Lawyers Professional Liability Insurance

Lawyers Professional Liability Insurance Contact Chris today to discuss your firm's insurance needs and receive a free, no-obligation quote for Professional Liability and Property And Casualty insurance. Chris Engstrom - Senior Producer Direct Line: 360-626-2012 Email: cengstrom@hallandcompany.com

ACEC Offers LEED Green Associate Credential

In partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council, ACEC offers an online course for gaining essential knowledge of the sustainable building concepts that are fundamental to all LEED Rating Systems. This course is ideal for those seeking a more in-depth understanding of sustainability and green building concepts, and essential for those pursuing the Green Building Certification Institute’s (GBCI) LEED Green Associate professional credential (the third-party certification program and nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings).

Read More or Register Today

Creating a Culture of Professional Liability Issues Awareness

The good news is that we don’t have to think about professional liability claims very often because, for the most part, claims are fairly rare. The bad news is that when a claim occurs, we have to think about it a lot. Almost always, when the claim occurs, part of our thinking includes what we could have done to prevent the claim.
John M. Lowe, Jr., P.E. firmly believes that having a frequent reminder about professional liability loss considerations can be very helpful in avoiding problems that we just don’t think about until there is a claim. John will be sending out a weekly e-mail series of brief professional liability loss prevention topics that you can share with your staff to raise the level of awareness to potential problems.
The first topic addresses the need to include a clear Scope of Work and Standard of Care in your contracts. It’s all about “expectation management” when it comes to contracting for professional services, which is why the Scope of Work and Standard of Care were chosen as the first topic. Many of the future topics will be focused on doing as much as we can to create and manage contracts that will result in clients having realistic expectations of what your services will provide. Please contact John if you would like to be added to this email list or receive a copy of the first topic.
To learn more about the background of John M. Lowe, Jr., P.E. and the services provided by Lowe Consulting, LLC, please follow this link.
Thank you John, for sharing this valuable information with our readers.

Contract Clauses for Design Professionals Recorded Webinar is Now Available

Many of the participants who attended this webinar have commented “This is one of your best webinar presentations!” The recording of The Bright Gray Line: “Yes”, “Never”, and “Maybe” Contract Clauses for Design Professionals (and how to find the difference) is now available for viewing.

Let us know your thoughts on the webinar. Is there a professional liability insurance subject you would like us to cover?

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
Check out what our clients are saying about Hall & Company's service.

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 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.

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.

It’s a Matter of Copyright

Architectural drawings are without a doubt copyrighted material; no matter whether there is a copyright stamp or not. Whereas the origin of the plans may not be apparent, one detail is clear: If the work is not of your original design and you work off them, you may well be positioning yourself for a copyright infringement claim in federal court.

Property & Casualty Insurance Coverage

A well designed PC coverage package for an A/E firms has a number of features, including:
• Blanket Waiver of Subrogation
• Blanket Additional Insureds with primary/noncontributory status
• Per Project Aggregates extend the GL limit to apply separately to each insured project
• Enhanced limits and features on property coverage – particularly for equipment used off premises

Katie Morris joined Hall & Company in 2011 with over 10 years Property & Casualty insurance experience, please contact her at (800) 597-2612 for more information.

Why One Broker

As specialists in providing professional liability insurance to architects, engineers, land surveyors, and environmental consultants, a good number of our 3,000 customers purchase their PC coverages through their local agent or continue to purchase this coverage through the agent they had for their PLI coverage before they switched to us. We encourage our customers to let us quote their PC coverages concurrent with their PLI insurance renewal for a number of reasons, including:
• It allows a single point in time each year to make insurance purchase decisions.
• It allows us to issue one comprehensive certificate of insurance each year at renewal to all of your clients that require a current certificate on file with them.
• Only one certificate is needed to represent all of your coverages on new project contracts that you enter into throughout the year.
• It allows us to provide more comprehensive contract reviews for our clients and verify that all of the project’s required coverages for both PC and PLI are in place.
• Some insurance companies offer discounts for having both their PL and PC coverage with them in-turn saving our clients even more on their insurance premiums.
Also our expertise as A/E insurance specialists provides us the experience to know the proper coverages and limits for our clients. We are able to write insurance in all 50 states (limited in Alaska and Hawaii). We have in-house underwriting authority so your quote turnaround time is quick. Architects, engineers, surveyors, and environmental consultants have unique requirements for PC coverages and we offer a number of companies with well designed coverage programs and competitive rates.
A well designed PC coverage package for an A/E firms has a number of features, including:
• Blanket Waiver of Subrogation
• Blanket Additional Insureds with primary/noncontributory status
• Per Project Aggregates extend the GL limit to apply separately to each insured project
• Enhanced limits and features on property coverage – particularly for equipment used off premises
Let us show you what we can do for you and how much easier it is to have your PLI and PC coverages with a firm that specializes in insuring design firms.

Special Offer for Environmental Consultants

We have a special offer exclusively for Environmental Consultants this month. Go online to register by June 3rd and not only will you have the opportunity to save on your professional liability insurance, you also be entered into a drawing to win the new 32GB Apple iPad with Wi-Fi, valued at $599.

