From time to time we like write about claims scenarios that we come across to point out the necessity of certain insurance coverages. Recently, we care across a claim that highlights the need for employee benefits liability insurance and how it can protect your restoration company. Description of Event: The health plan of restoration contractor recently denied payment of health costs for an employee who was hospitalized following an accident. The HMO claimed the employee never notified the HMO of her hospitalization, as required under the health plan. In fact, the employee had called her employer’s plan administrator, who advised her that because she’d called the employer it wasn’t necessa
The “Your Work” Exclusion on the standard general liability policy is a hotly debated and often misunderstood exclusion on the general liability policy. We want to take a few paragraphs to briefly explain what this exclusion is and why it’s important your restoration company understands it. Also, we must preface this post by saying that every insurance policy is different so it’s very important that you work with your agent and attorney to understand how your specific policy will respond in the event of a claim. This is only intended to provide a brief overview of the exclusion and nothing else. The easiest way to understand the “Your Work” exclusion on a general liability policy is to
One of the most important, but often overlooked, insurance coverages for restoration contractors is Bailee Liability Insurance. What Is Bailee Liability Insurance? To understand the definition of bailment liability insurance, it’s important to understand what a bailment is. A bailment is a change of possession without a change of title. In other words, it is property that is in your care, custody or control. This is important for restoration contractors because there are times where they have customers’ property in their control. A standard general liability policy excludes any damage that happens to property that is in your care, custody or control. For example, let’s say you are work
Employees’ driving records can have a dramatic affect your restoration company’s auto premiums. So what do you do when you’ve hired an employee specifically to drive only to find out from the insurance company his MVR has been rejected or his driving record is going to increase your insurance premiums? We have come across this scenario with many of our restoration contractor clients. So in an effort to help your company avoid these scenarios we want to provide you with some ideas on how to ensure you are hiring safe drivers. Have a Policy The first and most important thing is for your organization to have an MVR policy that clearly states what qualifying offenses or accumulation of accide
