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  • Reservation of Rights

    Although an insurer has an obligation to pay for a loss, it depends on agreeing that the loss qualifies for coverage. Insurers face a considerable risk. Once it is notified of a claim, an insurer must respond. However, when there is a dispute over a claim, the fact that a company begins to handle a request can, during litigation, be interpreted as admitting a loss is covered. In order to protect itself, an insurance company may use a special document called a Reservation of Rights (ROR) letter.

  • Loss Misery Loves Company

    One might think that insurance should be simple. One party wants protection and another party, if paid the right amount of money, is willing to provide protection. An insurance policy (a contract) controls what situations are covered. A very important part to consider is exclusions.

  • Subrogation

    An insurance policy, no matter what is being covered, is a contract between the insurance company and the party that wants protection. When a policy involves liability coverage, the contract, essentially, means that the insurance company will handle losses (injuries to other people and/or loss or damage to property that belongs to others). However, eligible losses are restricted to those that are the policyholder’s legal responsibility. There are many times that a loss is settled under a liability policy; but someone else may actually be responsible. Consider an example:

  • Lords of Land

    Being fortunate enough to own property beyond one’s personal residence is both a blessing and a huge responsibility. When you rent out your property to others, in the form of an apartment, townhouse, condo, home or other structure, that responsibility increases and so does your chance to suffer either a property or liability loss.

  • Electronically Stored Information

    All businesses deal with Electronically Stored Information (ESI). It consists of documents that are kept in a paperless rather than a paper format. Therefore, it can consist of, well, nearly anything such as bills, receipts, contracts, correspondence, orders, internal memos (e-mails), payroll records, tax records, and so on. For various reasons, you may be required to reproduce and share information. The requirement may come from a customer, the IRS or, from someone who is suing you. It is the latter circumstance that has made ESI so prominent.

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  • Entertaining Exposures

    From the smallest towns to the largest cities; there’s the repeated scene of a bar or club filled with people. They gather to eat, drink and to be entertained. Three sources of entertainment are still quite popular: live bands, DJs and karaoke. While many performers who provide these services do so full-time, the vast majority don’t. In fact, many such performers treat their activities as hobbies instead of businesses and that can create problems.

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  • Duties To Preserve Property

    Most insurance policies contain specific references to a duty to protect property from further harm. It may be called a Neglect provision or Preservation of Property; regardless, insurance companies rely on their policyholders to comply with the obligation. A policyholder’s duty can be categorized broadly in two areas. First, we’ll discuss aggravating a loss:

  • Personal Injury

    Unlike accidental events that result in a person suffering a serious injury (called bodily injury) or property that is damaged or destroyed (called property damage), personal injury usually involves one person’s alleged interference with another person's legal rights. It also applies to incidents that harm another person's reputation.

    Personal Injury commonly includes acts such as the following:

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