A karate school in a Weston shopping center runs after-school classes for about a hundred kids, plus evening classes for adults. During a belt test on a Saturday morning, a ten-year-old lands badly on a throw and breaks his wrist. His parents signed the school’s waiver, and they are not angry. But a few months later the school receives a letter from the family’s health insurer asking to be reimbursed for the surgery, and the owner discovers that his general liability policy excludes injuries to students taking part in classes.
Martial arts schools and dance studios are among the most common independent businesses in Florida shopping centers, and they share an insurance profile that ordinary retail policies do not fit. Their customers are physically active, many of them are children, instructors are often part-time or paid as contractors, and much of the most important activity happens at tournaments, competitions and recitals away from the studio.
The Participant Exclusion Most Owners Never See
The most important detail in a studio’s policy is easy to miss. Many general liability forms exclude bodily injury to anyone participating in a physical, athletic or instructional activity the business sponsors. For a karate school or dance studio, that excludes the people most likely to be hurt: the students. A policy can look complete on the declarations page and still leave out the claim the business is most likely to face.
Studios should be written on a form built for fitness, martial arts or dance, which includes participant liability, or have the exclusion removed by endorsement. Many programs also include accident medical coverage, sometimes called participant accident coverage, which pays a student’s medical bills up to a set limit regardless of fault. It often pays before a claim becomes a lawsuit, it can respond when the family’s own health insurance has a high deductible, and it keeps a minor injury from turning into a dispute.
Waivers Help, but They Have Limits
Waivers are standard in this industry and worth having, but they do not replace insurance. Florida law allows a parent to waive certain claims on behalf of a child for the inherent risks of an activity, but only when the waiver follows specific statutory requirements, and it does not protect a business from its own negligence. An adult’s waiver has its own limits. A well-drafted waiver, reviewed by an attorney, is part of the defense; the policy is what pays for the rest. Waivers also do not stop health insurers from seeking reimbursement for what they paid.
Abuse and Molestation Is the Exposure That Matters Most
Any business that teaches children one-on-one or in small groups, often with physical contact for instruction, carries an abuse and molestation exposure. A single allegation can lead to a claim against the studio for negligent hiring or supervision, even years later, and the reputational damage can end the business. Many general liability policies exclude abuse and molestation entirely, or provide it only at a sublimit well below the policy’s other limits, sometimes with defense costs inside the sublimit.
Carriers that write the coverage expect background checks for every instructor and staff member, written policies on supervision and avoiding one-on-one time out of view, open-door or windowed rooms, rules for pickup and drop-off and documented training. Those practices protect children first, and they are also what makes the business insurable. Our articles on abuse and molestation coverage and preschool and daycare exposures explain how this coverage is written, and our page on child care center insurance covers businesses that supervise children for longer periods.
Martial Arts: Contact Changes the Risk
Martial arts schools vary widely. A traditional karate or taekwondo school teaching children forms and light sparring is a different risk from a school offering full-contact sparring, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, Muay Thai or MMA training for adults. Carriers ask what styles you teach, whether sparring is full or light contact, what protective gear is required, how students are matched by size and experience, and whether weapons are used in class. Full-contact and MMA programs narrow the market considerably, so describe the program accurately; a school that adds cage fighting classes without telling its carrier is describing a business it no longer is.
Instruction itself can be the basis of a claim. A student injured because of improper technique, an unsafe drill or an instructor’s mistake may allege negligent instruction, and some programs include professional liability for instructors for that reason.
Dance: Recitals, Competitions and Lifts
Dance studios have fewer contact injuries but their own exposures. Lifts, jumps and acrobatic or cheer elements carry more risk than ballet or tap, and floors, mirrors and barres need regular inspection. The biggest exposure for many studios is the annual recital or competition, held in a school auditorium, theater or hotel ballroom that requires a certificate of insurance naming it as additional insured, often at higher limits than the studio normally carries. Spectators at those events add their own liability, and studios that sell costumes or take recital photos and videos may need coverage for that inventory and equipment. Our page on event insurance covers coverage for one-time events, and our article on what your contract requires from your insurance explains venue requirements.
Tournaments, Camps and Transportation
Both kinds of studio take students off site: martial arts tournaments, dance competitions, summer camps, demonstrations at schools and community events. Confirm that your policy covers activities away from the studio and that you can provide certificates to event organizers. Transportation is the exposure studios most often overlook. A studio that picks children up from school for after-school programs, or drives students to tournaments in a van, needs commercial auto coverage for vehicles it owns and should be cautious about staff or parents driving students in their own cars. Hired and non-owned auto coverage protects the business when employees drive their own vehicles, but it does not cover the driver personally, and transporting other people’s children raises the stakes on every trip.
Instructors and Workers’ Comp
Studios often rely on part-time instructors, assistant instructors who are advanced students, and teachers paid on 1099s. Florida looks at the actual working relationship, not the label, and an instructor who teaches the studio’s schedule, follows its curriculum and works in its space may be treated as an employee. Our article on 1099 workers and independent contractors explains the test. Florida requires workers’ compensation for non-construction businesses with four or more employees, counting part-time staff, and instructors in a physical business get hurt often. Our article on whether you need workers’ comp in Florida explains how the state counts.
Your Lease and the Property Side
Studios usually lease space in shopping centers, and the lease will set liability limits, require the landlord as additional insured and ask for a waiver of subrogation. Landlords sometimes ask about noise, hours and parking, since evening classes can fill a lot. Your build-out often includes mats, sprung or vinyl dance floors, mirrors, barres, sound systems and lockers, and those improvements are yours to insure. Our page on strip mall insurance covers the landlord’s side, and the usual Florida questions apply: the windstorm deductible is a percentage of the property limit, and flood is never covered by the property policy.
What Studio Owners Should Confirm
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Does your general liability policy exclude injuries to participants, or is it written for fitness, martial arts or dance?
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Do you carry accident medical coverage for students?
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Is abuse and molestation covered, at what limit, and are defense costs inside it?
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Do you run background checks on every instructor and staff member?
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Does your policy describe the styles you teach, including any full-contact or MMA classes?
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Are tournaments, competitions, recitals and camps away from the studio covered?
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Do you transport students, and is that covered?
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Are your instructors employees or genuine independent contractors?
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Can you meet the certificate requirements of the venues where you hold recitals and events?
Martial Arts and Dance Studio Insurance With Prestige
Prestige Insurance Group insures martial arts schools, dance studios, cheer and acro programs and other youth activity businesses across Miami, Weston, Doral, Kendall, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Orlando, Tampa and throughout Florida. We work with over 100 MGAs and specialty markets, including programs written specifically for martial arts and dance, with participant liability, accident medical and abuse and molestation coverage built in. Send us your current declarations page, your waiver and your schedule of classes and events, and we will show you where the gaps are. Call the office nearest you. Se habla español.
Miami: 305-969-8776 Orlando: 407-993-2331
General information only, not legal advice. Florida law on waivers for minors, policy forms, participant exclusions and abuse and molestation coverage vary and change over time. Have your waiver reviewed by qualified counsel and refer to your policy for the terms that apply to your business.
