Liability Insurance

[Anonymous]

Wendy,

I went with Dominion when I first started about 5 years ago. At that time I did check the standard insurers such as State Farm, American Family, and Allstate. They could quote me but not on a level playing field to Dominion. I was told since they specialized in our field’s coverage and know the extra endorsements a DMM may need they are the better one to go with. Based on my research that seemed to hold true. I have worked with Lynn Cain there and she is very helpful in getting my questions answered when I run into a situation that I may need a new endorsement for. I figured although they are not the least expensive, I was paying for peace of mind, my assumption was that since they know the business they would be there come time for a claim.

Just reread Jeremy’s post. As far as coverages needed it will depend on what type of services you are offerring your clients. Lynn helped me with that. Limits are up to you to determine the risk you want to take. In today’s litigious society and the inexpensiveness of additional coverage, I recommend higher limits.

Let me know if you have any more questions I can answer. Rich Rich@YourBooks.Solutions.

[Anonymous]

The Dominion policy provides coverage for claims arising from errors and omissions in professional services as a DMM. Clearly a client is concerned about fraud and scams, which go beyond E&O. How do you respond to a client — is that something they talk to their homeowners insurance agent about? There is an exclusion on all E&O policies for fraud or dishonest acts. Has anyone gone to a bonding company to price out and carry a bond?

[Anonymous]

I wanted to go direct to the source and got this reply back from them.

With regard to liability for fraud or other intentional misconduct, the Lloyd’s policy does exclude indemnity coverage for such liability as required by law, but provides defense cost coverage against such claims. In addition, the new Lloyd’s policy form now includes a standard $25,000 theft coverage sublimit under which underwriters agree:
To pay on behalf of any Assured not complicit in any alleged Theft perpetrated with the alleged complicity of any other Assured, Damages and Claims Expenses and in excess of the full extent of the recoverable assets of any complicit Assured, the greater of twenty five thousand dollars ($25,000) or other applicable limit expressly designated in the Declarations, which any non-complicit Assured shall become legally obligated to pay because of any Claim first made against an Assured and reported in writing to Underwriters during the Period of Insurance or Extended Reporting Period (if applicable) arising out of any alleged Theft perpetrated with the alleged complicity of any Assured during the Ordinary Course of Business on or after the Retroactive Date set forth in Item 6 of the Declarations and before the end of the Period of Insurance. In the event that Underwriters elect to indemnify all Assureds under this coverage grant, including those potentially complicit in the subject Theft, Underwriters reserve the right to recover any such amounts from complicit Assureds.
For an additional premium the sublimit can be increased to $100,000.

It is important to understand that insuring intentional misconduct is contrary to public policy for obvious reasons and therefore routinely prohibited by law. However, bonding for such is allowed since the wrongdoer remains ultimately responsible for the loss. For additional information about crime coverage and bonding check out our article entitled I’m Insured, So Why Bonding Too? ( https://dominioninsurance.com/items/index/333/4 ) Both forms of coverage perform important complementary roles.

If you have any other questions on this or any other insurance topic, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

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