Evergreen USA

When you have a new brochure, web site page or ad, you have to review it looking for many different things.  Does it appeal to the type of camper you are marketing to?  Is the information it covers correct?  Does it accurately and professionally portray your park or campground?  Is the spelling and grammar correct?

But, did you also remember to look at it while asking yourself ‘how would this look if it ended up in front of a jury after an incident happened at my campground’?   Recently, Evergreen has had more claim verdicts that have turned out worse than would have normally been expected because of something that was publicized on a park's marketing materials. 

In one incident a campground had a brochure that was given out at many camping shows.  Pictured in the brochure were a father and son fishing in a canoe, and while the son was wearing a life jacket, the father was not.  When two adult men rented a canoe from the campground, neither of them chose to wear their life jacket.  After accidentally flipping the canoe, one of the men was unable to swim very well in the cold water, and he had a difficult time making it to shore.  He eventually made it to shore, but he ended up choking on a great deal of water.  As a result he soon developed pneumonia and other complications.  His medical bills were in excess of $400,000. 

Unfortunately in today’s litigious society, the camper decided to sue the campground that rented him the canoe claiming a lack of instruction was provided by the campground staff.  During the camper’s testimony he told the court that while he was given a life jacket by the campground, he decided not to wear it.  He knew that he was a poor swimmer, but his friend in the canoe chided him about the fact the “old guy” in the picture (in the brochure) doesn’t need a life jacket, so why do you?  After the campground was found negligent by the jury, a few of the jury members discussed with the defense attorney the reasoning behind their verdict and award of nearly half a million dollars.   The jury members said they felt the campground was promoting a ‘partying’ and ‘carefree’ environment in their brochure. 

In a second incident a camping resort web site showed a picture of a campsite with a fire that was so large it was outside the perimeter of the fire pit.  When a camper burned down his own unit, he sued the resort stating that because they showed such a large fire on their web-site, they had an obligation to make sure the fire pits were even further away from the pads than required by law – since they were promoting large fires by their photo.  The case was eventually dropped, as the camper moved out of the country and did not want the burden of traveling back to the United States on multiple occasions for mediations and depositions.  However, nearly $9,000 of defense costs was paid as a result.

In this case the web site photo was not even part of the resort’s primary web pages but just a ‘gallery’ of photos that were posted on their web site.  However, the resort did have editorial rights to that gallery of photos, and the argument was made that the resort had an obligation to only allow photos that depicted the campgrounds rules and normal ways of operation.

I believe in both of these cases the campers were not aware of the implicating photos prior to their accidents.  Once they had an accident, they decided to find someone who could be responsible for the injury and loss.  There was a great deal of discovery that occurred with attorneys asking for all marketing materials in the past five years, safety recommendations, complaint logs, maintenance logs, etc.  I believe once the photos were seen, the camper was “reminded” they had seen this prior to their act, and that it influenced their behavior. 

As the owner or operator of a campground, RV park or resort, you have a lot of duties.  One of those duties is to make sure the image you are portraying to campers is not only that of a fun environment but also an image of safety and professionalism.  One day you may have your marketing pieces presented before you, while a plaintiff’s attorney tells a jury that this is the image of your business you have chosen to present – make sure it is a fun image but also a safe image that shows care for your guests.

By: Lucas Hartford

       Evergreen USA RRG, Inc

       www.evergreenusa.com

       1-800-343-7900