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Proactive Tips for Businesses Facing Hail Damage Claims

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Last week, a severe thunderstorm unleashed massive hailstones in Alberta, Canada, damaging dozens of cars and unleashing potentially record-breaking hailstones the size of grapefruits. While the stones were notable, the storm was less of a rarity—indeed, hail is becoming increasingly common and increasingly costly as a natural catastrophe peril around the world. In 2020, Aon’s Global Catastrophe Recap identified hail damage in a severe thunderstorm as the driver of one of Canada’s costliest severe weather events on record. In 2021, insurers faced multiple billion-dollar loss events resulting from severe convective storms in the United States, with the greatest damage inflicted by hail that impacted the Plains, Midwest, Southeast and Northeast.

“Public perception often assumes that tornadoes drive the bulk of annual severe convective storm (SCS) damage costs,” said Steve Bowen, managing director and head of catastrophe insight on Aon’s Impact Forecasting team. “The reality is that large hail typically accounts for a majority of thunderstorm-related losses in North America during any given year.”

Further, North America is not alone in facing this peril, as hail also caused significant recent damage events in parts of Europe last year, struck Australia yesterday, and NOAA reports China, Russia, India and Northern Italy are all prone to damaging hailstorms.

As companies assess their natural disaster preparedness, there are some proactive measures that should be taken specifically for hail to leave organizations best positioned for any resulting insurance claims. Many commercial property policies contain provisions that any lawsuit against an insurer must be filed within one year following the “inception of loss,” otherwise it is barred. In other words, the “inception of loss” date starts the one-year clock ticking. The question then becomes, when exactly is that date? The Wisconsin Supreme Court hit this issue head-on in the case of Borgen v. Economy Preferred Ins. Co. In this 1993 opinion, the court determined that the phrase “inception of loss” in the context of hail damage essentially means “the date of the specific hail storm,” not “the date I discovered the hail damage.”

In 2018, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals took things a step further in Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s of London v. Lowen Valley View, L.L.C. In that case, a hotel filed a lawsuit against its insurer for refusing to cover hail-related roof damage under a commercial property insurance policy. The 5th Circuit agreed with the insurer’s argument that: 1) several hail storms had struck the vicinity of the hotel in the several years preceding the claim; 2) only one of those storms fell within the relevant coverage period; and 3) the record lacked reliable evidence permitting a jury to determine which of those storms, alone or in combination, damaged the hotel. The 5th Circuit further rejected the hotel’s engineering report, which asserted the subject storm was the “most likely” cause of the damage, deeming it insufficient.

Taken together, these decisions can blindside businesses that believe their insurance policies will automatically respond in the event of hail damage.

Let’s say you operate a business in Plano, Texas, and have a commercial property policy with a renewal date of January 1, 2022. You’ve noticed some recent leaks over the past week in your 8-year-old roof. Based on this discovery, you enlist a roofing contractor to investigate further. You learn that the roof needs to be replaced due to the existence of hail damage, so you submit a claim to your insurance carrier. Now, consider Plano has had at least 11 significant hail strikes since your roof was installed, according to StormerSite: 

Storm Date                 Min. Hail Size Range (Max)
11/10/2021                         1.00”
4/23/2021                          1.00” (up to 2.00”)
5/18/2019                          1.00”
3/24/2019                          1.25” (up to 1.75”)
6/6/2018                            1.00”
4/6/2018                            1.50” (up to 2.00”)
4/21/2017                          1.75”
4/11/2016                          1.50” (up to 2.50”)
3/23/2016                          1.25” (up to 2.00”)
4/27/2014                          1.25”
4/3/2014                            1.75”

Based on the Borgen case, the relevant “inception of loss” date would be the most recent hail storm on November 10, 2021, and each specific storm prior to that. This would mean any claims potentially implicating the events on May 18, 2019, and earlier could be time-barred, assuming your prior insurance policies contain the one-year filing limitation mentioned above. Given the number of equivalent hail strikes over the course of those eight years, you will likely have an uphill battle under Lowen Valley View in attributing the recent April 2021 and November 2021 storms to a loss under your current policy.

Even if it were somehow possible to assign each item of roof damage to a particular hailstorm—and further that statute of limitations issues would not limit recovery almost entirely—the number of storms creates another problem. With 11 storms occurring over the life of your roof, the insurer could argue that would mean 11 separate occurrences, which in turn would mean having to go through 11 separate deductibles before you ever saw a single dollar of insurance proceeds. Depending on the amount of your deductible, this means recovery could be impossible as a practical matter.

Read together, these rulings put the onus on business owners in areas at risk for hail damage to proactively conduct at least annual inspections to determine the existence of any roof damage potentially attributable to a particular insurance policy. It further puts the onus on business owners to understand the insurance claim process, including seeking tolling agreements to extend the deadline for filing a lawsuit.

Building Effective IT Disaster Recovery Plans

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No matter how well-managed IT infrastructure is, there is always the risk that a tiny hiccup could ultimately turn into a real emergency. Given the increasing reliance on technology tools and access to business-critical data to continue operations, every business should have an effective IT disaster recovery plan in place to minimize disruption when disaster strikes. Risk professionals must consider and plan for this situation with regular testing and run-throughs to ensure that all team members understand the recovery plan and know their responsibilities.

As natural disaster season begins, risk professionals should assess the risks and mitigation strategies in place to minimize disruption and losses. The following tips can help ensure that IT disaster recovery plans are as effective as possible:

Plan in the Risk Management Context

Instead of thinking too much about what a disaster would mean for your company, frame your recovery plan in the context of risks. Start by examining which risks your company faces, and what steps you can take to minimize each one. This will ensure that all teams are fully aware of what the risks are, and how they can make a difference in eliminating potential problems.

Prioritize Communication

Nothing exacerbates a disaster like a communications breakdown, so all good recovery plans should focus on communication. The onset of an IT disaster could impact communication systems, so plan an alternative way of communicating with teams in the event of an emergency. Ensure that all team members know the backup communication method, and that everyone understands who they need to contact to inform them of the situation. 

Protect Data Continuity and Backups

Data continuity planning is critical to minimize losses during a crisis. At its essence, data continuity ensures companies have alternative processes and infrastructure in place to allow key IT operations to remain intact, taking into account both hardware and software. A first step is often to invest in failover systems across multiple locations as well as backup generators and power supplies, and ensuring you keep them all in working order.

Data continuity also involves backing up all important data and storing it in a location away from potential disruption. Methods range from server replication to continuous protection (continually backing up data on a separate server). For data back-ups, businesses often choose disk-to-tape or disk-to-cloud models. Either way, the most crucial element of backing up data is knowing what to replicate and what to leave. Archiving everything available can mean greater expense, but being selective can increase the risk of losing information. The rule of thumb is that, as a minimum, any backed-up data should be capable of restarting business operations from scratch.

Define Acceptable Downtime 

The amount of downtime that a company can feasibly take varies considerably depending on the company’s size and the products or services it provides. Think about how a disaster could affect your company, then decide on the steps that you’d need to take in different potential scenarios. In most cases, a few minutes of downtime rarely constitutes a total disaster, so focusing on recovery plans that can get systems back up and running as quickly as possible will help keep losses as low as possible. Cloud-based technology can be very helpful in such disaster scenarios since data is off-site and services stay operational even if your physical location is impacted.

8 Steps to Create Strong Disaster Management Plans

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A core responsibility of any risk professional is planning for any possible disasters your business might face. These could be man-made, such as a data breach or accidents involving machinery, or natural, like a tornado or flood.

