Specialty Insurance Blog

Employment Practices & Risk Management

Risk management has a very significant impact on employment practices liability loss experience, and will impact employment practices liability insurance (EPL) premiums. One of the best risk management practices is the proper maintenance of personnel records. Personnel records provide some of the key documentation necessary in defending employment claims, and in many states employees have the right to review part or all of their own personnel file. Troutman Sanders has an excellent summary on some of the key points for best practices in maintaining personnel files (see here). Note that state laws regarding disclosure of personnel files, and other employment requirements, are not consistent, and local counsel should provide the last word on personnel records and other employment practices risk... Read more →

The Power of the Internet – & Insurance?

The internet has opened up new frontiers for highly specialized groups as well as the masses, but has its true power had any significant impact on the insurance business? Many so called experts predicted the demise of insurance agents through disintermediation by the internet. What they did not understand was the valuable role insurance agents play in a transaction, and disintermediation has not occurred. But new internet changes could still impact the way we conduct business, and one such change is beginning to gain some traction. All of us are familiar with the big names in internet change: YouTube, Wikipedia, Google, Facebook, Amazon,… These and other innovative internet applications have provided new ways for individuals and businesses to communicate and... Read more →

OB/GYN Liability

Medical malpractice insurance for OB/GYNs is a very difficult healthcare segment to underwrite. Not surprising, the insurance market for this class is very thin. Some of the highest severity claims occur in this segment – for obvious reasons. An excellent discussion of why, with statistics and data, was presented in an article from Willis Healthcare Practice (see here, & here for the article). There is not much for us to add. This article is well written. eSpecialty Insurance is your specialty insurance expert. We have developed a streamlined marketplace to provide multiple proposals from a range of competitive insurers, along with expertise to help you evaluate your exposures and choose the best combination of comprehensive coverage and price. We look... Read more →

Black Swan Theory in Insurance

Black swan theory was bound to show up in the insurance industry, but so far there has been limited discussion. Do you know what a black swan is? Black swans are important in assessing future insurance losses, but are they adequately represented in the models? The term originates from a book called The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (also see here, or see Recent Books on the left of this blog). Wikipedia provides a good definition (see here): a large-impact, hard-to-predict, and rare event beyond the realm of normal expectations The book was written from the perspective of investing (Taleb was a hedge fund manager), but the concepts are particularly important for the... Read more →

Coastal Risk Management

Insurance exposures within coastal communities are rising from climate change and development. Increasing populations and property values, higher sea levels and more violent weather are all working to threaten insured property and challenge property insurers. The insurance industry response has been focused on financing the aggregation of coastal exposure in a manner that does not risk insurer solvency. Most of the political response has been focused on affordable insurance options, and one such result, which nobody in the insurance industry believes is effective or reasonable, is Citizens in Florida (see here & here). Very little attention has been paid to risk management and the impact a risk management approach can have on adverse outcomes. Both pre-loss and post-loss risk management... Read more →