Page 11 - WV811

Did You Break The Law? (As Well As Someone’s Lines?)
By Virginia Reames The Policy Center
Bad News! - Insurance Won’t Cover It!
In most states across the country, there are increasing laws regarding digging along Rights of Way, and some states even want to include private lands near Rights of Way as well. As an “encouragement” to comply with these ever-increasing safety laws, often the statutes explain fully that unless you are in compliance with these laws, your insurance doesn’t have to respond to losses.
The first thing the claims adjusters will look at is the law in your state, and how it applies. In other words, does it say basically, “If you are not in compliance, you have broken the law and your insurance doesn’t have to pay”? And there you go – you’re on your own, my friend.
And these losses are never small. Minimum 6 figures – if you are lucky! Here’s one that happened not long ago: A contractor – who had called 811 and had a ticket – had a small piece of the job that he got another small contractor to do for him. It was just a small additional area – no problem.
Well, let me count the ways!
This guy not only cut lines, but he managed to cut off 911 and the local Police Dept, plus, of course, the electrical lines were buried, and local
businesses plus the area Marina were taken out, too. It was a pretty expensive little error but hey, everyone’s got insurance, right?
Well, the second contractor was an
LLC – meaning he couldn’t be an “employee” of the first contractor – (the one that had the ticket – remember him?) but did he call 811 for this small job? NO – he “didn’t have time” to wait 48 hours, the job would have been long done by then. And that violated the
law, therefore his insurance, had he actually had insurance, wasn’t gonna pay anyway – because insurance never, ever, ever pays when the laws have been violated. Insurance doesn’t pay if laws are violated, and it doesn’t pay for an intentional act, either. “Look, I know it’s against some dumb law, but I’ll be done, and everything will be fine. I got this; don’t worry about it”! Oh right, right.
Now we have the Marina down – boats needing to come and go. We have the PD and 911 out, we have local stores and restaurants losing money – and they all have lawyers more than glad to work on contingency (a piece of the action). Well, it’s bad, but the second guy didn’t follow the rules, right?
Well, not that simple: the first contractor hired the second contractor so the lawsuits are going to name
Contractor 1 as the main Defendant because he hired him, and it was supposed to be HIS job in the first place. Now he has to get a lawyer to defend him against these lawsuits. Thankfully he’s got liability insurance, right?
Insurance doesn’t pay if the laws are broken, remember? Well, he didn’t do it – the other guy did. Who hired the other guy to work on the first guy’s job? Yep – Now nobody has any insurance protection!
But what about all these people suing? Well after the judgment is rendered, (It’s open and shut, folks) what has he got to sell to pay it off? Contractor 2 might have to sell a few things, too.
But why NOT just CALL 811??? Get it into your daily routine – you got the bid -- MAKE THE CALL! No decision here. Don’t be one of those people who are secretly saying “I ain’t doing it – they can’t tell me what to do.”
I haven’t mentioned hand-digging, but if you are gonna crank equipment up – make sure those lines are marked! You don’t cross the center line on a road – there’s a reason.
Call 811 – there’s a REASON!
2024, Issue 2 West Virginia 811 • 9