Disasters and crises affect different organizations in different ways—one company might consider something a catastrophe, while another may not even notice a change in its workflow. It is important to look at your own business operations and evaluate what you would consider a crisis. Generally, business crises fall into one of three categories:

  1. A danger to the physical safety of employees or customers
  2. Loss of income or means of making income
  3. Events or people negatively affecting your business reputation

In many cases, the crisis may fall into more than one of these categories. An accident in the workplace that is hazardous to employees can impact the company’s income because the factory has to shut down. This can also negatively affect the company’s reputation if it turns out that the company did not provide a safe working environment.

With even the best risk management programs, no organization can avoid all disasters completely. Risk mitigation often comes down to crafting the best plans possible for the moment disaster inevitably strikes. These eight steps can help risk professionals develop strong crisis and disaster response plans:

1. Define The Types of Crises You Could Face: There is not a one-size-fits-all approach to a crisis management plan. Working out what is likely to affect your business specifically can relate to your geography—areas that get hit by severe storms or earthquakes must include those potential disasters, and what knock-on effects they may cause. For example, storms may cause flooding, loss of power, or blocked roads that make it difficult to reach your premises. The type of crisis can also be specific to your industry. Employees in a manufacturing facility are likely at greater risk in a physical disaster than those working in a tax consultancy, for example. Security should also be a consideration. Is your business likely to get robbed of cash or equipment? Do you have high-profile proprietary information that makes you more likely to be the victims of cybercrime?

2. Triggering the Plan: Including levels of urgency in your plan will help people responding to the crisis pinpoint how significant the event is, and how much of the plan must be put into action. A step-by-step approach for specific scenarios can be helpful and cover dealing with man-made and natural disasters in different ways. The risk for each will be unique to the situation and knowing when and how to trigger a response is key. The plan should include how and when to escalate the response should the crisis worsen, as well as how to identify when the crisis has passed. It can be helpful to use red, yellow and green system to indicate severity and urgency, and this classification approach is easy to adapt to any scenario.

3. The Base of Operations Location: Accidents or natural disasters may cause your usual place of business to close temporarily or permanently. In your plan, designate a backup command center in an alternate location for dealing with the crisis until you can get back to work. This location can be your company’s operations hub, a point for gathering after a crisis, or where you know your sensitive and important data backs up. If a natural disaster has made travel dangerous or roads impossible to navigate, you will also need a virtual base of operations—some possibilities include message boards, chat apps or email. With so many employees working remotely because of COVID-19, this may be easier to implement now.

4. The Chain of Command: Ensuring a clear chain of command so that there is no arguing or confusion when people and the business are at risk. Wherever possible, appoint a back-up for each person in charge so if someone cannot perform their duty, it falls to the next in line.

5. Internal and External Communication: When a crisis compromises an office or business, communication can become tricky. Have a clear set of rules for how you get information to and from your employees, what information you must and must not share with those outside of the company, and how to achieve that. This part of your crisis management plan can save lives and stop rumors from spreading.

6. Necessary Resources: Though this will depend on the nature of the business, consider first aid and safety equipment if you are likely to have injuries or get cut off because of poor weather. Also, think about alternate communication methods if mobile phone towers go down or the electricity gets cut, as well as access to your sensitive data, such as employee contracts and supplier agreements.Include all necessary resources you would need to operate and highlight any alternate replacements. For example, if a storm knocks out your power, you may have a generator.

7. Training: It is no good putting a crisis management plan together and not giving the relevant people the training they need to execute it. For example, the people you name as first aid providers or unit leaders need to know what is expected of them and undergo the necessary training. If you have safety equipment on your premises, like fire extinguishers or emergency release valves for machinery, you need to educate all stakeholders how these work.

8. Testing the Plan: Finally, test that your plan actually works. Review it with staff and conduct safety drills regularly—every two months at least. Look for any weak points or flaws in the plan before an actual crisis.While it may not be possible to anticipate everything a disaster brings, you can set up several response plans and test each one individually. These plans can tie in with your standard safety drills, or stand alone, depending on the nature of the event anticipated.

