NO ANSWER. I call again.....this time, I get an answering machine and leave a rather detailed message about our situation.
Seeing that we're in the middle of an election cycle, I figured it'd be a long time before I heard anything....if ever considering Representative Montgomery lives in Bossier City.
OH, HOW WRONG I WAS!!! This morning, I got a call back from Representative Montgomery. In less than 24 hours, he called back some guy he had never heard of and was very interested in helping. So...I pitched my story about the current situation across the state for various 4x4 clubs and how difficult it has become to find land owners willing to let us ride on their land seeing that insurance is nearly impossible to come by and they were concerned about getting their pants sued off should someone hurt themselves.
I explained to Rep. Montgomery that the only part of this bill that prevented it from including large vehicles was the weight restriction on the definition of "off-road vehicle." So...he responded, "Well....let's change it then."
OK....so now that a relatively short story has become a long story, I'll cut to the chase.....
Rep. Montgomery and myself will be meeting in January to discuss the particulars of how to best amend this bill so as to present an amendment when the House meets again in March. He is completely in favor of this change and does not expect much resistance.
So.....what does this mean for you and I??? According to my contacts in the insurance industry (Lee), this may very well be the end of our insurance woes. That's right!!!! The club may once again be able to obtain insurance and we will be able to have REGULAR, LOCAL TRAIL RIDE EVENTS!!!!!
Ironically, I ran into Charlie (LA4x4 President) today and spoke with him about this. He explained that the only thing keeping some land owners from allowing us access to their property is lack of event insurance. Call me crazy, but I like the idea of getting back on the Star Hill property!!!
In the coming weeks, I will be calling on everyone involved in off-roading in the state of Louisiana to help us to get this amendment passed. We will be organizing a well-planned petition to show our support for this amendment and will be leveraging the influence of businesses across the state to make sure that all Representatives know how important this is to many people across Louisiana!
So.....what do you do now???? Go grab a cold one and toast to the endless possibilities! Keep your fingers crossed and stay tuned for more information.
Oh yeah....one last note.....one of the most influential political consultants in Louisiana has offered his help to me in making sure this happens and that we do everything we can to make sure there is widespread support for this!!!!!!!
God Bless this great land of ours where a few people can make a difference!!!
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schmuck
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• nola, XX, USA |
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• Registered on 5/21/2003 |
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• 1,187 posts |
• 1 Vehicle
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Posted:9/26/2003 17:03 |
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great news  
nucking futs
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LOCKED UP
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• Baton Rouge, LA, USA |
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• Registered on 9/29/2001 |
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• 1,256 posts |
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Posted:9/26/2003 17:42 |
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Would be nice to not have to travel too far... but we still have to get some sort of policy, hell we still need to find some landowners ...
We'll have to see what type of policy we could get and how much it would cost ... I'm not for making this a regimented $$ club .... but perhaps we could just have someone in charge of collecting for insurance if it comes to it.....
MY WEBSITE / DELTA 4X4 CLUB
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