Forty-two states and the District of Columbia have decriminalized marijuana or approved marijuana use for medical purposes, which obviously poses problems for women’s fraternity and sorority House Corporations and chapters regarding the use of a federally-banned substance on chapter property. From an insurance standpoint, we recommend that your housing and membership agreements require compliance with all state and federal laws.

Fraternal Law addressed medical marijuana in their September 2009 issue. In the article, Timothy Burke sited several recent court cases that would support our recommendation above:

Since that time, the courts have continually upheld the rights of employers over their anti-drug policies. The Chronicle of Higher Education addressed the use of medical marijuana on college campuses. According to the Chronicle article, “medical marijuana users at Humboldt State, Fort Lewis and other colleges are advised to live off campus and leave their medicine at home.” At a panel session during the National Conference on Law and Higher Education, “speakers on the panel here pointed out that the ‘federal trump card’ gives universities legal cover to ban marijuana use without fear of challenge under the Americans With Disabilities Act or similar state laws.” Colleges in Colorado, for example, which has approved marijuana even for recreational use, have the right to define what conduct is expected and permissible within the respective communities and campuses, on or off campus. The same is true for women’s fraternities and sororities.

Women’s fraternities and sororities have the same right and ability to require more prohibitive rules on their property than are required in non-sorority-owned housing. Just as women’s fraternities and sororities ban alcohol on their properties, so too can they ban the use of illegal substances. Experts agree that it is important for women’s fraternities and sororities to communicate well in regards to behavioral expectations with their members and volunteers upfront.

We understand that this is a difficult issue to tackle, and we want to help you determine how best to manage this risk. Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

The insurance company underwriters have accepted the sorority class of business based upon the exposures that are normally present for housing, such as member-only female tenants, no alcohol allowed on the premises and having a House Director live on the property. The coverages provided under your organization’s national insurance program have been designed and priced based upon these guidelines.

The House Corporation may desire, on occasion, to rent out the chapter property to a third party. There are certain parameters that must be in place in order for the insurance carrier to consider supporting the arrangement, which include the following:

Please contact us to discuss any potential rental arrangement you may be considering, and we can determine if the arrangement is acceptable from an insurance and risk management standpoint. We will talk through the plans, discuss the exposures involved and help you determine the best course of action and discuss other risk reduction/management techniques you may want to consider.

Year end 2017, the MJ Sorority Department was very pleased to see that we now have seventy-eight percent (78%) of our chapter houses under the additional protection of a fire suppression system. The leadership of the women’s fraternities and sororities are to be complemented on this attention to safety for their members and the preservation and protection of their property.

The goal of having a fire sprinkler system is twofold:

Those chapter houses that are sprinklered were generally following the NFPA Code 13R, which required sprinklers except in the attic space. There was the assumption that there would be limited access to the attic space and the attic would be clear of storage and of any other use.  The cost advantages of the NFPA 13R code over the prior code of NFPA 13 are substantial, ranging roughly 40-60 percent less.  This is due to several reasons:

A trend has emerged with more fires occurring in the attic which has caused the property insurance underwriter some concern. Since there are no sprinklers in the attic, a fire that begins in the attic burns for a period of time undiscovered. It is only when the roofing is burned through and/or burns through the ceiling of the floor below that the building fire is detected. Valuable time has been lost where the fire department has not been notified as the sprinkler system goes off only after the fire burns through another area beyond the original origin site.

The fire results in more dollars loss per fire, it is harder to detect, it becomes larger in size and causes more widespread flame damage. Water damage also affects the dollar loss per fire since the fire is attached at the highest level by the fire department, affecting all of the floors below as opposed to a fire that is attacked on lower floors only.

We have considered how to address this exposure from a risk management stand point and offer up the two recommendations (applies to both sprinklered and non-sprinklered buildings):

Tattletale is a portable alarm company that distributes important fire safety tools. Tattletale is also a business partner with Travelers Insurance, the property and liability insurance company for MJ Sorority clients, which enables MJ Sorority clients to have access to preferred pricing.  These units are hooked up to the existing fire alarm system and are very reasonably priced.

Of our top four largest claims, three of the four started in an attic and the floors below were indeed sprinklered. As you can imagine when a fire occurs, the liability insurance company underwriter is very pleased that there has been no fatalities; however, the property insurance underwriter is less pleased because with an undetected attic fire, the cost of the ultimate loss is direct damage and loss of use claims are far more substantial than what they would have been if the attic had been sprinklered.

We urge you to review your system and if the attic is not sprinklered, make arrangements to get the rate to rise detectors/sensors installed.

As a property owner, the safety of your resident members is one of your biggest responsibilities, and we believe that these additional risk management recommendations will help you control your risks.

Nearly every chapter facility is subject to severe winter weather. This is true not only of facilities located in Canada and the central and northern portions of the United States, but winter weather damage has occurred in areas as far south as Florida and Texas. Indeed, claim history indicates the areas that are most vulnerable to damage are the southern portions of the country because they are not accustomed to long periods of prolonged cold. For these reasons, it is important that every facility prepare in advance for the possibility of severe winter weather. The following checklist provides a starting point in developing a comprehensive plan to prevent unnecessary losses that can result from winter weather conditions.

*Any box checked “no” indicates a need for correction action.

Engaging in a building or renovation project is an exciting, albeit stressful, endeavor. In addition to the hundreds of decisions regarding design, budget, decorating, and other items, there are insurance and risk management concerns to consider in order to protect the House Corporation and the organization from loss.

In an effort to simplify at least the insurance portion of the building process, we have developed a glossary of sorts to help you familiarize yourself with the associated terminology, as well as our recommended limits when applicable.

General Liability

General liability covers physical and bodily damage for which the general contractor and its employees would be held liable as a result of completed operations or product liability. We recommend that any independent contractors carry a minimum of $1M per occurrence in general liability limits.

Workers’ Compensation

Workers’ compensation is insurance paid by companies to provide benefits to employees who become ill or injured on the job. We recommend that independent contractors carry a minimum of $500,000 per accident.

Automobile Liability

Automobile liability insurance protects the insured against financial loss because of legal liability for automobile-related injuries to others or damage to others’ property by an auto. We recommend that independent contractors carry a minimum of $1M per occurrence in automobile liability limits.

Builders’ Risk

A builders’ risk policy is a property insurance policy that is designed to cover property in the course of construction. Coverage typically applies not only to property at the construction site, but also to property in transit or at off-site storage locations. We use the estimated completed value of the project as the builders’ risk limit.

We recommend that you have an MJ Client Executive review contracts associated with any building projects prior to signing them. We also recommend that the Fraternity/Sorority, House Corporation, Chapter, etc. be indemnified in the contract language from any loss or damage caused by the independent contractor/s. Because of the complexity of these types of issues, we recommend that you engage the services of a local attorney familiar with your local laws and statutes in the contract negotiations.

Take advantage of the last of the slow summer days and of an empty chapter house to do some Back to School cleaning and organizing.