Thread: e & o insurance for ahj inspectors

Hello everyone, I was curious as to how many county inspectors have e&o policies that cover them personally. I have been doing this for seven years and have heard all of the horror stories and have talked with many people who say that the jurisdiction will cover you and with many more who say that they won't. All of them suggest the policy, but I don't personally know of any with it. My insurance agent says that liability insurance is not a problem, but the other policy that will cover residential and commercial is not as easy since I haven't had previous coverage. I would like to know what other county inspectors may have in place or if you're even worried about it.Thanks

If you work for a town, city, county, etc., (governmental body, or political subdivision as they are also called) you are - should be - covered under sovereign immunity of the government as long as you don't act outside of your prescribed position.

If you are an inspector and do plans examiner work without being authorized, trained, whatever - you can be held personally liable.

If you are a plumbing inspector and you do electrical inspections, same thing - you can be held personally liable.

If you are a building inspector and see something that which (for an example) meets code and is according to the approved plans, but *you* don't like it and want it done differently so you don't pass the inspection until they do it like *you* want it done - you can be held personally liable.

But if you are doing your job within the expectations and limits of your job, even though local governments don't actually have sovereign immunity, local governments are authorized subdivisions of the state - which does have sovereign immunity - and are therefore considered to be protected by the doctrine of sovereign immunity.

Step outside your job duties too much and, if sued, the local government can refuse to defend you because they can then claim that you acted outside your legal authority and thus were outside the protection of their sovereign immunity and any attorney is then your choice and you 'get' to pay for the attorney's fees.

Usually, though, it takes quite a bit to be held that you step outside your authority because one is typically given, and expected to exercise, more authority than one should have because that allows the local government to reduce staff, therefore you are 'authorized' to perform the duties thrust upon you.

What's all this sovereign immunity you're talking about? You mean after 300 years of colonialism, y'all are still bowing to the will of the King of England? HaHa

Here where we inspect we do not expect the local "code inspectors" to do their job.. it absolutely expected when you inspect recently built homes to find improper grading, improper gutter installations, improper furnace installations and water heater installations with lack of or improper sediment trap, they still don't ground CSST, no anti-siphon valves, often no house wrap beneath vinyl siding, Romex wires run through cold air returns, beams not secured to girders and improper or missing sill bolt installation.. that's just a start.. IMO the "officials" all the way up the chain need to be sued due to created financial losses to the overall public. ....and improper deck attachment to homes, missing flashings at same, improper nails at same yada, yada, yada.