Atty. Ralph D. Sherman

Is your club incorporated?

Are you sure?

Over the years I have been retained by many rod & gun clubs in Connecticut. No matter why I’m hired, one of the first things I always check about a club is whether it’s incorporated.

If your club was incorporated 10 years ago, but nobody has filed the correct documents every two years with the Secretary of the State, then your club is not incorporated. If your club’s corporate status has lapsed, you might be able to save it by a simple procedure, or you might have to start all over again.

Even from scratch, incorporation is easy, inexpensive, and fairly quick. There is no good reason for a club not to have the protection of incorporation.

What does incorporation do for your club? Incorporation is a shield for the members. Suppose a lawsuit is brought against the club, perhaps in connection with an accident in which someone was injured. Without incorporation, every member of the club can be held liable to pay if the club loses the lawsuit. The final result could be liens on the homes of club members.

You say your club has insurance? Good. But what if the verdict in the lawsuit exceeds the limit of your insurance policy? What if the policy doesn’t cover this type of accident? What if somebody forgot to mail the renewal? Whatever the insurance doesn’t cover, the club members will have to pay, if the club is not incorporated.

With incorporation, the club itself takes a legal identity separate from the individual members. If insurance doesn’t cover, the worst result would be a lien on club property. The homes and other property of individual members would be protected (unless an individual member was found personally responsible for the accident).