When will people get their heads out of their ass's and understand that it
is not always someone eles's fault for everything that goes wrong. As for a
kit of anything people should be responsible for putting it togather. If not
for product liability insurance we should be able to buy most anything for a
3rd. of what it cost's now. People have gotten so sue happy anymore I wonder
when someone will sue charmon when their finger goes through the T P and
they get s**t on their fingers and put a big scratch on their butt. After
all it would not have happen if the paper had been stronger so it is not my
fault they would say.

"Bill Daniels" wrote in message
...
Interesting thread. I've got a similar problem related to another
aviation
product.

I assume that they use several LLC's and limit the assets of each to
complicate the suit filing and make sure there are few assets at the end
of
the process. In most cases that should discourage "contingency fee"
lawyers
who go after the lowest hanging fruit. Buying liability insurance just
makes for bigger, lower hanging fruit and attracts lawyers like flies.

However, if a litigant wants to 'make a point' and spend his own money on
lawyers fees, I guess they can sue anybody. I sure hope we get tort
reform
soon.

bildan


"Richard Riley" wrote in message
...
We ran bare. Few assets to attach, those that we had were tied up as
secured interests. I don't know of any manufacturer that has
liability insurance beyond a policy on their demonstrator aircraft,
and often not even then.

I also don't know of any successful product liability suits against
kit manufacturers. Rutan was sued several times, but won each time,
and countersued after the last one.

I'd submit that the greatest problem facing a kitplane manufacturer
right now is market saturation. When a used, completed kitplane costs
less than the price of a kit and an engine, it's hard to convince
someone to spend years assembling it. Vans and Lancair have countered
it with constant new, significantly improved products. You may note
that they're about the only ones left standing, and even Lancair has
gone through a rough time and an ownership change.

Richard Riley
MBA UCLA '89

On 23 Mar 2005 13:53:47 -0800, wrote:

:My civilian employer is paying for me to get an MBA. As part of the
rogram, we design and evaluate mock business plans. As a pilot and a
:builder, I naturally chose to do an airplane company as my project.
:Once the other folks in the program realized that there really was such
:a thing as a homebuilt airplane (I had to show them websites, they
:thought I was making it up) they all got into it.
:
uring the evaluations, some interesting points came up. One of the
:most interesting was the issue of insurance, not for the builder but
:for the manufacturer. I know that in the eyes of the FAA a kit
:manufacturer is not the airplane manufacturer, that is instead the
:builder.
:
:But that is the FAA's standpoint, what happens when there is a crash
:and the lawyers go after the kit manufacturer anyway? No one in my
rogram, including the professors, can imagine that kit manufacturers
:are able to carry liability insurance--the cost would be astronomical.
:
:So, I guess the meat of the question is-what are kit manufacturers
:doing to cover themselves? Do they have liability insurance? Do they
:self-insure? Are they just using liability waivers and going naked?
:
:One the one hand, I can see going naked, on the other hand I can't
:see an entire mini-industry without liability insurance. Van's maybe
:yes, but what about all of the other guys?
:
:I have made a couple of phone calls to a couple of makers, lest anyone
:think that I am too lazy to find this out for myself. The two places I
:called were not wild about discussing the whole topic, which I can
:understand.
:
:I then called a couple of insurance companies (commercial ones that do
:high-risk stuff) and they said they probably wouldn't touch it,
:although if they did the premium would be "staggering" the actual
:word one guy used.
:
:I hope that people will find this an interesting question, thanks for
:any information anyone might have.
:
:Matt McCoy