Erie County’s private insurance carrier, Acceptance Indemnity, has “dropped … an option to buy” a $1M policy that covered lawsuits against Sheriff’s Office deputies if any “face criminal misconduct allegations in their interactions with people” attending Bills games, according to Sandra Tan of the BUFFALO NEWS. It is a policy that is “both expensive and rarely used.” The county’s insurance broker said that “rising insurance rates overall, increased payroll costs, market conditions and claims histories likely factored in the company’s decision to no longer offer the policy.” But the decision has “left the county scrambling for alternatives.” Tan notes the county had two options: purchase a “new — and possibly even more expensive — insurance policy from a different carrier” or “give up the insurance policy and self-insure any future stadium claims against sheriff’s deputies.” She notes the county administration “intends to do the latter.” The decision to self-insure is among the “most consequential” in a new stadium security agreement reached with the Bills. Currently, the Bills and the county “roughly split the cost of the existing insurance policy.” However, under the new arrangement, “neither the Bills nor the county would pay any insurance premium.” But should a claim or lawsuit be filed against the Sheriff’s Office because of an altercation between sheriff’s deputies and a member of the public at a game, the Bills “have committed to paying half the cost, up to $250,000 a year, to the county to put toward defense and settlement expenses.” The county “would be responsible for the rest” (BUFFALO NEWS, 7/21).
