Errors and Omissions Testimonial

We currently are the brokers for more than 3,800 architects, engineers, environmental consultants and land surveyors.
Let us show you how our focus meeting the design professional’s professional liability insurance needs can provide better coverage, lower premiums and quality service. We prioritize errors and omissions insurance (E&O) through an individual approach, because each client is unique. It's crucial to focus on the details of any liability scenario in order to yield ideal results balancing coverage with exposure. Paying more attention to the details means more relevant advice, and that means more intelligent premium
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Summer 2011 Newsletter

Pacific Northwest Design Professional newsletter is provided to you by Skellenger Bender, please take a moment to review and learn the latest legal updates for Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Idaho.

Professional Liability Insurance Resources Featured Firm

Hall & Company is proud to announce their featured firm of the month for our AE Resources page, C. W. Felice, LLC.

The cornerstone of C. W. Felice, LLC service is the combination of leadership and technical expertise that allows them to anticipate, understand, and meet business demands with
practical solutions. Their expertise in engineering, management, and planning processes enables them to create innovative market-based strategies to expand service opportunities and improve effectiveness of business development activities.

On Tuesday, August 9, 2011, Dr. Felice who is the Managing Principal of C. W. Felice, LLC and Adjunct Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida will be presenting the webinar regarding Underground Construction Claims: Avoidance, Mitigation, and Management. Dr. Felice has more than 24 years of experience in delivering project and program management, construction engineering analysis and design, and construction claim avoidance and resolution services on multi-disciplinary above- and below-ground engineering projects. Dr. Felice has been recognized by invitations to the U. S. National Academy of Engineering, Symposium on Frontiers of Engineering, appointments to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council Committee on Geological and Geotechnical Engineering and as a member of the Committee on Underground Engineering for Sustainable Development.

Hall & Company is excited to be working in conjunction with C. W. Felice, LLC on their upcoming webinar regarding Underground Construction Claims this August. For more information about C. W. Felice, LLC and other Risk Management/Loss Prevention resources exclusively for the design industry, please visit http://www.hallandcompany.com/resources.php.

Professional Liability Webinar August 9, 2011

Hall & Company invites all design professionals to participate in an online presentation on Tuesday, August 9, 2011 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM PDT regarding Underground Construction Claims: Avoidance, Mitigation, and Management. This event, presented by Dr. Conrad W. Felice, Ph.D., P.E., P.Eng., D. GE. of C. W. Felice LLC will discuss the following:
• Review of underground engineering and construction
• Understanding risk in underground projects
• Practices for managing risk and avoiding and mitigating claims
• Future and direction of the use of underground space

The management of underground risks is one of the highest liability areas in the design profession. The risk management practices in underground engineering are some of the most refined practices. From its inception the American Society of Foundation Engineers (ASFE) has set the standard for risk management.
Architects: Underground engineering requires approaches to contracting that deal with the fact that actual project conditions will not be discovered until construction. Architects face the same issue in renovation work and historical preservation. Architects can benefit from understanding how engineers deal with these risks.

Sign up today for this free presentation.

Professional Liability insurance Claims

Although copyright claims are most often brought against architects, such claims can be made against other design professionals as well. Take, for instance, a civil engineer whoseservices included site layout and surveying work for a developer constructing a retail shopping center. The developer initially hired a surveying firm to perform the work, and then retained the civil engineer to survey the property and do site work. When the center was constructed, the initial surveying firm sued the developer and the civil engineer for copyright infringement. The civil engineer did admit that he may have seen the previous survey, but said that his work was significantly different from the claimant’s. The matter went to mediation where it was ultimately resolved. The civil engineer’s proportionate contribution to the settlement was $30,000. Legal fees of $12,000 were also incurred.

The full article, “It’s a Matter of Copyright – Design Professionals Should always Beware” by Ashley L. Hurd, CIC CRM, can be read on the resource section of Hall & Company’s website.

Professional Liability Insurance Webinars

Hall & Company has scheduled 5 more free educational webinars for you and your firm’s professional staff. The schedule of webinars is posted for you to review so you can set aside time to attend. You can also register online to receive the webinar announcements.

Design Professionals Contract Clauses

In spite of whether the client claims ownership of the drawings, the initial task for the design professional is to request permission from the client to contact and discuss the design with the prior design professional. In addition to this request, the contract with the client should address this matter clearly.

The contract should include clauses that:
1.describe how the drawings were obtained and given to the design professional;
2.provide a warranty from the client asserting that the drawings are indeed owned by the client, not subject to any copyright, or have been made available with a license from the copyright holder to use the drawings; and
3.contain a clause where the client agrees to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the design professional from any claims arising out of copyright infringement.

If the client declines either permission to contact the original design professional or agreement to the contract clauses, the design professional needs to candidly consider whether or not it is in his best interest to continue working with this client. Otherwise, considering that copyright ownership lasts at a minimum for a person’s lifetime plus an additional 70 years, the design professional could very well find himself defending a
copyright infringement lawsuit sometime in the future.

For more resource information on Professional Liability Insurance, please refer to Hall & Company’s Risk Management Library.