Why Does Being "Official" Water Bearer Even Matter To Me?

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Hello again. It has occurred to me that some Gentles may read this blog and start to wonder why it matters to me to keep the office of Water Bearer as an official position.

I mean, I’ve made it clear that I was involved in Water Bearing long before it was official (even before there were any sorts of organized guilds involved) and it seems important enough to me that I’ll probably continue to volunteer in the future.

So why not just allow the official SCA office of Water Bearer become a casualty of Corpora evolution (due to the increased liability risks that this activity brings with it) and then carry on with working to improve the health and safety of SCA related Water Bearing anyway?

For the very same reason that the SCA BoD is reviewing this issue in the first place… legal liability.

For the record, the actual purpose and benefits of the official office as defined by the SCA, Inc. is one I’m still addressing in correspondence with the BoD at this time (more about that here on my blog once I get a reply) so I don’t have a 100% accurate statement on that issue yet.

However, as I have always been lead to understand it, being a warranted officer gives some degree of legal protection to the Water Bearers (and other officers of course) in the event of an incident or accident leading to a lawsuit.

Side Note: One thing to keep in mind, of course, is that if the lawsuit is the result of outright negligence you will have a hard time defending even with a highly paid team of lawyers on your side. As with all things of this nature, the very best initial statement of defence is proof that the actions that lead to the legal claim were what any other prudent and reasonable person would have done given the same circumstances. (Emphasis added to reinforce how important this established legal concept really is to the topic at hand.)

In the event of a lawsuit (for example, from somebody that got very sick at an event and decided to blame the Water Bearing and sue) I am personally confident in my ability to prove, in a Court of Law, that anytime I have run Water Bearing, it has been done with the utmost care for the health and welfare of the people drinking the water.

As explained elsewhere on this blog, I take safety and sanitation very seriously and on multiple occasions, I’ve personally gone out and purchased new Water Bearing equipment or supplies for the group I’m helping if I didn’t like the condition of what they already had to offer (I used to have a job that paid absurd amounts of money and at the time I could afford to be generous that way).

My personal concern these days is that defending against a lawsuit (even if you win) could still potentially bankrupt somebody with legal fees for the defence process. Contrary to what the media likes to portray, a righteous defendant doesn’t normally get a settlement from an unsuccessful claimant (the Judge saying “I find in favour of the Defendant, Plaintiff to pay all legal and courts fees.” at the end of the trial just doesn’t happen that often in real life).

Some lawsuits are legitimate, either to address real injury or to ensure that similar negligence doesn’t happen to others so don’t think that I’m against the idea of people being allowed to sue for legitimate grievances. However, in too many cases (in my personal experience – yours may vary of course) lawsuits are often motivated by the idea that they can lead to quick riches and too many people are apparently under the impression that ‘nobody gets hurt but the insurance companies anyway’.

So… if this legal protection for SCA warranted officers performing their assigned duties does in fact exist, then you can understand why I have decided to work towards seeing Water Bearing continue as an official SCA activity – even if it has to change and evolve in order to do so.

This is why I’m so strongly in favour of improving the standards for organized SCA Water Bearing. As previously stated, this would help ensure that any risks to the public health and safety (and by extension, any potential liability risks faced by the SCA, Inc.) are kept to the barest possible minimum.

If it turns out that being a warranted Water Bearer offers you no more of a legal safety net than anybody else has, that will be a very different story at that point I’ll have to seriously re-evaluate my thoughts on the topic

I’d just like the comfort of knowing that I (and others) can volunteer and, as long as we do the job properly, carefully, and in accordance with modern health & safety standards, there’s no worry that defending from a frivolous lawsuit could lead to the fiscal destruction of everything we’ve worked for up to this point in our lives.

No matter what the eventual ‘liability protection for official officers’ statement is from the BoD or what the outcome of this suggested wording change to Corpora is, I’ll probably continue working towards seeing SCA Water Bearing improve and become, in general, a much more Food Safe type activity with minimal liability.

Thanks for reading.

Baron James Douglas
"Honor In Ministerio"
(In Service There Is Honour)