Who is liable for any injury/damage caused by your vending machine(s)?

[gumby]

For example, say a child trips over your candy/capsule machine and it falls over and hurts them.  Or say, someone accidentally bumps into your machine, it falls over and breaks a glass window in the store it is located in.

For injuries and damages - who needs to pay?  You?  The store owner?   Or some other rules would apply here?

If you are liable, do many of you have your business registered as something like an LLC or some business type that limits potential liability?

Or do you have insurance for this?

 

[gumball guy]

Liability insurance is a must if you want to protect yourself against injury or damage claims. Operating as an LLC or corporation also gives another layer of protection. If someone gets hurt by a piece of vending equipment and they want to sue they will usually name as many parties as they can to give them better odds of a payout. That means the location and the vendor could both be defendants in a civil suit. As far as the broken window situation I think it would matter what the circumstances of the incident were. If the stand was defective, snapped and hit the window there is a good chance the vending operator could be liable. If someone was horsing around and knocked your machine into a window then I think the vendor would have a reasonable argument against responsibility. Again these are hypothetical situations so who knows how the situation would turn out. Bottom line is you need liability insurance if you want to protect yourself in any business.

[heritagevending]

You are playing with fire if you don't have liability insurance.....  I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

[rodney69]

Whether you'reat fault or not,  anything to fo with injury and remotely close to your product or equipment,  someone will try to sue you.

I wouldn't do anything without a 2 mil policy min.  After you've grown,  then maybe even a LLC or some other way like an umbrella policy. 

[PerformaVending]

If a guy smashes his fist through your machine and hurts himself, a judge may still find you partially at fault just for having the machine there. People can (and will) go after you if they feel they've got even an inkling of a case and a shot at your money. Most insurance policies I've seen are between 1 and 3 million in liability coverage- I carry $2 million on my route, and the peace of mind alone is worth the price.

[Zigzag Vending]

Who are you getting your liability insurance through?

[Poplady1]

Speaking as a retired insurance agent, please get liability insurance.  You may not be neglient but you will be listed in the suit.  The policy pays to defend you, that alone should help you sleep.  On the question of someone putting your fist through the glass on your machine.  That could lead to a quilty verdict if the machine is in a public space.  By the majority of regulations should have safety glass or plexiglass in all of your machines.