A question for some of the seasoned instructors on the board:

I was recently approached by someone I know about running a training class on medical/trauma issues for a group of people.

I am a Project Appleseed instructor (as is my wife) and teach Combat Life Saver courses for my National Guard unit, and have been an FTO at my EMS agency.  In short, I know how to train people.

My question relates to doing training as an individual, not part of an organization.  Appleseed has all the liability releases and carries insurance and whatnot, obviously I don't want to go in naked on this and have something bad happen (either during or after class) and am wondering what steps those of you who teach outside of a parent organization do?

Incorporate?  Liability insurance?  Liability waivers?

Assuming you got help from a lawer to draw this stuff up, what type of lawyer did you seek out and about what did you spend?

At this point (for this class) I am not looking to make money off of this, students would be kicking in for consumable training materials and that's it (no live fire training or anything like that).  However I know there is some market for tac med training and would like to see if I can get a little side business going on.

I had a Delaware corp (now defunct) when I was doing retail consulting so I am familiar with that process, but looking for pearls of wisdom on the rest of this.

Thanks.

ETA:  would be totally interested in sitting down with someone with good information in the Colorado Front Range area to discuss this, would obviously compensate you for your time.

Yah, I figured that lawyers are required, was just looking for some input on what the legal expenses were for startup.

My old corporation was an s-corp because there were some additional tax benefits, but there were not nearly the liability issues there are with teaching medical classes, so insurance, etc was much more straight forward.

Guess I should finish up the business plan...

If you are an NRA member then they do specific insurance just for firearms based trainers, which covers you for the general and professional liabilities you need.



locktonrisk supplies the insurance.



See here:



http://www.locktonaffinity.com/nrains/instructors.htm

Life member here.

Thanks for the link!

If someone asked you what legal "Duty of Care" do you owe to the students of your class and what standards/best practices have you adopted and where have you adopted them from to meet that duty of care could you articulate it clearly?

Do you know how that duty of care goes with treating someone who is harmed medically with first aid and whether such treatment would help or expose you to additional liabilities?

Do you understand how your State treats so called "liability waivers?"

Do you know what form of company would best insulated your personal assets from judicial liens placed against them to satisfy a judgment?

If you can't answer those questions clearly and intelligently than you need to consult an attorney who practice civil tort law.  Your State Bar Association would be a good place for a referral or you could go to an attorney you already know and trust who could make you a referral.  Will it cost money? Yup, but it shouldn't that expensive (no more than a decent mid-range rifle) and its worth the knowledge even though laws change all the time.