In the state of Illinois do you need to carry insurance for a Beauty Pageant?

I'm planning to start a new beauty pageant system in Illinois, this will be the basic pay pageant, held in a hotel ballroom, having every one sign a disclouser that neither I or the hotel is responceible for accidents. Do I need insurance?In the state of Illinois do you need to carry insurance for a Beauty Pageant?
Yes, you will need a great deal of liability insurance.





Most important, you having them sign a release saying that neither you nor the hotel is liable for accidents is NOT going to stop the lawyers from suing the bajeezus out of both of you if somebody does get hurt in an accident.





Those release forms are pretty meaningless unless you write them to include every possible contingency and force all disputes into mandatory arbitration.





Think about what can happen.


What if somebody falls down the stairs going to the stage?


What if one of the contestants claims you defamed her or that the contest was somehow rigged?


What if one of the contestants is sexually assaulted after the pagaent in one of the hotel rooms?


What if one of the attendees got a bit too tipsy after the pagent in the hotel bar and gets into an accident on the way home?


What if one of the sponsors backs out of fulfilling one of the prizes?


What if, god forbid, a terrorist or madman decides to strike and lots of people get hurt or are killed?





Do you think a little release form is going to absolve you of that liability? Think again.





The trial lawyers will come after the hotel and you and they will come hard.





If they win a judgement against you and you have no insurance or don't have enough insurance, do you think it ends there? Nope, they will come after everything you own....your house....your cars....your money in the bank....they'll literally take it all....to satisfy the claim.





So with all that in mind.....it is worth it not to have insurance for your pagaent?





You absolutely need insurance and you need a lot of it.





Luckily for you, this kind of coverage is actually pretty easy to get and quite affordable.In the state of Illinois do you need to carry insurance for a Beauty Pageant?
You will need general liability insurance. The hotel will probably insist that you have it before they even let you on the premises.





More than likely my guess is that you'll need a specialist to help you find the policy in the surplus lines market.





My advice is to place a message in the ';Hard to Place'; forum at InsuranceJournal.com, referenced below. This is a forum that can help put you in touch with an agent or broker that specializes in coverages such as what you're looking for.
Yes, liability insurance is always required for any business and for you all the more important in your line for trip and fall of contestants
No hotel is going to let you use their ballroom unless you have insurance. You will have to name them as ';additional insured'; on your liabiltiy coverage, and you'll have to carry at least $1,000,000 of coverage.





No one is going to donate any prizes, unless you have fiduciary coverage, and they MIGHT require a bond.





No one is going to lend you any money for ';stuff'; you might need, unless you have property coverage.








No one is going to REQUIRE that you carry insurance, but you won't get any interaction from any other entities unless you do.