IRMI Update—Issue #18
An E-mail Newsletter for Risk and Insurance Professionals
ISSN: 1530-7948
June 5, 2001
In This Issue
Colleague,
We are moving into full swing with our preparation for the 21st IRMI Construction
Risk Conference and will be sharing developments with you as we firm up the
program and speakers. In the meantime, we need your help.
Do you know a risk professional who has developed an innovative program to
manage some aspect of the risks inherent in construction projects? It might
be an innovative OCIP approach, a safety program, or a special insurance program
that a contractor or project owner has implemented. If so, please make sure
they are nominated for the Construction Risk Management Best Practices (CRMBP)
award.
Our evaluation process starts in August, so you have plenty of time to put
together a submission for the judges. For more information on the CRMBP award,
visit the CRMBP section of IRMI.com.
We very much appreciate your friendship and support.
Have a great day!
Jack
Jack P. Gibson
President
IRMI
Don't Overlook Acquiring Company's Policies To Cover
Successor Liability. Many companies are concerned with their exposure
to successor liability in connection with the products or operations of organizations
they merge with or acquire. The concern, of course, is that in acquiring another
business's property or product line, the buyer subjects itself to claims for
injury or damage arising out of that property or those products—even injury
or damage that took place before the acquisition.
Neither of the two standard risk transfer mechanisms—indemnity agreements
and additional insured status—works well in dealing with these "incurred-but-not-reported"
losses. The seller-indemnitor's CGL coverage will not apply to contractual assumptions
of liability for injury or damage that has already taken place. And arranging
"retroactive" additional insured status for the buyer under the seller's policies
from past years is, to say the least, a long shot.
One often neglected source of protection for successor liability arising
out of past injury or damage is the buyer's own history of general liability
coverage. It is sometimes wrongly assumed that the buyer's past CGL policies
offer no coverage in connection with injuries to which the insured buyer had
no connection at the time they occurred. As long as the buyer had liability
insurance in force at the time of injury or damage covered by a CGL policy,
that insurance should apply to the injury or damage whenever the insured incurs
liability for it (e.g., as the purchaser of the assets out of which the injury
arose years after the injury itself). Some courts agree with this position,
while some courts do not.
By: Jeff Woodward, CPCU
Senior Research Analyst
International Risk Management Institute, Inc.
Suggest a Risk Tip. Future issues of IRMI Update will include more risk tips from our readers. Send
us a practical tip (less than 300 words) for identifying and managing risks,
buying insurance, managing claims, or filling gaps in insurance coverages. We'll
acknowledge your contribution as we did for Jeff.
Your Company Ad Can Be Here!—IRMI Update reaches
nearly 10,000 insurance agents, brokers, underwriters, and risk managers who
look forward to reading the tips and articles offered in each issue. Since yours
will be the only ad in this space, it will be seen and acted on by key decision
makers. For more information, contact
us or click here.
We add new Expert Commentary to IRMI.com every week. There are now 142 articles
on IRMI.com, and many more are in production. Below you'll find summaries of
some recent additions with links to the articles.
-
Intellectual Property
Coverage: Are You Naked?—The cost of intellectual property litigation
can be astronomical, and continues to increase each year. In certain cases,
the high stakes of intellectual property litigation can pose a very real
threat to the company itself. Learn about the exposure and how to properly
cover yourself.
-
Insurance Coverage
Disputes and Society's Problems—Unfortunately, insurance coverage
disputes mirror casualty and liability losses throughout the world. This
article examines recent litigation involving insurance coverage disputes
and violent crimes and sexual assaults.
-
Political Risk in
Asia: The Need for Structural Reform and the Impact on Political Risk Insurance—In
the wake of the Asia Crisis, investors are hesitant to commit large sums
of new capital to the region. The political uncertainty has increased awareness
of political risk insurance and how it can be utilized as a risk management
tool. This article examines the region and the PRI market.
-
Next Generation
Agency Management Systems—Renting a management computer system
to help run insurance agencies is an increasingly viable option. This article
describes current Application Service Providers and their offerings, including
advantages and disadvantages to consider.
What's New in
the 2000 Edition ISO Commercial Property Forms—The 2000 revisions
to the ISO commercial property portfolio affect 11 coverage forms, all 3 causes
of loss forms, 24 coverage endorsements, and a number of schedule endorsements.
This article reviews the changes to the building and personal property coverage
form (CP 00 10).
Perceptual Diminished Value
for Personal Autos—Is perceptual or psychological diminished value—the
perceptual loss of vehicle market value due to an accident—covered under the
personal auto policy? This article examines the debate, relevant case law, and
ISO's response.
CRMBP Award Winner's
President To Discuss Construction Safety—At this year's conference,
Peter G. Vigue, president of Cianbro Corporation, will tell the story of his
company's change in philosophy and shift to a culture that puts safety first.
Paul Day of Cianbro received the Construction Risk Management Best Practices
Award in 2000 for the implementation of a behavior-based, continuous improvement
safety process at a large bridge rehabilitation project. Mr. Vigue will discuss
the organizational changes necessary to make such programs work. Mark your calendar
to reserve October 29 through November 1 for the conference. Follow these links
for more information on the conference and on
Paul Day's safety program.
The Additional Insured
Book—Additional insured approaches and issues are among the
most misunderstood and controversial technical concerns of risk and insurance
professionals. This 478-page treatise is recognized as the leading authority
on these topics. Do you have the latest (4th) edition in your reference library?
If not, order your copy today.
Jack's May 22 editorial in IRMI Update #17 on the risks of cyber attacks drew informed and interesting responses from our
readers. Slightly edited excerpts from some of them are provided below.
