# beekeeper insurance



## jerry (Jan 12, 2006)

do you know where i can get beekeeper insurance 
and who thru jerry


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## danno1800 (Mar 13, 2004)

*I got mine from American National [ANPAC]*



jerry said:


> do you know where i can get beekeeper insurance
> and who thru jerry


They have a Special Farm Package that covers beekeepers. I have been VERY satisfied with mine. Hope that helps -- good luck! -Danno


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## SGebauer (Nov 11, 2004)

I know that you can liability through EAS if you are a member. I tried to find some info on their website but no luck. I would contact EAS to get more information.

Cheers,
Shane


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

Click on this thread listed below, read down to post #4 by dp.

This is the insurance I have. Less than half of the cost the insurance being offered through the bee mags and associations. And you are not forced to include all your other insurance.

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=215905


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

bjorn: If I may ask, how much you paying for this?


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## wbell (Mar 5, 2005)

Check out your local Farm Bureau. Thet may be able to help you.


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

Chef Isaac said:


> bjorn: If I may ask, how much you paying for this?


$350 per year. 1 Million product liability, and 2 million general liability (stings, accidents, etc.)


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## NeilV (Nov 18, 2006)

As I have mentioned in other posts, I'm a lawyer. We're not allowed to advertise "specialities" in Oklahoma, but most of what I do is interpret insurance policies in the context of coverage disputes. 

That being said, what follows is not legal advice for anybody's particular situation, just my general ideas. I'm not your lawyer, and I'm not practicing law in whatever jurisdiction your in. If you have a problem or a specific legal question, find a competent lawyer where you live and hire him or her.

That being said, my general thoughts on the subject are as follows:

1. Read your policy and make sure for yourself that it covers what you are doing. Everything below is subject to that caveat.

2. The reality is that beekeeping is not likely to get you sued. I've never heard of anybody getting sued in Oklahoma over a beekeeping or honey-related claim. I did Westlaw search once of all the published cases that contained the words "honeybees" and either "nuissance" or "negligence." I pulled up about 20 cases from a database that included all the published appellate cases in the history of the United States and some unpublished opinions. I only found one case that involved a beekeeper being sued. In that case, a worker for a beekeeper in Texas got stung, went into shock and died. The beekeeper lost, due to failing to warn the worker of the potential risk. The rest of the cases involved beekeepers who were suing somebody else for damage to their bees (usually from spraying insecticides). Of course, that does not include all the lawsuits every filed -- just those that resulted in appeals. However, only finding one case indicates that beekeeping is not a high risk activity. If I had done a similar search for "negligence and swimming pool" or "negligence and dog", I would have pulled up hundreds, maybe thousands, of cases. My point is that it is possible to get sued, but its not likely. The insurance ought to be fairly inexpensive for that reason.

3. Despite that general opinion, I recommend that anybody who is in a beekeeping business get coverage. The most important benefit from having a policy is that, if the policy is any good at all, the insurer will have to hire a lawyer to defend you if you get sued. That is a very important benefit, because most beekeepers just would not be able to afford to mount a defense. Defending a civil lawsuit is expensive, because there is a lot of work involved.

4. If you are merely a hobbyist and you have homeowners/renters coverage, it probably will provide liability coverage for beekeeping. However, there can be a debate in a particular case whether a particular person is merely a hobbiest or is engaged in a business. The details of the law on that issue varies from state to state. Also, it would be harder to get a homeowners policy to cover a products liability claim that arises because you have sold honey to a customer. Err on the side of getting coverage with a beekeeping policy.

5. Don't forget about your auto insurance. Some auto policies eliminate coverage entirely for business use. Some business exclusions only apply if you are engaged in deliverying products, some are broader. The law of your state might invalidate that sort of exclusion in whole or in part, but that varies from state to state. Make sure you have auto coverage that will cover your use of a vehicle for beekeeping. If, for example, you are a pro beekeeper/sideliner and you had a wreck transporting hives, you could potentially run into a coverage problem. 

