[wlug_org] Individual liability from not being incorporated.

[Tony Wills]

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Apologies to Carl for me swearing (something to the effect of utter cr**) 
at his assertion (repeated from a previous meeting) that if not 
incorporated we could all be held accountable (and sued) for something done 
by any member on our behalf.

That assertion is patently wrong.

Incorporation protects those making decisions on behalf of the incorporated 
society from being individually liable for their actions as long as they 
were within the rules of the society.  Of course if the individual acts 
outside the rules they are individually responsible (eg contracting to 
buy/sell assets without authorization, making public statements on behalf 
of the group without authorization).
ie If something goes wrong and the; Action was within the society rules - 
sue the society; Action outside the rules - sue the individual.

If not incorporated then it is the individual who takes the heat every time 
- eg if the defacto treasurer books every seat in the most expensive curry 
house in town (for the whole evening), in the name of Wellington Linux 
Users Group - it will be him/her that gets beaten up when no one turns up, 
not the individual group members.

If you don't believe me, try this as an example:
A large group of us (a few hundred thousand) call ourselves Wellingtonians 
- this is not an incorporated society, but we all know if we're members or 
not.  We have many things in common (Wellingtons weather is just great, 
better than that muggy Auckland ... Wellington traffic is not wonderful at 
times, but better than Auckland (you get the idea)).  We tend to meet in 
small groups, perhaps a couple or  five for a coffee (or curry) and talk 
about just about anything.
If I now go and sign up a deal on behalf of all Wellingtonians to bulldoze 
the green belt, is it me or all Wellingtonians who'd end up in court?

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