Reporter Fights For Boat Insurance Reform
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Back last October, FTVLive told you about how KMSP (Minneapolis) Reporter Courtney Godfrey had lost part of her leg in a boating accident.
Godfrey was thrown from her boat and run over, part of her leg was chopped off by the boat's propeller.
Now, she feels that she has been run over again, this time by her insurance company.
The Pioneer Press writes that after the accident, Godfrey assumed the boat owner’s insurance policy would help.
But she quickly learned the boat’s liability policy excluded her.
Because the boat was owned by her husband.
“We were like: ‘WHAT?!'” says Godfrey, a KMSP-TV reporter who lost the lower portion on her left leg in the propeller after she was flung overboard while the boat was making a turn on Christmas Lake in September.
That’s correct: If Godfrey’s sister, who was also aboard, had been injured, the $451-a-year policy would have covered her. “If it would have happened the summer before, when we weren’t married, I would have been covered,” she said.
But in Minnesota, like many other states, boat liability coverage can — and, it appears, nearly always does — exclude spouses and children.
“People are shocked when they hear that,” she said in an interview.
Now Godfrey, who returned to work this week, is spearheading a proposal at the Minnesota Legislature to change state insurance laws to outlaw so-called “family exclusions” in watercraft liability policies.
If Godfrey’s injuries had happened in her husband’s car, she could have filed a claim. That’s because family exclusions have been outlawed in Minnesota since 1974 — from auto insurance.
But boat insurance is different. Unlike auto insurance, boat insurance isn’t required by law, and family exclusions are allowed.
There are no reliable estimates for how many people purchase various types of boat insurance, which can include liability for injuries stemming from negligent behavior, and so-called “hull insurance” for damage to the boat itself, according to state regulators and the insurance industry.
As a TV reporter, Godfrey is both media savvy and knows how a narrative works. She knows that by speaking out — she held a news conference on the issue and has been buttonholing lawmakers at the Capitol for weeks — she’ll be the face of this story.
And she also knows what some will think: ” ‘Her claim was denied and she wants to get money,’ ” she said. “I’m not benefiting from this bill. I’m not here for myself. I don’t want other people to go through a trauma like I’ve been through — and then learn the insurance they thought would cover them doesn’t.”
