Liability insurance--Woods porting

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
All chainsaw manufactures carry liability insurance for instances where they are sued by chainsaw users. Manufacturers perform extensive testing for kickback and chain brake operation.

When a saw has its cylinder modified, the resulting torque curve and horsepower rating is increased. This increase alters the saw performance and can cause greater kick back risk. Because the saw is modified, the manufacturer has less liability for damages. I highly beleive if a person is seriously injured by a modified saw, a chainsaw manufacturer will blame the modifications.

Do any chainsaw porters, who modify for monetary gain, have concern about creating liability, to themselves, with these modifications?

Earlier this year there was a "fellow" looking for a "builder" in Ohio that messed with a flywheel and modified an engine. You him?
 
Earlier this year there was a "fellow" looking for a "builder" in Ohio that messed with a flywheel and modified an engine. You him?

I am not that individual and have no knowledge of the situation you are referencing.

Liability insurance would answer litigation issues and take responsibility in situations like the "fellow" looking for a "builder". Situations like that are why it is wise to have liability insurance. This topic is no different than a automotive garage, any other business, having liability insurance for work they do.

Seems liability insurance is a touchy subject.
 
CAN YOU SUE A LAWYER FOR CAUSING STRESS WHEN THEY SUE YOU . SURELY THEY ARE LIABLE FOR THE EFFECT ON YOUR HEALTH . ESPECIALLY AS THEY WOULD BE WELL AWARE OF THE EFFECT STRESS CAN HAVE FROM OTHER CASES WHERE THEY HAVE SUED OVER THE EFFECT OF STRESS.:laugh:

Class action suit! Brought by damaged consumers everywhere! Sign me up! :rock:
 
Free legal advice!

Whenever you modify someone's saw (increasing its power) there is some risk that he will sue you should he injure himself with the saw. My advice would be to provide a standard disclaimer warning the customer of the increased risk of injury, and stating that the saw should only be operated while wearing protective gear (including chaps with a minimum of 7 layers of kevlar, certified chainsaw boots, protective gloves, helmet, and whatever else you can think of). The disclaimer should also state that the customer should complete a course in chainsaw operation prior to operating the saw. I would require that the customer sign the disclaimer.

If the buyer follows the warning you will be doing him a favor, greatly reducing his risk of serious injury. If he ignores the warning you can claim that he failed to adhere to the safety instructions that came with the modified saw. As always, the courts will look for due diligence on your part. I think that this would cover it.

I should emphasize that I am not a lawyer, and so I don't really know what I am talking about. But this is the Internet, which means that I don't need to know what I am talking about to give legal advice. :msp_tongue:

Doug
 
All chainsaw manufactures carry liability insurance for instances where they are sued by chainsaw users. Manufacturers perform extensive testing for kickback and chain brake operation.

When a saw has its cylinder modified, the resulting torque curve and horsepower rating is increased. This increase alters the saw performance and can cause greater kick back risk. Because the saw is modified, the manufacturer has less liability for damages. I highly beleive if a person is seriously injured by a modified saw, a chainsaw manufacturer will blame the modifications.

Do any chainsaw porters, who modify for monetary gain, have concern about creating liability, to themselves, with these modifications?

I dont think that a manufacture will take the liability for injury due to kickback to begin with. It is an inherent risk well published in literature provided with purchase of a saw. And in the case of purchasing a used saw ignorance of the inherent risk would still not fly in court. At best maybe you could sue the seller, but then you would need proof you bought it and they didnt warn of said risk. The only time you would really have a case would be engine failure causing injury. Granted you can sue for anything, but I am pretty sure the saw makers can afford better lawyers than me. Once the saw has been modified the manufacture is released of all liability. And one could sue over injury from kickback if they wanted, but once again one would have to show proof who modified it, the modifications caused the injury, and that the injury could have been avoided if the saw was not modified. Here again though you are taking an inherent risk running a saw, and kickback is a probability regardless of saw in question. If you wreck you car after putting aftermarket parts on your car, can you sue the shop that put them on for making your car faster? Can I sue the bicycle manufacture for crashing and doing a scorpion. Cause I did one yesterday and it hurts, I would much rather blame the bike than me trying something beyond my ability:msp_tongue:.
 
