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Not an attorney, but was once a heavy equipment claims adjuster..Not to open a can of worms here.. but haveing seen things in the court system and just in general in dealing with claims of various natures. I can say it does not matter who builds it, who made it, nor who installed it. If there is an accident with loss and/or an injury results. No matter if it was properly secured, installed, factory built/installed by the equipment manufacturer, OSHA certified, etc. You will be liable. Anyone who ever laid a hand on that piece of equipment will be subject to some liability. If the ROPS fails.. then the manufacturer can/will be held liable..If you have the machine maintained by a service dealer.. They may be subject to some liability. Whomever installs the ROPS or does any work on that structure.. ie mounting anything to it.. can be liable should it fail. Above all..YOU will be held liable just because you owned the tractor to which it was installed. It does not matter if you buy the ROPS from the equipment manufacturer or if you build your own from a set of quality plans and welded by a certified welder/shop. If the person operating the machine is injured on YOUR piece of equipment.. He/she or thier family will be looking to you for compensation if it can be determined that the machine was at fault. However, even if the machine is not at fault and the "operator" does something stupid in it to cause the loss.. You still can have a percentage of liabilty. It could be argued that you failed to properly instruct that person in the operation of the equipment, etc. (I have seen this used) That is why the loss occurred. Remember this.. in our litigious society. People look to someone else for blame for their stupidity. I am sure some of you can remember the big McDonald's settlement over the hot coffee in a woman's lap. McDonald's did not tell her to place the coffee in her lap while in her car. Her vehicle did have an appropriate cup holder. However, she did not use it and instead put the coffee cup between her legs. The cup spilled, burning a most private part of her body very badly. Pure stupidity on her part?, YES. Do not ever put hot liquids between your legs. Common sense tells most of us that this is a no no. However, time and time again we have all placed something on our lap or between our legs. Just a momentary lapse of good judgement. Anyway, why did McDonald's lose? Because they failed to provide adequate warning to the public that thier coffee was hot. I have adjusted claims that were clearly outside of the insured's insurance policy. Claims that were specifically denied by the policy. Things not even covered. Since most of us in society are not "deep pocketed". The Insurance Company will/would get sued, pulled into court.. They would spend thousands of dollars defending the case.. only to lose it anyway. (You all wonder why your insurance is so expensive these days.. frivolous lawsuits, insurance fraud, etc.) WE all know.. in the end.. it will be whatever the Judge/Jury say..It matters not who does what or did what. If you can be found liable.. even a small percentage.. You can expect to pay. I think no matter what route you take in your quest for a ROPS.. do it... The whole idea behind it is to make your tractor safer and that you will do by installing one. Forget about the liability aspect of it. That part is a crap shoot. Just install the ROPS. Phil
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