Gotham City Police Department has been very successful with crime fighting in recent months which has left the Caped Crusaders searching for activities to fill their days. Batman has begun serving on his community association Board of Directors, and taken to morning and evening constitutionals. He strolls the many parks and opens spaces of the city, often joined by his comrade, Robin. Together they ponder some of life’s biggest quandaries. Today, they are walking along a pathway in Batman’s community, a woodsy condominium association in a northern suburb of Gotham. They walk quietly, speaking little, breathing softly, as their thoughts float in and out of the tree branches above.

The summer season has come to an end, and fall is taking its place. While the trees are many weeks from shedding holdouts leaves, those that have fallen have revealed reminders of summertime stranded among the branches. One tree in particular catches Robin’s eye. A colorful kite has been pierced by a branch. It wasn’t the kite, though, that caught Robin’s attention. It was the ladder and young man atop that ladder, leaning against the tree midway up from the ground.

The young man is dressed in green overalls with writing on the back. Of the words Robin can read, “Tree Service” indicates the purpose for this young man’s climb. However, it strikes Robin as odd that the man is not trimming the tree. He is reaching out, stretching away from the safety of the ladder, presumably to remove the lost child’s toy.

CRACK….POP

The branch holding most of the man’s weight gives way.

BOOM….POW….OUCH!

The man falls through the branches, ripping clothing and flesh as he accelerates toward the earth. Robin stands frozen as he watches the man fall, so much so that he doesn’t realize Batman has tossed a Bat-net into the path of the tumbling tree trimmer. The net settles just in time to catch the young man and bring him to a safe rest at the foot of the tree.

“Holy hard knocks Batman, that was quick thinking.” Robin exclaims!

The tone of astonishment in Robin’s voice takes Batman by surprise. After all their crime fighting, Batman expects quicker thinking from his Co-Crusader. “You must be ready for everything all the time, Boy Blunder.” Batman imparts.

The young man scrambles out of the net and gets his feet firmly on the ground. He holds his right arm where a branch has cut his clothing, but only grazed the skin. The wound will need no more than a band-aid.

As Batman stows the Bat-net in its case on his belt, he exhales in relief, “Now, I am certainly glad the Board of Directors took the advice of our Insurance Agent and purchased a minimum premium Workers’ Compensation Insurance policy.”

Quizzically, the young tree trimmer asks, “Why would that matter, the company I work for has insurance?”

“Well,” says Batman, “not so fast my fallen fellow. In a situation like this, the Workers’ Compensation policy carried by your employer would likely have denied coverage, because you weren’t really trimming that tree when you fell. Actually, some may say you were working as a maintenance man, cleaning debris from the tree. In fact, this is very similar to a case the Association Insurance Agent referenced in his discussion of why the coverage is prudent. If you actually had fallen and been injured, the Association would likely have been deemed the employer and responsible for your injuries.”

After a short silence, Robin says, “So, what you’re saying is, even though the Association has no employees, there are times when they could be considered the employer, and for a minimum premium they can protect that exposure.”

“Precisely Robin. Here is another example. Suppose our contractor has insurance that has cancelled for some reason or another. Indeed, even the best, most professional of contractors can miss a payment. If an injury were sustained to an employee of that contractor while work was being done on our property, the contractor’s Workers’ Compensation policy would decline coverage because the policy was out of force. The association becomes the employer.”

Robin’s face carries a look of understanding. “But why wasn’t this an issue before? Why did the Agent bring it up now?”

Batman expects the question, “Our Insurance Agent is a member of the Community Association Institute, an organization dedicated to providing resources to common interest developments. His professional character and firsthand knowledge of the issues unique to associations like ours prompted him to suggest the coverage for a number of years. Only recently did we feel compelled to add the policy to our insurance portfolio.”

The young tree trimmer is met by a co-worker, and they walk back to their truck to retrieve the first aid kit. Batman nods to Robin, clasps his hands behind his back and turns to walk back toward his home. Robin matches position and pace and, like Socrates to Plato, these philosopher kings ponder on.

Michael Berg has been a licensed insurance agent and member of the Berg Insurance Agency since 1999. He is very active in CAI and CACM, currently co-teaching the insurance section of CAI Orange County’s Community Leadership Training Program.