I dont think that a manufacture will take the liability for injury due to kickback to begin with. It is an inherent risk well published in literature provided with purchase of a saw. And in the case of purchasing a used saw ignorance of the inherent risk would still not fly in court. At best maybe you could sue the seller, but then you would need proof you bought it and they didnt warn of said risk. The only time you would really have a case would be engine failure causing injury. Granted you can sue for anything, but I am pretty sure the saw makers can afford better lawyers than me. Once the saw has been modified the manufacture is released of all liability. And one could sue over injury from kickback if they wanted, but once again one would have to show proof who modified it, the modifications caused the injury, and that the injury could have been avoided if the saw was not modified. Here again though you are taking an inherent risk running a saw, and kickback is a probability regardless of saw in question. If you wreck you car after putting aftermarket parts on your car, can you sue the shop that put them on for making your car faster? Can I sue the bicycle manufacture for crashing and doing a scorpion. Cause I did one yesterday and it hurts, I would much rather blame the bike than me trying something beyond my ability:msp_tongue:.

Regardless, the suing party will have court time and the sued person will have to answer/contest the claims. In contesting the claims, the sued party will be responsible for their legal cost, this is where liability insurance comes in. Liability insurance will have to defend the sued party or pay out to settle.
 
Nobody ever said chainsaws are safe. Back in the day, saws never had brakes, but I guess the front porches were bigger and if you couldn't hang with the big boys and bad toys, you went to the porch.

Be accountable for you actions involving machines and tools, understand how they work, know how to service and check them so they operate properly-if you are careless with this stuff it will hurt you and it will be your fault.

One of the most famous (or the most famous) trainer of chainsaw operators, D. Douglas Dent, always started his classes with this quote:

"The chainsaw by itself cannot initiate any action- but can only respond to the situation, dangerous or not, that you place it in."

Now this was in 1974, long before the days of chain brakes, safety chain, and kevlar chaps. However, this quote still holds.
 
I don't see anyway that you could sue the manufacturer for getting hurt with a chainsaw, whether modded or not. Like it's already been mentioned, there are inherent risk when running a saw and many disclaimers in the owners manuals. It would have to be an injury due to something besides kickback at least I would think.

I do believe that there would be grounds for lawsuit against the modder of the saw though. Even though I don't think it's right at all, I do think it could very well happen with a good enough lawyer.
 
Seeing as how the chain speed of any saw 3 or 300hp is directly controlled by the Operator, it kinda makes the whole argument moot.

Reminds me of the kid fixing to get a whoopin' from his Dad, for shooting out a window with his slingshot.
Dad asks "Son, what were you thinking?", and the kid thinks a Min. and says " I was cleaning it, and it went off on it's own?"

Stay safe!
Dingeryote
 
I don't see anyway that you could sue the manufacturer for getting hurt with a chainsaw, whether modded or not. Like it's already been mentioned, there are inherent risk when running a saw and many disclaimers in the owners manuals. It would have to be an injury due to something besides kickback at least I would think.

I do believe that there would be grounds for lawsuit against the modder of the saw though. Even though I don't think it's right at all, I do think it could very well happen with a good enough lawyer.

What if the chain has a soft link and it causes injury? What if a fuel hose ruptures under normal use and causes burning? Would you still feel the same way?
 
I am not that individual and have no knowledge of the situation you are referencing.

Liability insurance would answer litigation issues and take responsibility in situations like the "fellow" looking for a "builder". Situations like that are why it is wise to have liability insurance. This topic is no different than a automotive garage, any other business, having liability insurance for work they do.

Seems liability insurance is a touchy subject.

It is only touchy for people living in the imaginary good old days.
 
What happens if your saw mods make the saw have less power, are you still liable? :msp_w00t:

If the amount of money lost in the business transaction was over $1000.00 then it would certainly be easy to pursue here. A little documentation and the off to the races.
 
All chainsaw manufactures carry liability insurance for instances where they are sued by chainsaw users. Manufacturers perform extensive testing for kickback and chain brake operation.

When a saw has its cylinder modified, the resulting torque curve and horsepower rating is increased. This increase alters the saw performance and can cause greater kick back risk. Because the saw is modified, the manufacturer has less liability for damages. I highly beleive if a person is seriously injured by a modified saw, a chainsaw manufacturer will blame the modifications.

Do any chainsaw porters, who modify for monetary gain, have concern about creating liability, to themselves, with these modifications?

It happens! I have a friend who's father was killed by a fractured flywheel on Sears lawnmower. He was stockbroker and his daughter was a opera singer. There was a huge lawsuite to settle the claim.

ZG
 
My business Liability insurance policy says ......All equipment that leaves my shop that I perform work on can not be modified in any way and must comply with all manufactures safety requirements...




Liability Insurance on a business that is primarily chainsaws is very spendy ....Most ins wont even look at chainsaws...
 

Latest posts

Back
Top