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e v ] 145 University Avenue West, St. Paul, MN 55103 -2044 League of Minnesota Cities Phone: (612) 281 -1200 • (800) 925 -1122 Cities promoting aaronance Fax: (612) 281 -1299 • TDD (612) 281 -1290 LIABILITY COVERAGE LIMITS - CITY OPTIONS Effective January 1, 1998, the statutory municipal tort liability limits increased to $300,000 per claimant, $750,000 per occurrence. Partly to reflect that change, the LMCIT liability coverage has been restructured in some important ways. All LMCIT coverage written or renewed after November 15, 1997, will be issued with a $750,000 per occurrence limit. Unlike the previous current coverage form, under the new coverage form the statutory per - claimant liability limit will not automatically be waived. However, the city has the option to waive the per - claimant limit if you choose. The revised limits structure and the waiver /non - waiver option are explained in more detail below. Coverage limits and liability limits For many years, LMCIT liability coverage has been written with a combined single limit of $600,000 per occurrence. (There are also some sub - limits and/or aggregate limits on coverage for certain exposures.) The coverage document has also explicitly provided that the statutory per - claimant limit of $200,000 was waived. As a result, the city had $600,000 of coverage limits available per occurrence; and an individual claimant could potentially recover up to $600,000 for his/her injuries, notwithstanding the $200,000 per claimant statutory limit. The revised liability coverage differs in two important ways: • It carries a limit of $750,000 per occurrence to match the statute; and • The per - claimant statutory liability limit will no longer be automatically waived. The result is that the city will have $750,000 of coverage limits available for most claims. But on those claims to whichlhe statutory_limits.apply, the city and LMCIT will be able to use the statutory tort liability limit to limit an individual claimant's recovery to no more than $300,000. Of course, there are some claims to which the statutory liability limits don't apply. A federal civil right claim is one likely example. For these claims, there is no monetary limit on what the individual claimant can recover from the city. On these claims, the city has $750,000 of coverage limits available, regardless of whether there's one claimant or several. AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY /AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER