What's New—April 2009

Seven reference manual updates and new issues of The Risk Report and Captive Insurance Company Reports (CICR) have been added to the IRMI infobases. We have also updated the home page and job function dashboards to facilitate navigation in the site.

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Newsletters & Journals

A longstanding communication gap exists between corporate management and risk managers. In the April issue of The Risk Report, Don Riggin helps risk managers keep their jobs in tough economic times by teaching them to express their value in financial terms that CFOs understand.

The April issue of Captive Insurance Company Reports (CICR) features "Post-Meltdown Heightens Oversight Demands" by attorney Monte Jahnke. "GEM: Captive Jewel for Governmental Entities" describes GEM's evolution from purchasing group to captive. Lastly, an overview of the Cayman captive conference is provided with comments from insurance market representatives.

Reference Manuals

Contractual Risk Transfer revises and expands various topics included in the CGL Additional Insured tab, section XI.C. Significant legal decisions bearing on the coverage available to design professionals as insureds under a contractor's CGL policy are added to that section, as well as an analysis of the applicability of automatic additional insured endorsements to multi-tier insurance requirements in construction projects. A recent development in the applicability of construction anti-indemnity statutes to contract insurance requirements is also addressed in section XI.C. California's recently revised Civil Code statute § 2782(c) prohibits builders and general contractors from requiring subcontractors in residential construction to indemnify them for their own negligence in connection with construction defect claims. The prohibition extends as well to any requirement that the subcontractor "insure" the builder or contractor for the same exposures. A summary of the statute's provisions is added to the ongoing discussion of jurisdictions that have applied their anti-indemnity statutes to requests for additional insured status.

D&O MAPS has been expanded to include the following policies and analyses.

• Beazley Armour Side A Policy
• RSUI Excess D&O Liability Policy
• RSUI Excess Liability Policy

IRMI Insurance Cancellation Guide has been updated with the most recent information and Web sites concerning laws and regulations that govern the cancellation and nonrenewal of commercial and personal lines insurance policies.

IRMI Workers Comp updates material pertaining to monopolistic funds, state residual and competitive markets, and state workers compensation benefits (District of Columbia, Idaho, Illinois, Ohio). Additionally included in the supplement is an updated listing of state-specific endorsements and two revised endorsements related to the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007 (TRIPRA) and catastrophic workers compensation losses.

Practical Risk Management adds one new topic and updates three topics. A new topic, The Risk Management Process (Topic A-25), reviews the basics of the risk management process, the core of an effective risk management program. Topic A-11, Management, has been updated to review the interaction between the risk management decision-making process and the four functions in the management process. Topic A-14, Coping with a Difficult Market, looks at strategies for managing a company's risk management program and marketing its insurance renewals when the market is hard or when the nature of the company's risks force it into a more restrictive market. Topic A-16, Cost of Risk, has been updated to share concepts for calculating cost of risk and then using those calculations to support the company's risk management strategy. The Risk Management Notes included in this supplement presents two articles offering ideas for managing risk in the tough economy. It also summarizes the results of a number of surveys that have been released in recent months and highlights interesting risk management news. "Marketplace Musings" looks at the state of the insurance market early in 2009.

Professional Liability Insurance features a revision of the directors and officers liability exposures. Liability exposures of corporate directors and officers have continued to expand since this discussion was last updated. Recent events related to the current credit crisis and their impact on director and officer liability are analyzed. A number of other important recent developments that have also influenced D&O liability exposures are examined, and landmark court decisions affecting D&O liability and recently enacted statutes aimed at reducing securities litigation are discussed. This section also reviews key D&O underwriting factors and includes a case study illustrating how these factors are applied in the current environment. A discussion of D&O loss control techniques that emphasizes "best practices" corporate governance approaches concludes this section.

Risk Financing features revisions to a number of sections in the manual. First, the discussion on risk retention in section II.J has been updated. The discussion describes the reasons insureds retain risks, explains the factors influencing risk retention, and offers a number of methods and examples for selecting an appropriate risk retention level. Supplement 101 includes our biannual updates to the summaries of state regulations for self-insuring automobile liability in Appendix C. All 50 states plus the District of Columbia permit self-insurance for automobile liability. The summaries in Appendix C provide an outline of each state's own statutes and regulations. This supplement's issue of Risk Financing Perspectives offers guidelines for insurance and risk management professionals to use in preparing in advance for a hard market. Also in this month's Perspectives is our regular "Market Corner" column, which provides quarterly updates on current property and casualty insurance market conditions.

Other Updates

The May 1, 2009 edition of the National Flood Insurance Program's Flood Insurance Manual is now available to subscribers to Commercial Property Insurance or Personal Risk Management and Insurance.

Classification Cross-Reference has been updated to include recent changes in classification codes and improved cross-referencing to the NAICS codes.

The Exposure Survey Questionnaire has been updated to reflect a complete revision of the Personal Risk Management section. If you subscribe to the Exposure Survey Questionnaire on IRMI Online, the new content is available to you now. If you don’t subscribe, learn more about Exposure Survey Questionnaire.

If you would like to add these or other publications to your IRMI subscription, call (800) 827-4242 or order it from our Web site.

Forms

This month 204 forms and endorsements have been added to the Forms manuals. These include AAIS state-specific and countrywide general liability forms, countrywide businessowners forms, and countrywide homeowners forms. The Forms manuals now include more than 21,570 sample policy forms.

The ACORD Forms manual has been updated (thru February 2009) with new and revised forms. The ACORD Forms manual now includes more than 625 forms.