Category Archives: Claims Management

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Deer Collision Costs on the Rise

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Drivers beware: Whether operating a company or personal vehicle, it’s that time of the year again—mating season for deer, causing them to be more active and more than doubling the likelihood of a collision through December. What’s more, State Farm reports that the national per claim average—from July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017—rose to $4,179 from $3,995 during 2015-16.

State Farm warns that, “Whether you hit a large animal, or it jumps into the side of your vehicle, such collisions can cause significant injuries and property damage.” Although more prevalent in some states than others, drivers everywhere need to be alert and focused on the road.

In its 15th annual deer claim study, State Farm ranks states by a driver’s likelihood to hit a large animal such as deer, elk, moose or caribou. According to the study, while West Virginia continues to lead the nation, the state saw a 4.7% decrease from 2016, with one out of every 43 drivers likely to hit a deer or other large animal.

There were also some increases among the top 10 states over last year’s study. Montana drivers have a one in 57 chance of a collision—a 1.8% increase; and Pennsylvania drivers have a one in 63 chance of a crash, a 6.

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3% increase.

The top 10 states where a driver was most likely to have a large animal insurance claim remain fairly consistent, State Farm said. Wisconsin moved into the top five, swapping positions with South Dakota. Wyoming moved into the top 10 at number eight. North Dakota moved up to number 10 and South Carolina is no longer in the top 10. Thirteen states had no change in ranking.

The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) offers these tips for drivers:

• Buckle up. Seat belts save lives and help prevent injuries.

• Time of day is critical. Deer are generally more active during dawn and dusk hours, so pay attention to your surroundings and stay alert.

• Avoid distracted driving. Put the phone down, and never text while driving.

• Have a plan for roadside assistance. If an accident occurs, have the phone number for your insurer or roadside assistance ready. Some towing companies take advantage of drivers after an accident and you could find yourself facing excessive fees or complications recovering your car from the tow yard.

• Update your proof of insurance.

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Replace any expired insurance identification cards in the event you need to prove you have insurance after an accident. Although having a hard copy is best, don’t panic if you have misplaced yours—37 states have enacted laws that allow you to show proof of coverage on your smartphone. Find out if your insurer offers this feature.

• Watch for road signs that alert you to areas that are populated with more deer.
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• Stay in your lane. If you see a deer, brake firmly but do not cross the center lane into potentially on-coming traffic.

If you do have a collision, State Farm recommends that you:

• Move your vehicle to the side of the road, if possible, and turn on your hazard lights. If you must leave your vehicle, stay off the road and out of the way of oncoming traffic. Deer are most active at dusk and dawn—times when you or your vehicle may be less visible to other motorists.

• Call the police. Alert authorities if the deer is blocking traffic and creating a threat for other drivers. If the collision results in injury or property damage, you may need to fill out an official report—this report also can prove useful when filing your insurance claim.

• Document the incident. If it’s safe to do so, photograph the roadway, your surroundings, damage to your vehicle, and any injuries you or your passengers sustained. If witnesses stop, take down their account of what occurred, and ask for their contact information.

• Stay away from the animal. A frightened, wounded deer could cause harm with its powerful legs and sharp hooves.

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Words (and Clauses) Matter

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A recent report published by RIMS highlights the importance for risk professionals—or the person within the organization tasked with the responsibility—to fully understand the language included in their insurance policies.

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The report A Common Language: Aligning Third-Party Contracts with Insurance Policies, suggests that there are “clauses in contacts that may not be understood as well as others, and some people may be tempted to skim past those to move work along.”  But, in this haste, deciding to “skim” past those clauses may activate exclusions, limitations and even, unknowingly, nullify the transfer of risk to a third-party.

Authored for RIMS by Brenda Tappan of United Educators, the report defines key insurance terms that should be understood by contract reviewers, as well as common contract clauses that impact the validity of both the contract and insurance policies.

“At any given time, an organization could have hundreds of contracts with external stakeholders,” Tappan said. “With in-depth knowledge of coverages held by the organization, risk professionals can play an integral role in ensuring terminology is understood and that discrepancies between third-party contracts and insurance policies are identified.

