Under the Big Top: circus liability insurance makes sure the show goes on.

In 2004, an aerial acrobat twirling on chiffon scarves plunged 35 feet to her death after she lost her grip during a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus show in St. Paul, Minn. The next year, in two separate incidents, two 7-ton elephants escaped from the Vasquez Circus and trampled through a Charlotte, N.C., church, while several other elephants being loaded onto a trailer in Fort Wayne, Ind., crushed a circus animal trainer to death after the man fell down inside the trailer.

These are just a few examples of the liabilities that lurk under the big top.

Children of all ages have been entertained since the inception of the modern circus in the late 1700s ha England. But the daring acts, the sometimes make-shift arenas and exotic animal acts pose significant liabilities to entertainers and patrons.

The Lester Kalmanson Agency Inc. has been providing circus cover, including liability and mortality' insurance for animals and performers, for nearly 18 years. The Maitland, Fla.-based company's Circus and Entertainment Liability insurance includes but is not limited to claim/loss evaluation, consultant services, rare and unusual risks, risk management, annual or short-term coverage, various acts and domestic and/or exotic animal rides and acts. Mitchel Kalmanson, president of the agency, said the company sells thousands of policies each year.

Exposures vary among three types of shows: tented circuses, non-tented events held in areas such as school parking lots, and indoor events such as those held in casinos or coliseums, Kalmanson said. Tented events, for instance, pose a potential for fire and suffocation, while outdoor events may have other exposures related to them.

Circus liability insurance provides cover for nearly every aspect of an event--including the parking lots, concession stands, fixed or temporary seating, and the entertainment. The Lester Kalmanson Agency also insures circus promoters, producers and owners. "Promoters/producers who hire talent mandate that the talent carry their own liability insurance and add the promoter/producer and venue on as an additional insured," Kalmanson said.

Additional insureds to circus policies pose another challenge, Kalmanson said. These individuals may include sponsors, vendors, talent, concession workers, the venue and security. In a recent instance, the company received a claim after a contractor setting up a circus tent drilled a pole into the ground and struck a gas line.

Kalmanson said circus-related claims have been across the board, including tent fires, faulty high-wire rigging, motorcycle gas leaks in patrons' eyes and injuries caused by clowns. And the exposures are becoming riskier. "People want to sec more and do more, and we're starting to see much more extreme things like the Globe of Death or motorcycles on high wires, for example," he said.

Circus animals pose another kind of liability. Animals escaping from the big tent, children thrown off pony or elephant rides, trainers attacked or trampled by animals, and animal bites to patrons and performers are just a few examples. Animal mortality raises yet another concern. In one instance, three Lipizzan horses died during a show after eating the leaves of a poisonous Japanese yew bush while awaiting the start of their performance. Several circus animals have died from heat exhaustion, while others have succumbed to animal cruelty. However, Kalmanson discounted rumors that circus animals often are mistreated. "More than 95% of the time circus animals are treated appropriately," he said.

Circus patrons also may be in harm's way. Typical risks among patrons involve slips, trips and falls, Kalmanson said. But occasionally some injuries are more serious. In 1990, for instance, a child was bitten after a chimpanzee abandoned his motorcycle act and rushed into the stands.