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CGL Commercial General Liability

CGL Independent Contractor Exclusion

Many insurance policies include the following standard provision: “This insurance does not apply to bodily injury, property damage, personal injury, advertising injury, or medical payments for operations performed for you by independent contractors or your acts or omissions in connection with your general supervision of such operations” (exclusion). Relying on this exclusion, your insurer may deny coverage for injuries sustained by subcontractors and decline to defend you in the underlying litigation or personal injury suit. A Massachusetts court recently ruled in favor of insurer Lloyd’s in a dispute over a general liability policy excluding coverage for independent contractors. The case is No.… Read More »CGL Independent Contractor Exclusion

What Every Business Owner Should Know About Credit Card Protections

Protecting Against Consumer Identify Theft The use of credit and debit cards and electronic payments has become a way of  life for public and private businesses and their customers. With this, vulnerabilities to credit card fraud and identity theft have increased. To help improve credit and debit card security, the credit card industry and federal and state governments have set standards and regulations. Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act and Receipt Requirements Congress passed the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA), significantly amending the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Effective Dec. 4, 2006, 15 U.S.C. §1681c amended the act to require any… Read More »What Every Business Owner Should Know About Credit Card Protections

How to Reduce Liability When Selecting Subcontractors

General contractors and/or prime contractors are designated “controlling employers” in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) construction standard. Controlling employers are defined as those contractors who may be held responsible for the actions of subcontractors, including bodily injury and/or property damage caused by subcontractors to the public, other contractor’s employees, or for injuries to the subcontractor’s own employees. These exposures can be broken down into the following areas: Employee injuries (workers’ compensation) Job site physical injury to others or property loss (premises liability) Physical injury or property damage to the public around the site (premises/general liability) A defect arising… Read More »How to Reduce Liability When Selecting Subcontractors

Avoiding Liability on Your Website

The Internet provides a rich environment for creative communication. Used with care, it can assist in increasing product safety. But in their enthusiasm to capitalize on its power, some companies are increasing their liability potential. • A company president was not aware of a product on his company’s website. The marketing department put it there because it was a product they were thinking about developing. • A Vice President of Administration was unaware they even had a website. • Operator instructions normally in the manual provided with the product were posted on the website, but warning labels were left out.… Read More »Avoiding Liability on Your Website

Increases for Liability Insurance for Construction Firms

The commercial general liability market for the U.S. construction industry continues to firm with underwriters seeking rate increases of up to 15 percent, according to a report published by Marsh. Construction firms with poor loss histories are experiencing even larger liability rate increases and in some cases receiving non-renewal notices from their underwriters. After nearly a decade of rate declines, insurers also are typically seeking to raise rates on umbrella and excess liability insurance of between 8 and 10 percent, according to Marsh’s August 2012 Construction Market Update. According to the report, rates for project-specific general liability, general liability wraps,… Read More »Increases for Liability Insurance for Construction Firms

September is National Preparedness Month

A recent Travelers survey found that 48% of small business owners do not have a written business continuity plan. That’s especially troublesome considering that The American Red Cross estimates as many as 40% of small businesses do not reopen after a major disaster. We have partnered with Travelers Insurance Company to offer Business Continuity tools that help business owners plan for the unexpected so they do not become part of a statistic. You can start building your plan today using resources on Small Business Safety, Protecting Your Business, Plan Ahead, at travelers.com pages. Should you have any questions, please feel… Read More »September is National Preparedness Month

Business Insurance Market Update

The hardening insurance marketplace has led to a great deal of success for us in a variety of our niches recently. We continue to develop new products at the same time. Below are several items we wanted to highlight: 1) Apartments / Lessors Risk (Office Exposure – Real estate schedules that generate more than $100,000 in premium in the “better weather” states have been a good fit for us recently. We are interested in the properties that are built after 1980 and located in the western US for the most part. If it is large and we can write casualty… Read More »Business Insurance Market Update

Insuring Cloud Computing

While cloud computing may seem vague and confusing, the National Institute of Standards and Technologies recently completed a working definition for the term after years of work and 15 drafts. So what is Cloud Computing? According to the official NIST definition, “cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction”, with the following 5 characteristics: • On-demand self-service • Broad network access • Resource pooling • Rapid… Read More »Insuring Cloud Computing

National Interstate Expands Transportation Program to Taxi Operations

National Interstate Insurance Co. has expanded its community & medical transportation (CMT) insurance program to include best-in-class fleet taxi operations. The product will be offered exclusively through National Interstate’s network of independent retail brokers. Originally launched in 2003, the CMT program focuses on providing specialized insurance products to local community passenger transportation companies including paratransit, non-emergency medical transportation, as well as fixed-route and demand-response public transit providers. The CMT product is underwritten and serviced through National Interstate’s Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania office by an in-house staff with nearly 50 years of collective CMT experience.

Is Your Hotel/Motel Renewal Going Up?

Try Us! Coverages Include:  Package Policy A-Rated Non-Admitted Insurer Up to 4 Million in Property Capacity Lots of Added Coverages (money securities, guest property, equipment breakdown, guest relocation, guest evacuation, etc.) Can Consider HNOA & Liquor Liability Endorsement that allows Audited Receipts to be within 20% of stated amount without an audit additional premium Program Available in 22 States Not a market for Coastal Tier 1 Wind Adaptable broad coverage form that is ISO based No bed bug exclusion Recently Bound Accounts: Hotel in Miami, FL – $7,500 Hotel in Mississippi – $7,100 Motel in Orlando, FL – $6,800 Hotel… Read More »Is Your Hotel/Motel Renewal Going Up?