Legal Question in Business Law in Maryland

Re: liability

The liability faced by an owner where someone is injured on her property depends on the status of the injured party. Under Maryland law, there are for basic types of status: trespassers, invitees, licensees, and social guests. From what you have described, it sounds like the moms would be considered social guests. A property owner owes to a social guest only the duty to warn the guest of an unreasonable risk of harm which the owner could not expect the guest to discover. For example, if there were a weak spot in your kitchen floor which was not visible to the naked eye, but you were aware of it and did not warn a guest of it, and the guest walked over the spot and fell through the floor, injuring herself, you would probably be liable.

To protect yourself and the other members of the group who will be serving as hostesses, you could draft a simply liability waiver form that the members would sign basically saying that they agree to waive liability of the property owner if they are injured on the owner's property while engaged in club activities. You could probably draft it yourself, but it might be wise to have an attorney do it for you as you want to ensure that you and the other hostesses are properly protected. As the waiver need not be complicated, you should be able to find someone to draft it for you pretty quickly and inexpensively.

Re: liability

Most conservatively, your guests would be considered invitees. You would thereby

be liable for obvious and non-obvious causes of injury. A waiver of liability is a good start

however you may want to consider purchasing an umbrella policy under your home owners insurance to protect yourself personally. These policies are relatively inexpensive.

You should have an attorney review any policy BEFORE you acquire insurance. A form waiver can be obtained but remember, you get what you pay for and if you paid nothing then it may be worth just that.

As for the club, it depends on how it is set up. If it is an informal organization, little can be done to protect it since

it is not a legal entity. If the club is set up as a legal entity, various matters would need to be considered as to the extent of

protection you could choose.

Hope this helps.