Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[clarki]

Article about a US visitor who injured himself while on a guided sturgeon fishing charter, incurred $250K of medical expenses in a Canadian hospital, and learned that his US medical insurance will not cover out-of-country medical expenses. To top it off, it appears that the guide was not carrying liability insurance at the time of the incident due to an issue with the insurance provider.
 
https://vancouversun.com/news/man-who-says-he-was-partly-paralyzed-during-fishing-trip-sues-angling-guide/wcm/62ad42e1-82f3-4ef9-b444-4198580abf64/

Having liability insurance is a requirement to be eligible to receive a guiding license from the province.

https://portal.nrs.gov.bc.ca/web/client/-/angling-guide-licence-freshwater
 "Have no less than $2,000,000 public liability insurance that is applicable to his or her angling guide business, in effect during the period for which the angling guide will operate."

 I wonder if lapsed liability insurance disqualifies a guiding license until the insurance is valid again. If so, the guide was presumably guiding unlicensed while not insured.   

What an unfortunate mess for all involved.   

[Old Blue]

The guy had a serious pre-existing condition without any travel insurance.

There's no way his doctor didn't recommend avoiding any strenuous or risky activities.

The American is just trying to recover some of his medical costs that he is responsible for....sue sue sue that's what Americans do trying to pass blame so he can flock off. 

There's no way Lang's insurer would have paid out a penny either if they actually did have coverage at the time....but that's another story.

[Hike_and_fish]

Langs dropped the ball. Should have had coverage. Big mistake. The guy yeah f**ed up and in the end will be out some money but in the end the guide should have been covered and given him a fighting belt ASAP ! It should be company policy to wear a belt. May this be a lesson to all the guides to have inssurance and CLEAR company policy regarding fighting belts.

[Wiseguy]

Wow! Guiding without liability insurance. I wonder what the charge and/or fine is for that? Will the province pull their guiding licence from them I wonder?

[stsfisher]

Both parties should have had insurance.
The American for sure should have know he was travelling in a country where his medical coverage was not valid.
I am not sure how the liability insurance works for Langs and his associate guides? It does not state whether it was Lang himself or one of his associate guides, so that very well could be the issue too.
Regardless this will definitely open some eyes in an industry that grows from dozens to hundreds of operators in peak season.

[clarki]

Several years ago when I was getting quotes from exterior house painters, I went online and obtained a WorkSafeBC clearance letter for each company. One company's clearance letter indicated that they were not "active and in good standing" so I dropped them from my consideration.

Although I did my due diligence in that regard, last month when we took a whale watching trip in Tofino, I never thought to inquire about the status of the tour company's liability insurance. It's something I've always taken for granted, or never thought of, but this story has made me think twice about that.         

[RalphH]

Both parties should have had insurance.
...

Definitely, though that does mean the guide may be liable for all or part of his client's insurance. That the guide didn't ensure his insurance was current kind of demonstrates they were not doing their 'do diligence' which may hurt them in court.

The guide's license could be suspended plus he could be facing a major financial cost for not keeping it up to date.

[Rodney]

Ok, I’m about to get on the plane so I can only post something up briefly. I chatted with Lang about it and the insurance was certainly a mistake as he was transitioning from one policy to another one, and there ended up being a gap when this occurred. The court case was lost and the client has decided to go to the media to tell his story.

[Wiseguy]

Although I did my due diligence in that regard, last month when we took a whale watching trip in Tofino, I never thought to inquire about the status of the tour company's liability insurance. It's something I've always taken for granted, or never thought of, but this story has made me think twice about that.         

A real eye opener that’s for sure. I too will now ask the next time I book a guide and go on a fishing trip if they have current up to date liability insurance. I always took that for granted as well.

[Snagly]

I've used guides in BC and never gave a thought to insurance matters until about 4 years ago when I was splitting kindling in northern BC at the fishing cabin and decided to create an 11th toe by splitting my left big piggy. As a Yank seasonal visitor, the one weekend option open to me was to bring C$1050 cash to the ER room . . . no credit cards, no USD, no checks, please. Since that time, I've paid a lot more attention (and now carry travel insurance that is valid for my time in BC . . . sadly, not this year) to insurance matters.

Is there a place to go to check on the type and coverage amount of guiding outfits' and lodges' insurance? It would be good to be able to read the fine print . . . "If your client contracts Covid-19 while fishing with you, they are/ are not covered by this policy" or maybe "If any member of your company's staff is infected by Covid-19, they are/ are not covered for private medical care."

* * * * *

BTW, I am a huge fan of BC's health care professionals. The doctors, nurses, pharmacists and even drugstore shop assistants are extremely helpful, and always work to provide the highest level of care for the lowest out-of-pocket expense. It's a different philosophy than what I see in the Lower 48, though to be fair I don't live in the US so my experiences are those of a tourist, mostly in California.

[Fish Assassin]

A real eye opener that’s for sure. I too will now ask the next time I book a guide and go on a fishing trip if they have current up to date liability insurance. I always took that for granted as well.

I would go one step further and ask to see the insurance papers.

[firstlight]

Both really messed up on this.
Former guide and i find it hard to understand how someone could let this happen.
Id say insurance the most important thing in your whole operation and i would question what else is lacking.
Lucky to not lose everything imo.

[CohoJake]

Since that time, I've paid a lot more attention (and now carry travel insurance that is valid for my time in BC . . . sadly, not this year) to insurance matters.

Snagly, where are you living now?  But more importantly - can you recommend a good travel insurance for someone who normally drives up to BC 20+ weekends per year?  Not that I will be doing that this year . . .

[Snagly]

CohoJake: I live in Singapore and my travel policy was sourced locally here.

[CohoJake]

CohoJake: I live in Singapore and my travel policy was sourced locally here.

Thanks.  I'm a bit jealous, although there are no salmon in Singapore.  My daughter has been begging to go to the Marina Bay Sands for years.  Hopefully we'll get there soon.