What is a PE?Originally Posted by ericm
MLF will be named in multiple lawsuits (each victim's family and possibly the guide plus possibly separate claims from insurance carriers) that's how lawsuits in high-dollar complicated cases work. They're a for-profit company that was conducting business on the lake that day. They also had a "tournament director" which means they were in responsible charge of the event. This is plenty to bring them in initially. The main reason they will be brought in is they most likely hold the highest insurance value (pot of money) of anyone involved. The attorneys will try every way possible to pierce their veil and take possession of that money. Whether MLF actually pay any damages will depend on many factors.
The issue in these situations becomes the cost of defense even if the party named technically did nothing wrong. A major factor on this end will be whether MLF has "first dollar defense" coverage in their policy. This is huge in this type of case because it can easily cost six figures just to get cleared when multiple lawsuits are involved. I've been through this several times as a PE and it's a really frustrating situation. I've also been an expert witness in numerous cases and quickly learned our legal system is not based on right, wrong, or common sense. It's simply a venue to either inflict or avoid financial harm. The skill or lack there-of of the attorneys typically decides the case. An example of how crazy things could get is the tournament angler's attorney could conceivably bring suit against MLF to help deflect blame and or damages from his client.
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