- Jack's concern is right on the money. AIG has been working with various
federal agencies (most notably, DOC, DOD, DOE, and Treasury), as well as
a number of public-private information sharing groups, to determine the
insurer's role in reducing the threat of cyber-terrorism and cyber-war,
as well as the threats to our national infrastructure due to the potential
for a 'mass computer attack' of whatever origin.
The role of the private insurance industry is: (1.) To provide risk management
products and services, including the providing of discounts for sponsored
products. i.e., to reward good behavior in this area. (2.) To assist in
after-event recovery (by, for example, providing public relations reimbursement
coverage as well as criminal reward funds to catch cyber-criminals) (3.)
To provide multi-pronged insurance coverage, including third-party liability
(Web content and network security), first-party property damage, first-party
business interruption, etc., as well as professional E&O coverage targeted
toward Internet professionals.On the other hand, the public sector has
responsibilities too, including: (1.) Providing R&D funding (2.) Providing
legal and regulatory relief, where appropriate, such as in FOIA, Antitrust
and information sharing/management responsibility liability rules and safe
harbors. (3.) Reinsurance support in event of a CAT type event in circumstances
where losses exceed the insurance industry's ability to fund.
—Ty R. Sagalow, Chief Operating Officer & Executive Vice-President,
AIG, New York
- Acknowledging that there could be a problem is probably the foremost
issue for most risk managers, insurers, and other risk professionals. In
many discussions that I've had recently, there appears to be the 'head in
the sand' mentality—if I don't see it or if I don't understand the issues,
then there must not be a problem.
—Becky Walker, Risk Manager, D.E. Harvey Builders, Inc.,
Houston
- It is unfortunate to think that business may need to adopt a military
style of counter cyber terrorism. However, I feel that this is imminent.
Complacency of businesses who fail to assess cyber threats is what the cyber
terrorists are counting on. The businesses that maintain the constant information
technology security will prevail.
—Al Flute, Safety Consultant, The Zenith Insurance, San
Diego
- You are correct. Cyber crime is a scary risk and not very well addressed
by insurance. My biggest concerns at this point are: (1.) Cyber criminals
are just getting started. The worst is yet to come. (2.) Cyber crimes that
have already occurred are probably extremely under-reported for a lot of
reasons having to do with risk management decisions made at the CEO level.
—Glenn Linville, CPCU, ARM,Consultant, CORE Risk Services,
Inc.
- Suppose that someone on the other side of the world is surfing the 'Net
and runs across our Web site. Suppose they decide to pirate our name and
open an office to conduct staffing business. When we find out about it,
what do we do? How do we go about hiring a lawyer in an unfamiliar country
to take measures under local law to stop the pirate from using our name
and reputation? It seems to me that there might be a place for an insurance
product that would step into the picture and pay on our behalf the legal
costs to bring the pirate to a halt. A company like AIG, for example, with
a global network of operations might develop such a product. They could
marshal their connections with law firms around the globe who would be available
to represent the interests of the policyholder in such matters.
—Barney Mercer, CPCU, ARM, Vice President—Risk Management,
Snelling and Snelling, Inc., Dallas
- Ironically, our Association site was one that was hacked apparently
by these Chinese cyber terrorists. Our Web site is hosted on the IIAA server.
We are defenseless. There needs to be greater security on the Internet DNS
system to stop unauthorized persons from altering DNS records. This is apparently
what happened in this instance. Any other solution would be political.
—E. Stuart Powell, Jr., CPCU, CIC, CLU, ChFC, ARM, AMIM,
AAI, Director of Technology and Technical Affairs, Independent Insurance Agents
of North Carolina, Inc., Raleigh, NC
- The key is communication. At this point, senior management of most companies
has only a vague idea of how the technological backbone of their business
works. The real knowledge in that area rests with technicians who are (sometimes)
paid poorly, treated badly, and possess little loyalty to the enterprise
as a whole. Even in companies where technicians are well treated, there
is little true communication among those who face the risk and those who
must manage it.
My advice would be for the risk management department to institute regular
conversations with their colleagues. Learn the technology. It isn't that
hard to pick up the basics. You don't need to be able to program network
software, but you should have rudimentary knowledge of how information is
stored, gathered, and used.
—Donna Ferrara, Esq., Vice-President, Arthur J. Gallagher
Risk Management Services, New York
- Thanks for your words on this frightening new slant on hacking. Unfortunately
I don't know that there is any new or different approach we can take (other
than squaring and cubing our investment in security); either our systems
are protected, or they aren't. The only difference is the hacker's level
of funding.
Where concerted attacks from other countries may be clearly identified, we
need to ensure that our government is aware of these. Unfortunately however,
our government is obviously not willing to make the necessary sanctions
against China and similar countries by voting with their (our) checkbook.
As such, the most we can hope for is making our own hackers aware of it
in hopes that their grass roots counterattacks will be effective in discouraging
such actions. (As in your article, China: 80, U.S.: 100.)
—Nick Shoop, AIC, Director, Insurance & Safety, Straus-Frank
Enterprises Limited (d/b/a CARQUEST Auto Parts)
- I read your article with great interest. My suggestion would be to include
the "exposure" in an expanded/revamped war-risk exclusion. The standard
ISO exclusion (liability) only applies to liability assumed under contract.
Coverage could then be added by endorsement with a sublimit and separate
premium charge to address this exposure. On the property side, some of this
exposure is already covered by several carriers we handle claims for, under
electronic data processing systems and equipment; electronic data processing
media; electronic data processing extra expense. However, once again you
have the common policy war exclusion, acts of foreign enemies, hostilities
(whether war is declared or not), which may take the claim out of coverage.
This again can be added in by endorsement with a separate premium and sublimit.
—Charlie Henderson, Claims Manager, Summit Risk Services,
Inc., Hatboro, Pa.
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