Hi, sorry for the delay; it's festival season and I tend to get bogged down dealing with last minute requests for cover at this time of the year.
With regard to the questions, here goes:
Will liability insurance pay out in these given circumstances?
That's not simple to answer because in spite of what the no win, no fee brigade lead you to believe, you don't get a payout just because you've had an accident. It depends very much on the circumstances, as common sense would tell you. A claimant will only get a payout if you, the worker or the owner, have been negligent in something you've done; if you have taken due care in how you conduct yourselves, then a legal action against you is unlikely to succeed. And quite right.
Now, if the question is, will my insurance deal with the claim and cover my defence costs, then yes, it will. So think not along the lines of will it pay the claimant, but will it support me, the policyholder? And yes, that's what it's there for. Even patently stupid claims still have to be defended.
However, there is some doubt about how insurers would deal with something you do deliberately, such as cutting down a tree and it falling across BT lines. You have taken a conscious decision to do this and should take reasonable care about what you do. But a tree falling in a storm for example, is something you obviously didn't do deliberately.
People getting hurt whilst on your land: if they are there legitimately, then they may have a claim succesfully paying out, but again, it all depends on the circumstances of their alleged injury. If they are trespassers, then the courts may take a dimmer view of their actions. But would the policy defend the claim on your behalf? Yes.
Horse owners should have their own cover as a matter of course, but again, if a claim comes in, the policy would deal with it.
Ponds and other hazards: do put up warning signs if practical to do so and the hazrd warrants it.
Inspection of trees: this is likely to be a requirement, perhaps every year and a half or two years; what are the likely costs of this? We don't want to impose something that's going to be onerous or impractical...
That'll do for now; over to the members.
Gary
