In episode 36, Michael Labadorf, the executive vice president at Brown & Brown Insurance, unpacks why insurance has become so challenging for community rec organizations and what risk management strategies leaders can implement.
Labadorf explains the industry has emerged from a five-year hard market, and while some lines are easing, liability and sex abuse remain extremely difficult. Despite thousands of insurance companies in the U.S., only a handful are willing to insure youth-serving, recreation-focused organizations because they combine many of the riskiest exposures insurers dislike: youth programming, sports, aquatics, transportation and sex abuse risk.
To stay insurable and obtain favorable terms, Labadorf stresses that organizations must build and demonstrate a strong culture of safety. He highlights the need for embedded abuse prevention procedures that go beyond policies on paper, including training, monitoring, reporting, and attention to grooming and peer-to-peer abuse. He also recommends safety committees that review every claim and near miss, not to assign blame but to learn and prevent recurrence, and encourages organizations to invite insurers’ loss control teams onsite.
Further Summary
Labadorf then emphasizes the importance of working with a specialized broker. Because only a few insurers serve this niche and are flooded with submissions, underwriters prioritize brokers they trust and who bring them significant, specialized volume — similar to how a big-box retailer gets better pricing than a corner store. He advises starting renewals six months in advance.
Finally, he outlines troubling trends: an explosion in $10+ million sex abuse claims, expanded or abolished statutes of limitations via reviver statutes, and social inflation driving larger jury awards. Labadorf closes by describing Brown & Brown’s resources, including a 24/7 crisis team, specialized trainings, safety technology, and benchmarking and catastrophe analysis tailored to community rec organizations.
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