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Insurance for Cities and Counties

Our Public Sector Services department serves local cities and counties right in your backyard, offering products and services designed specifically for public entities. We partner with leading providers of property casualty insurance for public entities, with the financial strength and stability you can rely on. We have developed unmatched expertise serving cities and counties. Consider our breadth of coverages, which we tailor to the unique needs of cities and counties: General liability Umbrella Auto Property Workers compensation Law enforcement liability Public entity management liability Employment practices liability Cyber liability But that’s not all – our in-house licensed legal adviser can… Read More »Insurance for Cities and Counties

Construction Defect Claims

Litigation over whether a Commercial General Liability insurance (CGL) policy provides coverage for faulty workmanship claims is rapidly evolving. Since 2012, six state supreme courts (CT, WV, ND, AL, GA, and OH) have ruled on whether faulty work can be an “occurrence;” whether the cost to repair the damage to the work constitutes “property damage”; how the “your work” exclusion and the subcontractor exception applies and whether providing such coverage converts a CGL policy into a bond. In addition, a few states have enacted legislation mandating CGL policies to define “occurrence” to include property damage resulting from faulty workmanship.

Of the six rulings, only the Supreme Court of Ohio ruled definitively against coverage, holding “claims of defective construction or workmanship brought by a property owner are not claims for ‘property damage’ caused by an ‘occurrence’ under a commercial general liability policy….” Westfield Ins. Co. v. Custom Agri Sys. Inc. 979 N.E.2d 269 (Ohio 2012)

Is Faulty Workmanship an Occurrence?

Although all of the rulings are nuanced, the other five states’ supreme courts have generally ruled that faulty workmanship can be an occurrence under the CGL policy. Rejecting the argument that faulty workmanship is foreseeable and therefore never fortuitous, the Supreme Court of Connecticut observed:

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Risks Related to Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)

At one time, people scoffed at the idea of a personal computer in every home. Today, we not only have high-speed Internet available in our homes, but we also connect to the Internet at will with a variety of mobile devices from wherever we happen to be.

The most complete and effective defense against the risks of BYOD is to ban employees’ use of personal devices for work-related activities. However, abstinence can be a tough sell to employees, and non-compliance can be difficult to control. The smarter approach is to put a strong policy in place, educate employees about best practices and take actions that will manage the risk as much as possible.

With BYOD becoming widespread, it is important for businesses to be proactive about personal device risk management. Our hope is that this blog post will help companies chart a path for creating the most effective corporate policies and protections.

Why BYOD is a problem:

[one_fifth][note title=”31 PERCENT” align=”center”]connect to their company’s network from unsecured free or public wi-fi.[/note]  [/one_fifth]

[one_fifth][note title=”46 PERCENT” align=”center”]share their personal devices with others, opening the door to unintended access to corporate data.[/note] [/one_fifth]

[one_fifth][note title=”33 PERCENT” align=”center”]say the company data they use and store is not encrypted.[/note] [/one_fifth]

[one_fifth][note title=”25 PERCENT” align=”center”]have been a victim of hacking or malware on their personal devices.[/note] [/one_fifth]

[one_fifth_last][note title=”Statistics” align=”center”]like these are frightening for security-conscious corporate IT teams.[/note] [/one_fifth_last]

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What to do if you see a downed power line

What to do if you see a downed power line

What to do if you see a downed power line

Never, ever touch a downed power line or go near one. Power lines are not insulated like power cords. Always assume the power line is live.

  • Don’t touch a fallen power line or anything touching the wire.
  • Do not touch anything or anyone in contact with a fallen power line or other equipment.
  • Keep children and pets away from fallen electric wires.
  • Do not drive over a fallen power line.
  • Call 911 immediately to report a fallen power line.