See the details and register at: http://www.hallandcompany.com/contest.php

Professional Liability Insurance

Professional Liability Insurance is so important for Architects, Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Landscape Architects to have in place before they start a project. Please contact Hall & Company with any insurance questions you may have. 800-583-0379 http://www.hallandcompany.com

General Liability Certificates of Insurance:

In consideration of changes occurring in the insurance industry regarding contractual terms and conditions for your Property and Casualty coverages, we have developed an FAQ to explain how our model policies with Travelers and The Hartford address requirements that are commonly-requested for certificates of insurance. This worksheet of Frequently Asked Questions for General Liability insurance is designed to communicate what is provided by our model policies issued through Travelers and The Hartford insurance companies. Requirements for other carriers will differ; please consult your insurance broker for more information.
Q: What is a Certificate of Insurance?
A: Certificates of insurance are issued merely as evidence of your insurance policy. Certificates are not issued automatically when a policy is purchased or renewed. They are issued by your insurance agency at your request. The need for a certificate typically is generated by a client or project owner, who wants documentation that certain insurance requirements are being met by consultants who are working for them or on their behalf. The certificate illustrates the coverage types, limit and deductible amounts, and effective and retroactive dates of pertinent insurance policies. It is issued for informational purposes only and assigns no rights to the certificate holder. The certificate does not amend, extend or alter coverage and does not constitute a contract.
Q: Can the General Liability Policy be amended to meet specific contract requirements?
A: Our model policies are specifically designed for A/E professionals and as such, automatically include the most common amendments required by contract. Built directly into the policy language, the amendments are provided on a "blanket basis" and are engaged when required by written contract.
*Additional Insured This is an agreement to name a third party as an insured under your insurance contract. With this endorsement, the insurance company agrees to provide coverage for defense and indemnity if a claim is made against that third party with respect to premises you rent, or work that you do on their behalf, among other types of contractual relationships. The blanket additional insured wording on our model policies provides additional insured status automatically when required by written contract. Some certificate holders will request to be "specifically" named as an additional insured. This serves the same purpose but specifically lists the additional insured's name on the endorsement. There is a modest charge for this endorsement to be added to our model policies.
* Primary and Non-contributory Additional Insured status When a person or organization is added as an additional insured to the General Liability Policy of another, that person/organization then has two potential General Liability policies in place. The Primary and Non-Contributory wording clarifies the order in which each of these two policies will respond in the event of a claim. When you have contractually agreed to grant Primary and Non-Contributory status to an additional insured; they will have primary coverage under your policy and your insurance company agrees that the other policy will not be expected to contribute until the "primary" policy limits have been exhausted.
* Waiver of Subrogation When this is included as part of the policy, the waiver of subrogation clause provides further clarification that the General Liability insurance company will waive their right to subrogate a claim. This means the insurance company will not attempt to get reimbursement from another responsible party, such as the additional insured, for defense and indemnity expenses that it has paid. Waiver of Subrogation only responds when it has been contractually agreed upon prior to a loss.
Q: What are the provisions of the Cancellation Clause?
A: The ACORD25S 2009/09 which is the most recent version of the Certificate of Insurance states the following "Should any of the above-described policies be cancelled before the expiration date thereof, notice will be delivered in accordance with the policy provisions." That noted, each state has its own specific regulatory provisions regarding the reasons a policy can be cancelled, and what length of notice is required. Most commonly, the length of notice is 10 days for non-payment of premium. Any other reason, such as material change in operations of an insured, or non-compliance with insurance company requests/requirements, usually requires longer notice periods. Carriers generally WILL NOT broaden the regulatory notice provisions. Any exceptions must be specifically approved by underwriters and the policy endorsed accordingly. Altering any wording on the Certificate will not alter the insurance company's obligation under the policy. Furthermore, the "will endeavor" to mail notice of cancellation to certificate holders has been eliminated as it is not specifically supported by policy wording.
Q: Does my policy have a Cross Liability Exclusion or Separation of Insureds Language?
A: There is no cross-liability exclusion in our model policies that would prevent an insured versus insured claims scenario. To the contrary, our model policies include a Separation of Insureds provision that states each insured under the policy (named insured's and additional insured's) will be treated separately and individually. This is commonly referred to as Severability of Interest. Essentially, with separation language in place and cross-liability absent, the policy is applied to every insured in the same manner as if separate policies had been issued except with respect to limits.
Q: Does my policy have an X, C, U exclusion?
A: These exclusions, which stand for Explosion, Collapse, and Underground are NOT standard exclusions in the current General Liability contract. As such, the standard contract for our model policies does provide X,C,U coverage.
Q: Does the Additional Insured Endorsement include Completed Operations?
A: Our model policies include completed operations. This means that completed operations coverage is in place AFTER completion of the work, but only for claims that occur during the covered policy period.
Q: Are there amendments to Workers Compensation Coverage?
A: Additional insured and Waiver of Subrogation, as described below, are the most commonly-requested amendments for Workers Compensation policies.
* Additional Insured - these are not approved with our existing carriers, because this would indicate that you are agreeing to cover other entities employees on your workers compensation policy.
* Waiver of Subrogation - these can be honored on either a blanket basis or a specific basis. There are additional premium fees associated with this and the coverage must be approved by the insurance company. (Waivers are not permitted in all states).
Q: Are there amendments to Auto Coverage?
A: Additional Insured Status and Waivers of Subrogation are generally included on a blanket basis via an auto enhancement endorsement which is standard for our model policies.
This worksheet is intended for general information purposes only and is not an analysis of any individual policy. It is important to review your insurance policy thoroughly to ensure that the coverage meets your business needs and contract requirements. Please ask us to check your policy if you are unsure of particular coverage.
Hall & Company, 19660 10th Avenue NE, Poulsbo, WA 98370, 360.598.3700 fax 360.598.3703 http://www.hallandcompany.com