[OSGeo-Discuss] Director's Insurance (Chickens, Boards and Export Restrictions)

[Dave Patton]

On 2008/06/16 8:30 AM, Frank Warmerdam wrote:
> Bruce.Bannerman at dpi.vic.gov.au wrote:
>> I would like to ask the board to revisit this issue and provide
>> clear guidance on just what support official position holders can
>> expect from OSGeo.
> 
> Bruce,
> 
> Is this question with regard to local chapters, conference
> organizers, or OSGeo officers in general?  If Tyler comes up with a
> "Directors and Officers" insurance quote, would you be interested in
> reviewing it to see if it does what you think is needed?
> 
> I'm quite concerned that comprehensive D&O insurance that covers us 
> globally is likely to be very expensive, and that "standard" D&O
> insurance is not likely to give you the sort of fail-safe coverage
> that you seem to want.

At least in part, the points raised by Cameron and Bruce
relate to the roles, responsibilities, and potential
liabilities of people working on the organization of
the FOSS4G 2009 conference, however, the basic issue(s)
probably apply more broadly.

Rather than "Directors and Officers" insurance, we may
be looking for "Errors and Omissions" insurance (or both).

Perhaps it would be useful to determine a name that could
be used for the class of 'people who perform some actions
or services on behalf of OSGeo', and who are not employees
of OSGeo?

My thought is that such people ("OSGeo volunteer"?) could
be specifically covered by any insurance policy (based on
participation in that class of people, not by being named
individually), and that for specific time periods, specific
people could be named by OSGeo to belong to that category.

For example, if OSGeo had an insurance policy that covered
"OSGeo volunteers", then perhaps OSGeo naming the FOSS4G
local organizing committee members as "OSGeo volunteers",
for the period from bid acceptance through to the end
of any FOSS4G-related contracts, would provide a suitable
amount of coverage for the committee members?


The BC Strata Property Act deals in part with people
who serve on Strata Councils, and those people are
volunteers, but routinely deal with financial matters.
The act mentions the required standard of care:
http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/stat/S/98043_04.htm#section31
and also insurance:
http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/stat/S/98043_09.htm#section151

Here's a couple of examples of insurance that covers volunteers:
https://forums.scc.ca/forums/scc/dispatch.cgi/HELPDESK/docProfile/100023/d19990825181803
http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/25533.html


-- 
Dave Patton
CIS Canadian Information Systems
Victoria, B.C.

Degree Confluence Project:
Canadian Coordinator
Technical Coordinator
http://www.confluence.org/

OSGeo FOSS4G2007 conference:
Workshop Committee Chair
Conference Committee member
http://www.foss4g2007.org/

Personal website:
Maps, GPS, etc.
http://members.shaw.ca/davepatton/