Read More »What to do if you see a downed power line

Looking Back to 2014, Ahead to 2015 at Natural Disaster Activity

Fewer tornadoes, a mild hurricane season, lower acreage lost to wildfires, overall less flood and other damage— all in all, 2014 was not as bad as it could have been for natural disasters in the U.S. That’s according to global property information and analytics firm CoreLogic, which released its annual Natural Hazard Risk Summary and Analysis detailing the most significant natural disasters of 2014 and providing several projections for 2015. The report provides a look at the year’s hurricanes, floods, hailstorms, tornadoes, wildfires, sinkholes, earthquakes, tropical cyclones and typhoon events in the U.S. as well as an international snapshot of the… Read More »Looking Back to 2014, Ahead to 2015 at Natural Disaster Activity

RateWatch: in 2014 Personal Auto Rates Rose 2.1%, Homeowners 3.5%

RateWatch in 2014 Personal Auto and Homeowners Rates RosePersonal auto insurance companies increased their rates by an average of 2.1% countrywide in 2014, according to California-based insurance consulting firm Perr & Knight’s RateWatch reports.

The three states with the highest overall increases were:

Michigan: 5.2%
Georgia: 4.7%
Rhode Island: 4.2%

Homeowners insurers increased their rates by an average of 3.5% countrywide in 2014.

The states with the highest overall rate increases were:

Kansas: 8.5%
Texas: 7.8%
Montana: 7.7%Read More »RateWatch: in 2014 Personal Auto Rates Rose 2.1%, Homeowners 3.5%

Play-Doh Sold Your Child a Toy Penis

If Product Recall Insurance is something you have not heard of before, here is a good example for you. Play-Doh Penis is something that was in one of the Play-Doh sets by Hasbro sold for Christmas this year. It wasn’t a penis really, but rather a play-doh dispenser, but it was in a form of a penis. Many kids got it as a present. Next morning, there was a huge recall by Hasbro. Hasbro is asking to mail the penises back to them. Instead, it will replace it with something that looks slightly less than a penis. Who is paying… Read More »Play-Doh Sold Your Child a Toy Penis

Workers Compensation Rate Increase in California

We are seeing mostly rate increases and a lot of carriers filing to adopt the new California WCIRB Pure Premium Rate Filing Decision (PPRs). We’re also seeing mostly increases in the loss cost modifiers which will effect ultimate rates. The following are California rates changing in January through March. If you are looking to switch to another insurance carrier request your workers compensation insurance quote and we will provide you with a competitive offer. Preferred Professional Ins Co files a +9.8% rate increase effective January 1, 2015 Preferred Professional Insurance Company files to adopt the 1/1/15 WCIRB pure premiums.

[AMERICAN CONTRACTORS INS GROUP] ACIG Insurance Company files a 4.95% rate increase effective January 1, 2015 ACIG Insurance Company files to adopt the 1/1/15 WCIRB pure premiums.

[STATE FARM GROUP] State Farm Fire and Casualty Company files a +2.4% rate increase effective January 1, 2015 State Farm Fire and Casualty Company files to adopt the 1/1/15 WCIRB pure premiums, and revise its minimum premiums. Care West Insurance Company files a +2.3% rate increase effective January 1, 2015 Care West Insurance Company files to adopt the 1/1/15 WCIRB pure premiums.Read More »Workers Compensation Rate Increase in California

Safety Act Coverage

boston marathonIn today’s world, terrorist acts and the threat of violent attacks and political intimidation by domestic and international criminals is a sad reality of life in any country. With these threats comes the increased need for innovative products, equipment, devices and technology that are used to thwart and defend against these acts.

That’s why the federal government, as a means to incentivize companies that develop technology used to combat these acts, established the Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies Act of 2002 – also known as the SAFETY Act – as part of the Homeland Security Act. The SAFETY Act is intended to help encourage innovation that can save lives by mitigating the liability that could result from this innovation. SAFETY Act coverage shields qualified parties from claims that arise as a result of the technology’s use in the prevention, response to, or recovery from a terrorist act.Read More »Safety Act Coverage