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The report advises risk managers to be aware of the following insurance contract elements:

  • Indemnification Clauses – This clause delineates whether the parties of a contract wish to retain, transfer or share responsibility from a potential third-party. Be aware that not all “bodily injury” or “property damage” will be covered, even if you have stipulated everything correctly in the indemnification clause.
  • Additional Insured Status – This status provides proof of financial capability to cover what is assumed in the indemnity clause. Keep the additional insured provision separate from indemnification clause because if the latter is found unenforceable, the additional insured clause might be unenforceable as well.
  • Waivers of Subrogation – This says that the insurer has the right to stand in the place of the insured and go against the responsible party to make themselves whole. Risk professionals might consider requesting a Waiver of Transfer of Rights endorsement. Also, get as much in writing as possible – don’t leave anything up to chance or interpretation.
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  • Primary and Non-Contributory – Essentially, the insured will not seek contribution from any other insurance available. When named an additional insured, you are afforded coverage as provided by the other insurance policy.
  • Excess and Umbrella Coverage – Organizations buy this coverage to increase the limits. It can be used for commercial general liability, commercial auto, employers liability, and other primary liability policies. As an indemnitor, you will want to ensure that for any coverage that taps into the policies that provide the upper limits, there is a specified cap to the coverage contractually offered to the indemnitee.
  • Limitation of Liability – It’s an attempt by third-party contractors to cap the amount of liability they will be responsible for to a set amount prior to an incident. Be on the lookout for these limitation of liability clauses. Generally, they are found toward the end of the contract, but can have a significant impact on indemnification.

8 Legal Developments You Need to Know About

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In a new RIMS Professional Report, attorneys Mark Plumer and Xandra Bernardo (of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP) and Patrick Walker, a risk professional at mining company Rio Tinto Group, shed light on the top risk management legal developments of 2017.

According to the authors, risk managers “must be familiar with the legal principles that underlie claims that are asserted. A successful resolution will turn on the policy wording, the company’s business relationship with the affected insurers and the strength of the  coverage argument under the law.”

In The Top 8 Legal Developments You Need to Know About in 2017, the authors lay out the notable rulings on insurance law relating to rights of coverage, rescission, cyber coverage and more. Here is a quick look at their findings:

  1. Rights to Coverage: There were important developments to rights of coverage under historic occurrence-based policies. These relate to “long-tail” liabilities such as environmental exposures.

“The best practice now is to assign the right to make claims on historic policies for such exposures, where such transfer of rights is intended. Legal counsel should assure that the law in the affected jurisdictions allows for the transfer of insurance rights.”

  1. Rescission: It’s an insured’s worst nightmare: you have a claim that you believe should be covered, and the insurance company finds a way to rescind coverage. It’s a growing trend. “In particular, insurers are requiring more disclosures during the application process and may seek rescission if full and accurate disclosures are not provided.”

The authors focus on H.J. Heinz Co. v. Starr Surplus Lines Ins., a trial decision that was reached in New York’s Third Circuit. The court ruled that Heinz was not entitled to its purchased coverage because of historic loss information that was mistakenly withheld by the company’s risk manager.

“The Heinz case highlights the importance of answering questions thoroughly and truthfully in connection with applying for insurance. Applying for insurance is an increasingly challenging process, particularly with respect to specialty policies that require answers to many questions and call for considerable data. Risk managers must assume that insurers will be emboldened by Heinz and other, similar cases.”

  1. Consent to Settle: In case you needed to be reminded: risk management and corporate counsel need to work together!

“Some courts may simply void coverage where there is a voluntary payments provision and advance consent from an insurer for a settlement was not requested regardless of whether the insurer was prejudiced.

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It is rare that insurers will stand in the way of a settlement. Thus, asking for consent often is no more than a technical requirement. Insurers should not be allowed to escape coverage your company has paid for based on a technicality.”

  1. Notice: Your coverage can be voided if you don’t give prompt notice of a claim. There were two important developments on this front in 2017 that the authors describe in detail in the report.

“The best way to avoid an insurer ‘late’ notice argument is to provide notice at the earliest reasonable date, even if this requires later supplementation and clarification. Of course, this is often easier said than done. You should learn the law affecting notice in your home jurisdiction and consider treating occurrence-based policy and claims-made policy notification procedures differently…”

  1. Cyber Claims: This is obviously a hot area in risk management and in insurance. It seems like we constantly hear about new entrants into the insurance market on this front, with new firms specializing in cyber also popping up almost every day. Risk managers need to exercise caution in this field: cyber insurance is still relatively new and untested, and the claims history for this subfield is short.
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The policies are also potentially confusing. For example, “many cyber policies specifically provide coverage for credit card association assessments for an additional premium. These policies are quite complicated and may contain dozens of cross-referenced definitions.”

  1. Construction Claims: The authors dive into key decisions coming out of New Jersey and Iowa on this familiar risk management topic. They caution risk managers to “make certain your CGL policy has a subcontractor exception in the ‘your work’ exclusion. Policies containing a ‘your work’ exclusion that do not also include a subcontractor exception to that exclusion place your company at greater risk.”
  2. Additional Insured: Access to additional insured endorsements is getting narrower, according to the authors. A decision from New York continues this trend: the June 2017 decision from New York’s high court in Burlington Ins. Co. v. NYC Transit Auth.

