April Showers. . .

Please Note: this post was supposed to go up while I was on vacation last week! Sorry for the delay, I hope it still proves informative.

Where did April go?! We're heading into the end of May and somehow with one thing and another I didn't manage to get our "Collection Selections" e-newsletter highlighting journal articles and new books published.

I also haven't had a chance to update the blog or start spring cleaning my desk! We did manage to write and post a new newsletter for the library though, so I would definitely recommend going over there and taking a look if you didn't see it when it came out on May 7th.

I  have a few ideas on blog posts I'd like to get up and running. We had a couple of Q&As in the newsletter which I think we could flesh out a little more. One on co-insurance penalties and one on no-fault vs. non no-fault auto insurance states (an important topic here in New England since we can so easily cross borders into either territory). I was also talking with some friends this weekend about homeowners/renters insurance and, having just put in a claim on my personal articles policy, I thought it might be useful to take a look at some homeowners basics.

While most of my current ideas run toward the consumer end of the spectrum, we would love to provide more technical information on the blog for those professionals who are readers. Please, as always, feel free to email blog suggestions to shart@insurancelibrary.org

In the meantime, I thought I might highlight some of the articles I wanted to mention in the April Collection Selections newsletter.

Our Library hosted a new seminar on May 8th taught by Craig Stanovich. He was discussing Cyber Risk and Privacy Violation Insurance. It was a very timely topic since a flood of new information on the topic came out this spring.

Source

On March 19th, Business Insurance devoted an entire issue of their publication to Cyber Risks.Clearly if you're interested in the topic, you should take a look at that entire issue, but one article that might be of interest, especially to producers, is entitled Few Firms Buy Coverage for Cyber Risks: Survey. Not only does it provide information on the purchasing patterns for cyber insurance but it has a table showing "Why Companies Do Not Buy Cyber Coverage." There's also a great article by Scott N. Godes of Dickstein Shapiro, LLP entitled Surprising Sources of Coverage. While he recommends checking the company's Cyber Insurance Policies for coverage first, he also suggests that there might be coverage found in Commercial General Liability policies, Crime policies, Commercial first-party property policies and Employment Practices Liability policies.

Source

Also out this spring, was Verizon's 2012 Data Breach Investigation Report. They have collected eight year's worth of data breach information from around the world. Their "goal is that the data and analysis presented in this report prove helpful to the planning and security efforts of [their] reader." It's a great resource for Risk Managers!

Source

In April, Towers Watson published their 3rd Annual Risk and Finance Manager Survey. In their executive summary, they mention that 72% of North American Companies have not purchased network security/privacy liability policies. Not only is this survey of great importance to risk managers, producers would do well to take a look at it to when trying to figure out what their clients are likely to need/why they might not have the coverage they require.

Source

For those looking for more in-depth coverage on Cyber Liability, The Library also recently purchased a copy of the National Underwriter book: Cyber Liability and Insurance: Managing the Risks of Intangible Assets.  You can click here to take a look at the table of contents. The book even includes some specimen forms!

This was just a short sampling of some recent Cyber Liability items we have in our collection. If you're interested in more coverage of this, or another insurance-related topic we encourage you to stop by the library or shoot us an email!

Consumer Services for Lost Life Insurance

One of the many services that The Insurance Library provides for consumers, is to locate current contact information for life insurers. Often people obtain a policy when they first start working, get married or have their first child. They then stick with that policy for the next 50 or so years. In the meantime, the policyholder may receive a letter or two informing him of mergers, acquisitions or just name changes. Unless they're hoarders (and let's be honest, even if they are how would they find a particular piece of paper?), most people end up throwing out the update. When the time comes for beneficiaries to make claims, they only have that original policy with a company name that might be three times removed from the current name. The Library is always happy to use our resources to help consumers trace the insurance company forward and provide them with current contact information.

A recent article in the New York Times caught my eye, though. It deals with another request we often get from consumers, lost policies. Sometimes a person calls and, instead of having a copy of that original policy, (giving us a foot in the door on the research) they just know that their loved one had a policy, but can't find any documents mentioning with which insurance company the policy was placed.

It's unfortunate, but there's not much we can do in a situation like that. If the person who died worked for a company for a significant amount of time, it's often useful to contact that company and see if there was a group life policy put in place through them. They would be able to let the beneficiary know which life insurance company they used and benefits can be found that way. There are also some companies out there who can try and trace if the person applied for life insurance, but it costs money to initiate the trace and they don't always get results.

The Insurance Information Institute has a great article outlining steps consumers can take when searching for lost life insurance policies.

State insurance regulators in at least 30 states are working hard to make lost policies less of a problem. The New York Times article I mentioned above discusses three life insurance companies who have settled with various states over "failing to keep track of policyholder deaths, trapping money that should have gone promptly to the beneficiaries." The companies have pointed out that: "Contractual language in the life policies says the survivor, or a representative, must file a claim to receive the payment. State insurance regulators said [the companies] made the case that they had not broken any laws by failing to seek out the survivors, but could have done more than they did."

