On Jun 30, 9:55 am, dpb wrote:

I don't know if the shop would qualify as the "attractive nuisance"
hazard since it isn't outside tempting the neighbor kids as the pool but
certainly the possibility of a potentially serious (read "expensive")
accident is raised w/ power tools.

It isn't an attractive nuisance. It is considered something far
worse, which thankfully, the name escapes me. But it has to do with
you holding meetings/get togethers or what ever you want to call them
in unsafe or unsupervised conditions. I will personally guarantee
that sight unseen I could go into anyone's shop, mine included and
find a half dozen OSHA violations in just minutes, rendering them
unsafe. And if you know they exist (loose rung on a ladder, poor dust
ventilation, ungrounded plug, etc.) then you could be found negligent.

All an attorney has to do in open court is to get you to admit that
you knew you had a frayed wire, a plane with a worn out frog that lets
the blade slip, a saw with a guard doesn't return to cover the blade
in a crisp manner, and you are toast. If you admit to one thing, it
is the same as admitting you knew all along there were unsafe
conditions in your shop, thus making it a unnecessarily dangerous
place.

You will be questioned as well as to who trained you (and their
qualifications) if someone gets hurt while using tools under your
tutelage. Believe me, the "I learned it from an old fella that had
been doing it for 30 years" won't count. You won't believe what a
dumbass you will feel like when they ask you, "how did you learn to
use this tool?" and make you state you had no "formal" training.

Knowing you didn't take a class to use a circular saw, the (attorneys)
will ask you, "then how do you know you are using it the correct way,
the safest way? And what in the world qualified you to be a teacher?"

As important, the question will be asked concerning your "plan" for
first aid. What was it? Did you know people can get hurt using edged
or powered tools? You knew that, right? OK.... then what were you
prepared to do about it? Do you even have the proper sized first aid
kit for 3-4 people in the shop?

And the worst sin possible? To sell anything that you make in the
shop/not shop. That defines it as a commercial enterprise. I think
you actually have to sell a dollar amount, but it's pretty low.

Can anyone here tell I have been sued more than once?

The facts are that "friends" and/or even more likely w/ "just neighbors"
is that the friendship or acquaintanceship will disappear if there is an
accident of any consequence and the insurance companies get involved.
At that point it becomes a case of what the actual legal liabilities
are, friendship or no.

Absolutely true. And the insurance companies don't care who was
friends or not. They will take all responsibility, common sense, and
well meaning efforts out of the equation.

The key here is to understand that the insurance companies will take
control of who pays what, who sues who, and how it all comes together
completely away from the homeowner. They will do what they need to do
to protect their own interests, with or without your participation or
input. In some high ticket settlements, they will sue each other just
to mitigate the losses they face. You will have absolutely no control
whatsoever in their actions.

For example, my insurance my and I were talking about this situation,
and he went to a class to renew his license a few years ago. An
example they studied was where the insureds were doing exactly as CC
described. But in his case study, the example folks had a rule of
putting in $5 a week for refreshments and to contribute a couple of
bucks for the use of the facility (aka - the garage).

Since they ragged each other to make sure they collected so they would
have money in the kitty for cold drinks, a possible lunch, and maybe a
cold beer at the end of a hot summer day, they were considered dues.
Dues were defined very simply as a set amount, collected at a
specified time, by a certain person that kept record of who paid and
who didn't.

Further, they called themselves something stupid thanks to a wife that
thought the nearly weekly assembly was "cute". They were "The
Termites", "Nahmies" something like that.

Now we have a club. 1) It was an organized meeting ("we try to meet
around 6:30 or so in the evening, either Tuesday or Thursday during
the week") with 2) dues to be paid, and 3) it even had a name. I am
sure they would have sealed their own fate if someone got them tee
shirts.

A "club" meeting in the house violated his homeowner insurance
description of coverage, so the injury that brought these conditions
to light was denied by his own insurance. No coverage.

Everyone sued everyone in an attempt to hold each other responsible
and to collect, and in the end only the attorneys were made whole.

So... if anyone wants to play that game, go ahead. It's like running
through the house with a kitchen knife in your hand; no big deal
unless you trip.

Robert