2023 Indiana Code › Title 36. Local Government › Article 8. Public Safety › Chapter 12. Volunteer Fire Departments › 36-8-12-8. Insurance; Death Benefits; Permanent Disability; Liability Coverage; Limitations on Liability

Sec. 8. (a) The policy of insurance required by section 6 of this chapter must provide for the payment of a sum not less than one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) to the beneficiary, beneficiaries, or estate of a volunteer firefighter or member of the emergency medical services personnel if the firefighter or member of the emergency medical services personnel dies from an injury or smoke inhalation occurring while in the performance of the firefighter's or member of the emergency medical services personnel's duties as a volunteer firefighter or member of the emergency medical services personnel or from a cardiac disease event proximately caused within forty-eight (48) hours by or occurring while in the performance of the firefighter's or member of the emergency medical services personnel's duties as a volunteer firefighter or member of the emergency medical services personnel.
(b) The policy of insurance must provide for the payment of a sum not less than one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) to the volunteer firefighter or member of the emergency medical services personnel if the firefighter or member of the emergency medical services personnel becomes totally and permanently disabled for a continuous period of not less than two hundred sixty (260) weeks as a result of an injury or smoke inhalation occurring in the performance of the firefighter's or member of the emergency medical services personnel's duties as a volunteer firefighter or member of the emergency medical services personnel.
(c) The policy of insurance must also provide for indemnification to a member of a volunteer fire department who becomes partially and permanently disabled or impaired as a result of an injury or smoke inhalation occurring in the performance of the firefighter's or member of the emergency medical services personnel's duties.
(d) For the purposes of this section, partial and permanent disability or impairment shall be indemnified as a percentage factor of a whole person.
(e) In addition to other insurance provided volunteer firefighters or emergency medical services personnel under this chapter, each unit shall be covered by an insurance policy that provides a minimum of three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) of insurance coverage for the liability of all of the unit's volunteer firefighters or emergency medical services personnel for bodily injury or property damage caused by the firefighters or emergency medical services personnel acting in the scope of their duties while on the scene of a fire or other emergency. The civil liability of a volunteer firefighter or member of the emergency medical services personnel for:
(1) an act that is within the scope of a volunteer firefighter's duties; or
(2) the failure to do an act that is within the scope of a volunteer firefighter's duties;
while performing emergency services at the scene of a fire or other emergency or while traveling in an emergency vehicle from the fire station to the scene of the fire or emergency or from the scene of a fire or emergency back to the fire station is limited to the coverage provided by the insurance policy purchased under this subsection. A volunteer firefighter or member of the emergency medical services personnel is not liable for punitive damages for any act that is within the scope of a volunteer firefighter's or member of the emergency medical services personnel's duties. However, if insurance as required under this subsection is not in effect to provide liability coverage for a volunteer firefighter or member of the emergency medical services personnel, the firefighter or member of the emergency medical services personnel is not subject to civil liability for an act or a failure to act as described in this subsection.
[Pre-Local Government Recodification Citation: 19-1-40-9.]
As added by Acts 1981, P.L.309, SEC.64. Amended by P.L.367-1983, SEC.2; P.L.204-1984, SEC.1; P.L.200-1986, SEC.2; P.L.217-1989, SEC.7; P.L.172-1990, SEC.1; P.L.268-1993, SEC.2; P.L.1-1999, SEC.94; P.L.192-1999, SEC.3; P.L.174-2009, SEC.5.