# Considerations around legal advice

**URL:** <https://discuss.python.org/t/considerations-around-legal-advice/56781>\
**Category:** PSF\
**Created:** [June 26, 2024, 7:39pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/considerations-around-legal-advice/56781 "2024-06-26T19:39:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 7

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tim.one](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/tim.one/32/282_2.png) [@tim.one](https://discuss.python.org/u/tim.one)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 5:12pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/considerations-around-legal-advice/56781/7 "2024-06-27T17:12:54Z")

</div>

> [@Deb](#):
>
> That was quite a while ago, these days the PSF does carry insurance for staff, board members and officers.

Thanks, Deb! I’m not a lawyer, but it sure _seemed_ so to me too by reading all the text about “indemnification” and such in the current bylaws. But this part of the recently posted FAQ in the parent topic seemed to say the current Board was still seriously scared by the notion of personal liability:

> [@For your consideration: Proposed bylaws changes to improve our membership experience](https://discuss.python.org/t/for-your-consideration-proposed-bylaws-changes-to-improve-our-membership-experience/55696/167):
>
> ### : Why does this not require a unanimous vote?
> 
> A: A unanimous vote requirement would create scope for abuse. A unanimous vote requirement would allow for a single dissenting Director to prevent the removal of a problematic Fellow, opening the Foundation to liability.
> 
> In certain cases, that liability could extend to individual Directors, even those who voted to remove the Fellow, simply because the action failed to pass due to one dissenting vote (subject to the provisions of Article XII “Limits on Liability of Directors”).
> 
> This personal liability would be a significant barrier to many community members’ willingness to serve on the Board.

For all I know (I don’t), the indemnification text in the current bylaws was also present when I was on the Board. But whether it was or wasn’t, I was advised at the time that I should obtain “_personal_” liability insurance.

I don’t even have a clue about the legal meaning of “personal liability”. The only mention of personal liability in the bylaws I can find is:

> a director of the corporation shall not be personally liable to the corporation or its members for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director

Which appears to have scant connection to what Christopher is warning about (and he already pointed to Article Xii above, from which my quote is taken, so he didn’t think it offered relevant protection either).

Indeed, that FAQ answer is an example of what I was talking about in my post here. It’s telegraphic legalisms presented as unquestionable, absolute constraints. The claims it makes are surprising, too. I’m old, and I’ve never before heard of a membership organization being held legally responsible for anything one of its members did on their own. Well, not under US law.

---

_[View the full topic](https://discuss.python.org/t/considerations-around-legal-advice/56781)._