The report cautions that the Burlington decision “may come as a surprise to many policyholders who expect courts to interpret additional insured endorsements broadly, particularly ISO’s standard form endorsements. Risk managers concerned about this potential reduction in coverage can follow the advice of the Burlington court: ‘Of course, if the parties desire a different allocation of risk, they are free to negotiate language that serves their interests.’”

  1. Scope of Coverage: It’s important to understand your home jurisdiction’s philosophy on long-tail general liability claims. There are two types of jurisdictions, according to the authors: “all sums” and “pro rata.” In 2017, there were several decisions that complicated this well-understood legal dynamic.

“If your company faces a long-tail claim, be proactive and understand the scope of coverage law applicable to your historic policies. If the jurisdiction applies the ‘all sums’ principle, make sure your counsel is aware of it. If not, confirm whether your historic policies contain non-cumulation clauses or if the applicable jurisdiction has considered the ‘unavailability’ exception to pro rata allocation.

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For more information on “all sums” versus “pro rata,” as well as detail for all of the top legal developments, please visit www.rims.org and download the paper. All RIMS papers are members-only for the first 60 days of their release.

Tips for Managing a Hurricane Claim

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Despite early predictions of a mild 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, the latest forecasts reflect the likelihood of more named storms than originally anticipated. If that is not ample motivation for risk managers to double-check their hurricane preparation, then the reality that it only takes one major storm to generate a widespread disaster should be sufficient to warrant a review of their claims preparation.
This process will not only help spot potential gaps in your insurance, but also any issues in your planning that may affect the amount and delay the timing of a claim recovery. Based on recent experience, here are some tips for hurricane claims preparation and management.

Conduct a thorough review of your property insurance. Start by checking your deductible. After a loss, the first question risk managers often get from leadership is: “What’s our retention?” You also need to see if your policy has a blanket or percentage deductible. If the latter, is it a percentage of total insured value (TIV)? Do separate deductibles apply to physical damage and business interruption? Double-check your business interruption deductible. A 2% deductible on a business interruption loss equals seven days of self-retention (365 days x 2%).

In reviewing your policy, check the definitions of covered perils. Look for specific references to “storm surge,” “named windstorm” and “flood.” You’ll also want to make sure your policy covers costs to protect and preserve insured property that sustains physical damage and addresses business interruption losses when a facility is closed to preserve or protect property.

Check fee coverage for claims preparation. In a catastrophe, you may need to retain an outside claims consultant to manage your claim; this coverage—standard in some policies and optional for a nominal surcharge in others—comes in handy for complex claims.

Risk managers also shouldn’t overlook the extended period of indemnity, which gives policyholders additional time after a damaged property is restored to regain market share. And don’t miss assessing how your business interruption coverage addresses payroll; most policyholders want coverage that treats payments to hourly workers as a fixed expense (ordinary payroll), especially during catastrophe events.

During your policy review, be sure not to miss the opportunity to pre-select your adjuster. Designate an adjuster in your insurance policy and meet with them and your insurer’s claims director or examiner before any loss. Besides informing them about your company’s operations and claim strategy, a meeting helps structure the claims process.

List your claims team in your emergency response plan. Creating a team in advance—including claim advocate, restoration company, forensic accountant, engineers and building consultants—will mean they can be mobilized immediately following a major loss event.

After a loss event, communicate with key internal stakeholders. Keep your c-suite, operations, procurement and legal teams fully informed of your loss situation and claim process. And be sure all employees have ample instruction. They will need guidance for setting up loss accounts, invoicing, tracking internal labor, inventory, fixed asset ledgers and on any purchases to help mitigate the loss. They also need to understand the sensitive nature of any discussions with insurance company representatives.

Act quickly to assess the loss. Immediately evaluate the extent of property damage and obtain recommendations on temporary repairs and remediation needed to preserve and protect property. Show the adjuster the full scope of the loss so an appropriate reserve is established.

Designate a key member of your claims team to coordinate, manage and communicate activities of emergency resources, remediation, restoration vendors, environmental specialists and other providers involved in your claim. This encompasses all site inspections and remediation, timelines, target dates, ownership of issues and accountability, and facilitates expedited reviews of damaged inventory.

Work closely with your insurer throughout the loss adjustment process, as well, to negotiate partial payments based on expected short-term expenditures.

Get outside help for complex losses. By bringing expertise and special resources, such as drones and other technology, to determine extent and scope of loss, prepare accurate damage and business interruption assessments, claim experts can make a significant difference in your recovery.

Large-scale catastrophes can involve delays in insurance adjustment and elongated downtime, which can have enduring and widespread negative consequences for an enterprise. With careful planning, risk managers can help their organizations achieve faster and more complete recoveries.

For more information on hurricane preparedness and natural catastrophe planning, visit: http://www.aon.com/disaster-response/