A crisis management plan is integral to every business, no matter its size, scope, or sector. By preparing for various potential disasters, you can take action when needed without putting your organization, employees, or yourself at unnecessary risk. 

Hurricane Preparation and Recovery Tips for Businesses

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hurricane dorian disaster preparation

The first Atlantic hurricane of the season is rapidly approaching the mainland United States, with experts currently expecting Hurricane Dorian to make landfall in Florida on Sunday. For businesses both in the storm’s path and beyond, it is important to take the opportunity to consider how to protect property from hurricane damage before and after storms. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that, on average, hurricane damage costs $54 billion annually, and even at this late date, there is always more businesses can do to try to mitigate such losses and damage to their property and operations.

One of the simplest steps is having an accurate replacement cost and business income valuation. If valuations were conducted previously, consider how long it has been and any significant changes, such as assets or location. It is also important to document the property before a storm arrives, including taking photos and videos, or even using 3D-mapping technology to record a detailed account of an entire space, building or structure. Most importantly, confirm with the insurer that the policy is current and that the terms, conditions, and limits are all well understood.

Creating and practicing a detailed disaster plan is another important step. Business owners can use risk modeling programs, which run a range of potential scenarios digitally to flag issues and create a more holistic plan. If digital modeling is unavailable, walking through or rehearsing plans can help identify potential issues. For example, built-in hurricane shutters are great, but if they are not tested ahead of time and then malfunction in the hours before a storm, it may be too late to find an adequate solution. When tailoring the disaster response plan, also consider the available coverage to limit out-of-pocket expenses after a storm. Coordinating with your insurance professional is the best way to minimize uninsured expenses.

One critical factor for any business disaster plan is how to protect data, including business data as well as plans and building layouts. House these valuable documents in a secure location in case of physical damage to the main data storage unit or computer drives. Insurance companies will likely request very specific information to process any claim, so speak with an insurance company adjuster in advance to determine what types of documents they need for filing a claim, then store those in an easily accessible online portal.

Create a business continuity plan that addresses how to expedite recovery or avoid interruption, potentially including employing an off-site workforce, creating an alternative workspace, and locating backup suppliers.

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It should also always include a communication plan so that key players remain connected. Business owners should engage with critical vendors and emergency responders in advance to assist with loss mitigation, temporary repairs, and restoration. Following a wide-spread catastrophe, these vendors are in high demand and having a preexisting relationship will help.

Once the storm passes, the first step must be communication: contact everyone to address safety concerns and identify their needs. Phone lines and internet service are often unreliable following a storm, and business owners should be prepared to use multiple forms of communication, from texts to emails and applications that use Wi-Fi.

After reestablishing contact, quickly document the damage (ideally in both photos and videos) since demonstrating the extent and cause of loss becomes increasingly difficult over time. Policyholders should notify their broker and insurance company of the loss immediately, and once damage is documented, policyholders must reasonably and with due diligence preserve and protect property and commence restoration while mitigating future risk. For example, if a structure suffers roof damage, but no action is taken to “reasonably and quickly” provide temporary cover, rain damage following the storm may not be covered as part of the storm’s damage.

Finally, it is critical to log all logistical and monetary details.

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After a hurricane, there may be challenges accessing damaged areas, so retain all notices, civil orders or police mandates concerning any access limitations to later provide the insurance company. An insurance company cannot expect a policyholder to put a tarp on a roof if access was prohibited. Likewise, policyholders should track all expenditures. After a disaster, the price of restoration services can increase dramatically, so acquire and keep multiple estimates of any cleanup, construction, or emergency service needed. Having these estimates will allow policyholders to assert the cost was both reasonable and necessary and receive reimbursement.

Hurricane season is already here but it is not too late to take preparative steps to help protect your business from the often unpredictable effects of storms. The only things business owners can control are the steps to help prevent and recover from damages.