Insurance Illustrated | June 12, 2020

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for the week of June 12, 2020

Education + Analysis for the Independent Agent

Answering Your FAQs

Does Invoking the ‘Insurrection Act of 1807’ Affect Property Coverage?

Rocks being thrown by President Trump are causing major ripples in the insurance pond. His declaration that ANTIFA would be labeled a terrorist organization raised questions regarding whether coverage would be excluded, limited or provided by the various terrorism endorsements. Now his threat to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 has raised question of coverage because the word “insurrection” is found within various property exclusions.

Contractual Risk Transfer / Additional Insureds / Certificates of Insurance

Additional Insured vs. Indemnitee: Are Contractual Liability Coverage and AI Status the Same Thing?

Agent question: “We have not been individually adding Additional Insured endorsements, relying on them being an indemnitee in the ‘insured contract’ wording of the CGL or BOP policies, which gives them AI status without endorsing that on the policy.” Could this agency have a problem, along with their customers?

Certificate of Insurance Questions and Answers

Certificates of insurance account for more headaches at the agency level than just about any other issue. Because COIs create so much angst, the VU regularly conducts webinars regarding them. Out of these webinars come questions. In this article, we attempt to answer many of these questions.

3 New Exciting Construction Risk Endorsements

In 2019, ISO introduced three new construction-related endorsements. Two extended automatic insured status for completed operations and one waiving subrogation rights when required by contract. The industry asked and received.

Crime

Email Phishing Scam: Coverage for Social Engineering

With perhaps the exception of ransomware, the largest source of cyber loss for insurance carriers is phishing scams, commonly known as business-email-compromises (BECs), whereby an insured is tricked into sending money by wire transfer to a bank account controlled by a criminal organization. Some losses are seven-figures; some represent death by a thousand wounds. During the last two years, many courts have found for the existence of Computer Fraud coverage for such loss in somewhat complex and sometimes head scratching decisions.

ISO’s “Fraudulent Impersonation” Crime Endorsement

The exposure to loss of money, securities, or other property due to trick, scam, etc. has been around for millennia, but from an insurability standpoint, traditional “ISO standard” insurance products have excluded this exposure as a business risk. Until now.

ISO's 2000 Crime Program

In 1986, ISO introduced a new Crime program which replaced numerous nonsimplified policies and hundreds of endorsements. ISO has learned that there is a general dissatisfaction with the approach for rating crime coverages. In this article, I'll give you an overview of how they have solved this "problem."

Flood

Flood Insurance and the 30-Day Wait

An insured wanted to buy a flood policy even though it was not required by the lender. The WYO underwriter said that since the policy was not required by the lender for a loan closing, there was a 30-day wait for coverage to become effective. Is the underwriter correct?

New Flood Insurance Manual

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) updated its Flood Insurance Manual effective April 1, 2020. Following are links to the updated manual appendices.

Flood Policies, Condo Units, and Additions and Alterations

In many states, what is covered under an HO-6 and a condo association master policy is governed by state law. That may not be the case when there is a flood claim and federal law pre-empts state law. For example...

Trends & Insights

Debating Ambiguities in Insurance Contracts

Every insurance practitioner knows what happens when there is an ambiguity in policy language, the insured is supposed to win. But what makes a provision ambiguous? Is an ambiguity created simply by disagreement, or is more required? Guess what, creating ambiguity requires more than simple disagreement over a policy provision.

It’s Called Underwriting! Maybe You Heard of It

Insurance carriers are required to make decisions regarding which endorsements to add, which ones to remove and how best to structure the coverage to protect both the insured and the insurance carrier. It’s called underwriting. Sadly, neither side, the agent or the underwriter, fully understand what constitutes “underwriting.” Too many underwriters believe a system-generated endorsement is a required endorsement that is not able to be removed. Likewise, many agents believe the carrier should remove any endorsement the agency requests. Neither extreme is true, there is a middle ground called underwriting.

Does This Sound Like YOUR Underwriter?

I asked agents from all over the country to recount some of the strangest, most unusual, or simply irritating situations involving underwriters. Here are some of their responses.

Miscellaneous & Professional Liability

Danger! Watch Out for Changing Entity Types

You cannot assume the entity type you insured last year is the same entity type that exists this year. When insuring small businesses, you are fighting against several unseen entities – namely accountants and lawyers. These other professionals make changes to the small business without much thought to the problems these changes can cause your client’s insurance program.

How Does a ‘Person’ Become Legally Liable?

Liability policies, whether the HO, PAP or CGL, respond when the insured is judged to be “legally liable” for the injury or damage. But how is “legal liability” determined? That is the question answered in this short article.

Read the Policy You’re Selling

This may be the most important coverage article you read this year. It may be the most important coverage article you’ve ever read. Please read it. And please have your colleagues read it. If you work in an agency, send a link to the article to your underwriters, marketing reps, and claims people. RTFA…Read The Article!

Insurance Laws & Statutes / Coverage Resources

Mid-Term Cancellations by State

Download this chart that details mid-term cancellations by state.

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