We'll see how this issue progresses and if there are any major developments we'll try to write on this topic again!

Don't Say We Didn't Warn You!

About a year ago we posted on wedding insurance. While most of those links are all still appropriate if you're searching for wedding insurance information, wedding season is gearing up again and we thought we'd revisit the topic. It's especially appropriate since Property Casualty 360 just put an interactive article on their website entitled: Top Wedding Insurance Claims of 2011.

We encourage you to take a look at their article which is well illustrated and has good explanations. Below is a pie graph we created based on their article, though, in case you're looking for the quick and dirty break down of Travelers' wedding insurance claims from last year:

Just like we mentioned last year, if you have any questions about whether your own homeowners insurance or other policies cover wedding-related risks, or whether you should get a stand-alone policy, you should contact your Insurance Agent.

Just for the Health of It!

I'm popping back in to direct your attention to another New York Times article we thought you might find of interest.

Throughout the Affordable Health Care debate, Massachusetts has been held up as a an example of how well universal health care can work. The New York Times has just published an article focusing on the 2% in Massachusetts who are being penalized for not having insurance.

You can take a look here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/us/massachusetts-health-insurance-mandate-stirs-dissent.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120328

This and That

Yes, it's been a long time since the last post. I'm trying to do better. Stay tuned to see how that works :).

Saturday there was a fun article in the New York Times featuring Fireman's Fund insuring movies. It reminded me of my promise to update you about insurance articles.

It also reminded me to let you know we've started sending out emails called "Collection Selections" highlighting articles we think might be of interest to our membership as well as new publications which have been added to our collection. If you're interested in getting added to that list, please feel free to email me: shart@insurancelibrary.org

I also wanted to mention that this week is a big week at the library. Remember last year when we mentioned Don Malecki and Greg Deimling coming to Boston to do a couple of seminars? Well they're back!

You can still register for either of the classes their teaching on Thursday March 29th, or the breakfast discussion on Friday March 30th:

BRIDGING THE GAPS: Three Common Coverage Gaps In Standard ISO Property, Crime & Liability Coverage Forms

This is a three-hour presentation consisting of talks by Greg Deimling and Don Malecki, along with class participation, dealing with three common coverage gap areas in standard ISO Property, Crime and Liability coverage forms.

At the conclusion of this course, the attendees will be able to:
Identify the potential coverage gaps of property, crime and liability coverage forms;
Understand the rationale for the potential problems;
Determine ways to avoid the gaps, including using better alternatives.

Event Info:
$120 for Insurance Library or Boston Chapter CPCU Members / $150 for non-members OR$200 for Insurance Library or Boston Chapter CPCU Members / $260 for non-members for BOTH SESSIONS

March 29, 2012
8:30 to 11:30 AM
Mintz Levin, 1 Financial Center, Boston, MA
Approved for 3 CE credits in MA and NH (RI credit pending)

Insuring Electronic Information: A Cyber Primer

At the conclusion of this course, the attendees will be able to:

Define and know the definitions and underlying terminology regarding data and data elements;
Realize the difficulty in current policies to provide coverage for various intangible exposures created by technology;

Develop a deeper understanding and use of terminology used in internet and cyber liability policies;

Communicate the need for separate coverage for cyber exposures to clients and associates;
Understand coverage form development at the present time in this line of business.

Event Info:
$120 for Insurance Library or Boston Chapter CPCU Members / $150 for non-members OR$200 for Insurance Library or Boston Chapter CPCU Members / $260 for non-members for BOTH SESSIONS

March 29, 2012
1:30 to 4:30 PM
Mintz Levin, 1 Financial Center, Boston, MA
Approved for 3 CE credits in MA and NH (RI credit pending)

Birds-Eye View of Trends In Insurance Coverage

On March 30, 2012, you're invited to join us at The Insurance Library for breakfast and conversation with nationally recognized insurance experts Donald Malecki and Greg Deimling. Topics covered may include: Who is an Insured (Trust, LLC, Partnerships), Additional Insureds (Additional Insured vs. Additional Named Insured), Cancellation (what does 12:01 really mean) , and more.

We encourage attendees to send questions ahead of time to better direct the discussion. Please note, it's possible that your exact question may not be addressed, but it will be taken into consideration. This unique opportunity to speak one-on-one with Mr. Malecki and Mr. Deimling should not be missed!

Event Info:


$80 for Insurance Library Members / $110 for non-members

March 30, 2012
8:30 AM to 10:00 AM (Breakfast will begin at 8:00 AM)
Insurance Library Association of Boston, 156 State Street, Boston, MA
This meeting is not approved for CE credit.