What's New—July 2009

Six 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

The July issue of The Risk Report, "Recovering Stolen Assets," examines the ways sophisticated fraudsters and other criminals hide funds and suggests some approaches for recovering them.

The July issue of the Captive Insurance Company Reports features key results from the 2009 CICA Survey: fronting (insurers used, price/value, cost changes, collateral), reinsurance (cost changes, price/value, changes in limits and attachment points), investment results, whether employee benefits are being considered, and the biggest captive ownership challenges. "Why Few Captives Write D&O Insurance" and "Finding Value in Claim Audits" round out the issue.

Reference Manuals

Commercial Property Insurance provides updated discussions of the multistate ISO commercial property endorsements that address the changes made in the 2007 editions. Specimen copies of the new editions are included as well. Also, this supplement provides an updated discussion of builders risk insurance.

Contractual Risk Transfer updates the discussions of additional insured status under property insurance policies and under the CGL (see the bulletin for more information). It also features an expanded and updated discussion of builders risk insurance and construction contract waivers of subrogation.

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

Pollution Coverage Issues substantially revises the materials on "Pollution as Personal Injury." A new discussion has been added which explains the controversy whether a pollution claim stated in terms of common law trespass or nuisance is covered as "personal injury" under pre-1996 CGL polices. A new hyperlinked map has been created showing how each jurisdiction rules on this issue. Also, new citation charts have been added showing cases that have ruled either in favor of policyholders or in favor of insurers in this context. Additionally, 11 cases were added to "Pollution as Personal Injury" and 326 existing cases were upgraded to PDFs in the Caselaw Library. (See the bulletin for more information.) Finally, IRMI's Environmental Insurance Reporter discusses whether CGL coverage should apply to any liabilities to neighboring property owners or environmental enforcement agencies if vandals break into the policyholder's premises and cause a discharge of pollution.

Practical Risk Management updates two topics on liability risks and insurance and three topics on risk management resources. Topic G-11, Aircraft, reviews the exposures and available coverages to address a company's use of owned or nonowned aircraft. Topic G-20 discusses important changes to the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, which became effective January 1, 2009, and the changes enacted by the American with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008. Topic H-4, Risk Management Education, has been updated to include new resources and programs that are available to increase your knowledge about risk management and to provide continuing education opportunities. Data is a critical requirement for an effective risk management program. Topic H-6, Data Collection and Statistics, reviews the types of data needed, how to collect data, and the basic statistical concepts that are used in evaluating data. The Role of the Actuary, Topic H-9, discusses why actuaries are used and how actuaries can enhance the usefulness of data. Lastly, this issue of Risk Management Notes includes articles on the Swine Flu Pandemic and an update on TRIA. It also summarizes the results of several studies relating to factors that increase workers compensation costs, introduces a new management liability certification program, and highlights interesting risk management news. "Marketplace Musings" looks at the state of the property market at the beginning of hurricane season, the aviation insurance market, and results from the RIMS Benchmark Survey.

Risk Financing revises several sections in the manual. First, the discussion titled, "Using a Casualty Actuary," in section II.E has been updated after a review by consulting actuary Russell Greig of Towers Perrin in Atlanta, Georgia. In sections III.A and III.B, several exhibits have been revised to reflect current information. Also in section III.A, "Casualty Insurance Rating," the list of the experience rating premium eligibility requirements by state is updated. In section III.B, "Guaranteed Cost Rating Plans," updates for the exhibit with the discounts for an employer's designated hazard group and for the exhibit listing the jurisdictions with state-approved small deductible plans are included. Extensive revisions are also provided for section IV.B, "Self-Insurance," and to section IV.F, "Large Deductible Plans." This supplement's issue of Risk Financing Perspectives looks at the "hot" risk financing products and mechanisms currently being offered and utilized by insureds. Also in this month's Perspectives is our regular "Market Corner" column, which provides quarterly updates on current property and casualty insurance market conditions.

Forms

This month 90 forms and endorsements have been added to the Forms manuals. These include ISO state-specific personal auto forms, state-specific commercial property forms, state-specific commercial liability forms, and state-specific commercial auto forms. The Forms manuals now include more than 21,935 sample policy forms.