Also, if anybody has purchased the coverage that Bjorn mentioned, I would like to take a look at the policy to see what it does/does not cover. (I know that sounds weird, but reading and interpreting insurance policies is how I make a living.) If anybody has their policy handy and would be willing to mail or scan/email me a complete copy, I'd appreciate it. Send me a PM if you are interested in doing that.

Thanks, Ndvan

Update: Just for grins, I did a Westlaw search for published opinion involving product liability and honey. I could not find any published cases at all. That makes sense, because honey is a natural anti-bacterial/viral substance. However, I did find a 1907 case from Delaware in which a beekeeper was sued because his bees allegedly stung and killed two mules. Must have been some of those grumpy German bees. Also, it occurred to me that, if a beekeeper is in an AHB area and keeps AHB in a populated area, that could at least in theory increase the risk of liability. (So don't do that.)


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## jamiev (Sep 14, 2005)

Thanks for all the good info ndvan. I was told by my insurance agent that I am ok with my homeowners policy until I sell the first bottle of honey. Then I need a specific beekeeper policy. This may be the year I start to sell honey so I guess I'll need to look into the one bjorn is recommending. 
It is too bad that even small scale businesses have to worry about lawsuits. We have become such a lawsuit prone society. Makes it that much more difficult for a hobbiest who is likely not operating at a profit, to just have some fun and sell some honey along the way.


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

bjorn: A long shot but does it cover lost bees or replacement of equipment (do to old age and wear and tare)?

Thank you ndvan. I will take you up on your offer when I get the policy. 

Red bells went off when my friend said "what happens if someone buys one of your lip balms and claims that there was a chunk of glass inside and they cut their lip"?

Kinda scared me.


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## NeilV (Nov 18, 2006)

Chef,

PM me when you get it an I'll send you my email. 

Also, somebody with a cut lip would not have much of a claim. However, weird things do happen. I know about an actual claim where a woman slipped on water in a business, fell, hurt her back, got surgery, got a staph infection and died. A little water on the floor literally led to somebody dying. 

However, generally I think people need to be careful and get appropriate insurance but they worry too much. The media only reports the crazy cases -- one's where jurors do something stupid. It does not report on the goofy cases where the judge throws the case out or the normal cases where the jury does the right thing. Also, there is a lot of jury bashing in the media, but, as a general rule, I'll take a jury over a judge (and my firm is usually representing the person who is being sued.) Also, I'm admittedly biased due to my line of work, but a lot of what is labelled "tort reform" is really not a good idea. (But that's a whole different subject that probably belongs under the Tailgater category, so I'll leave it at that.)

Ndvan


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

Chef,
I'll pull out the fine print, but it covers products covered in my bee business. Glass in any product is probably the same risk and I don't see that as an issue.

Two things that the insurance company wanted. 1) Bee yards to be marked in some way. 2) one of those "do not feed honey to infants under one year", on bottles of honey. Both these are for obvious reasons with frivolous claims.

As ndvan has comments, my insurance agent stated that the coverage and ease to get it is based on risk assessment and data that bean counter types calculate for the industry. And although he said that some insurance will not cover bee operations, they themselves have no knowledge of any claim against a beekeeper in recent history. They said from their companies standpoint, they have sold for something like 10 or 20 years now (I forget the exact number) and they have yet to have their first claim.

No, my policy does not cover loss of bees.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Thanks for the professional opinion Ndvan,
I am pretty sure my liability is covered by my farm insurance. It is something I am going to check for sure,


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## NeilV (Nov 18, 2006)

You're welcome


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## Paraplegic Racehorse (Jan 25, 2007)

Does anybody's policy cover vandalism?

Last year, two of my colonies were vandalized badly enough that the bees were unable to recover and the two colonies were lost. The equipment itself was not damaged in any meaningful way, but one could argue lost revenue, etc.


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