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t <br /> What's the Effect of Waiving the Per ciaimant.Statutory Liability Limit? <br /> If the city chooses the `waiver"option,the city and LMCI'T no longer can use the statutory limit.of <br /> t$500,000 per claimant as a defense, Because the waiver increases the exposure,the i premium s <br /> roughly 3%higher for coverage under the waiver option, <br /> If the city waives the statutory limit, an individual claimant could therefore recover up to$1,500,000 <br /> in damages an a claim. Of course,the individual Would still have to prove to the couft or jury that <br /> s/he really does have that amount of damages, Also,the statutory limit of$i,500,000 per occurrence <br /> would still apply;that would limit the individual's recovery to a lesser amount if there were multiple <br /> claimants, <br /> Why Would the city choose to Pay More to Get Waiver-option coverage? <br /> The statutory liability limit only comes into play in a case where <br /> * The city is in fact liable. Hi h l i ht <br /> 0 The injured party's actual proven damages are <br /> [Lbenefit <br /> er option coverage does not <br /> greater than the statutory limit,, city bettor protection,, The <br /> , , , to the inured party. <br /> Very literally,applying the statutory liability limit means <br /> an injured party won't be fully compensated for his/her <br /> actual,proven damages that were caused by city negligence, Some cities as a matter of public policy <br /> may.want to have more assets available to compensate their citizens for injuries caused by the city's <br /> ` liability limits is a way to do that, <br /> negligence. waiving the statutory a y Y <br /> ' ' he appropriate o lic is to minimize the expenditure of the taxpayers' <br /> Other cities may feel that tpolicy p <br /> funds by taking full advantage of every protection the legislature has decided to p rovide, There's no <br /> right or wrong answer on this point, It's a di <br /> g gscretionary question of city policy that each city council <br /> deeds to decide for itself, <br /> For claims the statutory tort liability limits don't apply to,it doesn't affect how the city's coverage or <br /> risk on those claims, waiving the statutory tort limits has no effect on claims the statutory limits <br /> don't apply to► <br /> Effects of Waiving the Statutory Limits if there is Excess Coverage <br /> , g <br /> i has 1 million of excess cove-rage and chooses to waive the statutory tort limits,the <br /> If thecity $ <br /> n (whether it's one claimant or several could then otentiall recover up to $2,5 million in <br /> claima is ) potentially <br /> damages in a single occurrence, If the city carries higher excess coverage limits,the potential <br /> maximum recovery per occurrence is correspondingly higher, <br /> {. excess coverage under the waiver option is a way to address an issue that some cities find <br /> Carrying ying excep y ;y <br /> troubling; the case where many people are injured in a single occurrence caused by city negligence, <br /> Suppose, for exam le that a city vehicle negligently runs into a school bus full of bids,causing <br /> p �' <br /> multiple serious injuries, $1,500,000 divided 50 ways may not go far toward compensating for those <br /> 3 <br /> is <br /> 4 <br /> f <br />