Who Is Responsible For Thefts At Coin Shows?

You’re a collector at a coin show, and the worst happens—the suitcase containing your new purchases (or the coins you planned to sell) disappears while you’re away from it or not paying attention. Or you’re a dealer, and while you’re away from your booth someone wheels a dolly up and removes one or two of your showcases and leaves the bourse floor. There’s security at the exits, of course, but the crooks get through and your coins are gone. Assuming the thieves are never caught, who’s responsible for compensating you for the value of your lost coins. Is it the show promoter? The security contractor?

Probably neither, as it turns out. Show promoters disclaim liability for lost or stolen goods brought by their patrons onto the show premises, just like restaurants and concert venues do. Disclaimers usually appear in bourse contracts dealers sign to rent their booths, on the backs of physical tickets to the show, or in website terms and conditions which patrons must accept before ordering their tickets online. Yes, these are what lawyers call “contracts of adhesion”, meaning you can’t negotiate them with the show promoters and you have no choice but to accept them. That doesn’t make the disclaimers unenforceable, however, and courts enforce them all the time.

But even without a contractual disclaimer, courts have held that a show promoter has no legal duty to protect the property of dealers or collectors on a bourse floor. Should a theft happen without the promoter’s actual involvement, there’s no liability for the promoter’s alleged negligence in not providing adequate security at the time and place of the theft.

Here's a case in point. A dealer was robbed recently at a major show in Chicago. The thieves took a showcase from the dealer’s booth while the dealer had left it unattended. The dealer’s insurance company paid for the loss and sued the show promoter for breach of contract and negligence. A federal judge in Chicago made short work of the breach of contract claim, saying the very contract the insurer said required adequate security had a disclaimer in it immunizing the promoter from any liability. The negligence claim was even easier—the plaintiff admitted in open court that it had no legal claim against the promoter for negligence so the court did not even have to make a ruling.

What about the security company? Most coin shows contract out show security to specialized security companies, which place their own staff and off-duty and/or retired local law enforcement officers on site. But unless security personnel actually are involved in the theft, the security company’s legal responsibility is even less than that of the show promoter, because the security company has no direct relationship or duty to the dealers or collectors who attend any particular coin show. As the court put it in the federal case, “[T]he presence of security personnel at these events is not a guarantee against loss.”

This makes sense if you think about it. There are millions of dollars of coins at every show, and no show promoter could possibly put itself in the position of paying for any thefts that occur there. Besides, if someone claims to have had their case stolen at a show, and the alleged thieves have fled the scene, how could anyone prove what exactly was in that case? So for the show promoter it would be potentially catastrophic amounts of liability with significant room for inflated or fraudulent claims.

So how to do you protect yourself from the financial consequences of losses at coin shows? Besides taking precautions so you don’t get robbed in the first place, make sure you have adequate insurance that covers you at the show’s location for the full value of what you are bring there. If you’re unsure whether your business or personal property policies does this, ask your insurance agent. If you suffer a loss, follow instructions from law enforcement regarding documenting it, and from your insurance company on how to make a claim. Show personnel will do their best to help, but don’t expect them to pay for your losses.