On May 5, 2019 we lost a volunteer bartender in a fatal crash south of Green Valley. In the spring of 2020, the Post’s insurance carrier agreed to a settlement of the wrongful death suit brought on behalf of the crash victim survivor rather than going to trial. Even though the Post’s involvement was considered to be only the fact that the volunteer had finished her shift at the Post almost 5 hours prior to the crash, the Post’s insurance carrier, AIX Specialty Insurance, settled for the maximum of our policy to avoid a court hearing. Then, around the first of June 2020, AIX Specialty Insurance issued a notice of non-renewal to the Post. The effective date of the non-renewal was Friday August 21st. This meant that Post 131 would be without General Liability, Content Liability and Liquor Liability on midnight of that day.
The E Board immediately began the search for insurance coverage utilizing 7 different insurance brokers around the country. Those brokers then contacted the insurance carriers that they deal with in search of full coverage for the Post. No broker was able to find a carrier willing to cover the Post for the Liquor Liability coverage. All carriers declined because of the loss recorded by AIX against the Post.
What does this mean to the POST? It means we will not be able to offer alcohol sales of any kind at Post 131 until suitable alcohol liability insurance can be found and put in place! We continue to pursue a carrier that can look past the loss from the AIX settlement. It may take time for that loss to fade into our insurance history.
We have been able to secure all other necessary insurance except the liquor liability so that we continue to provide the support to the 4 Pillars of the American Legion in our community. There is no denying that lounge sales, food sales, membership dues and donations are the main funding sources for the Post support to the 4 Pillars but we will all just have to bear down and be Legionnaires for the benefit of our Legion Family and the community.
We will continue with our food services as before to include Monday Hamburger Night, Thursday Queen of Hearts, Friday Taco Night and special dinner offerings. The Auxiliary will continue with their Tuesday through Friday lunch offerings as well.