A proposed bill sets out to get snowmobile trail groomers back

on track.
By Jim Smedley
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA – For snowmobile trail groomers, a lack of insurance is just as bad as a lack of snow.

Maine lawmakers can’t control the weather, but they can limit the liability that groomers face while smoothing Maine’s extensive snowmobile trail system.

A proposed law would more clearly extend legal protection to those who construct, maintain and improve trails for public recreational use.

The Legislature will be voting on L.D. 787, a law limiting the liability of caretakers of hiking trails and snowmobile trails, soon after it reconvenes on Jan. 7.

The legislation was created in response to pleas for help from snowmobile clubs noting that insurers were either not renewing policies or more than tripling the charge for coverage for the winter of 2003-04.

Insurance companies pulled coverage in reaction to the possibility of a lawsuit involving a 2002 fatal snowmobile accident in Gray, according to Dick Davies, senior policy adviser to Gov. John Baldacci.

“The trail in Gray had been groomed by a local club, and the concern was that a lawsuit may sweep the local club in,” Davies said.

“The problem becomes real when we see clubs say, ‘If we don’t get coverage, we can’t provide grooming services.'”

He said insurance companies claim Maine law does not adequately define the limited liability of trail groomers.

The new law sets out to do that.

“The liability is limited in the sense that as long as you do this in a responsible fashion, you are going to be protected from liability.

If a snowmobile club member did something in a negligent or malicious fashion, he could still be sued,” Davies said.He added that the proposed law would not affect property owners who are already legally protected from liability issues for mishaps on trails cutting across their land.

Initial notice

Bob Meyers, executive director of the Maine Snowmobile Association, which represents 292 clubs, said about 60 clubs called him in the first week of September when they received letters from insurance companies.

“That was the first wave,” Meyers said.

Subsequently many other clubs called.

Meyers called the governor’s office in September and, together with Davies, formed an informal committee to look at the matter.

The committee was composed of representatives of the Department of Conservation, Bureau of Insurance, Minority Leader Sen. Paul T. Davis of Piscataquis – the original sponsor of the bill – and Meyers.

Within two months, the committee drafted the proposed amendment.

“We presented this amendment to the Judiciary Committee in November, and they approved it unanimously,” Davies said. “It was sent to the Legislature with an emergency provision allowing it to go into effect immediately with the governor’s signature.”

The amendment’s definition of liability replaced the original L.D. 787, which limited the liability of a snowmobile club to $100,000 for damages from an incident stemming from the club’s trail-grooming activities.

“We have the solution in hand,” Meyers said. “But with the season coming, it can’t happen fast enough.”

Meyers added that Baldacci has indicated he would sign L.D. 787 if it gets to his desk.

He said Maine has about 13,000 miles of trails. Industry officials estimate that use of the trails brings in about $350 million in revenue to Maine.

Local insurers

Justin Hartford of The Hartford Agency in Lewiston said his agency covers 80 to 100 snowmobile clubs in Maine and that the insurance companies’ decision put his agency in a tough position.

“The insurance companies decide if they want to write a piece of business or not,” Hartford said. “The laws were such that they didn’t want to write many clubs now.

“There’s people we’ve known for many years, and we had to say, ‘We can’t do anything for you.’ We don’t have access to companies willing to write new clubs.”

Hartford said that there are “surplus lines” insurance companies, valid companies that don’t file their forms with the state, so they are non-regulated. He said some coverage for clubs was available but at prices about three times higher than current cost of insurance.

Hartford said insurance in 2003 cost clubs roughly $800, about twice as much as the 2002 price.

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