Webinar on essential insurance issues - why you should attend December 12, 2024

KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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Webinar on essential insurance issues - why you should attend
December 12, 2024
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Webinar Announcement
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          K&K will present a free webinar on December 18, 2024 at noon ET on essential issues regarding E&O insurance coverage. Be sure to attend or watch the webinar on the K&K website once updated.
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5871022000598911321
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Title: Application for E&O coverage and related issues
Presented by:   Shawn Iverson of The Insurance Center
When: December 18, 2024 at 12pm ET. Webinar will be posted on K&K website https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/alarm-webinars
Who should attend:  Owner, GM, risk managers
Topics to be covered:
Do you really have E&O coverage? Is there difference between general liability, professional liability, completed operations and Errors and Omission coverage?
Do all carries purporting to write E&O coverage for alarm/security companies understand the coverage
How important is detail in response on the application or renewal application
What are implications for less than accurate response to application questions
Do all carriers handle claims the same
How should you rely on your insurance broker and are they all the same
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Why you should attend the webinar

You can't do business, any business, without proper insurance coverage. The the alarm business that means all the insurance common to most business and Errors and Omission coverage specifically for the alarm business. There are a few carriers who promote "alarm industry program package" and most of them actually understand the scope of coverage; unfortunately there is sometimes a disconnect between the underwriters [who sell you the insurance] and the claims department [who handles the claims] and when that happens you need to worry about your coverage and fight for the insurance you purchased.
The webinar is likely to touch on many topics pertinent to the alarm industry. The presenter, Shawn Iverson of The Insurance Center, is well regarded in the industry and for a good reason, his expertise and experience.
E&O insurance is an endorsement to a general liability policy. I see it referred to as "completed operations", "product liability", "professional liability", "errors and omissions" and sometimes not mentioned at all. I doubt all of the various coverages mean the same thing and cover the same claims, but that is exactly what some brokers claim when issuing the COI, certificate of insurance; it's one topic Shawn needs to cover. Assume the coverage means different things, what are the criteria for coverage for each type of insurance?
I've seen the claims department claim that E&O coverage will not cover a burglary because there is no "personal injury" or "property damage". Even if there is some property damage the claims representative won't cover the items of theft, and that's obviously the coverage an alarm company needs and is purchasing with the E&O coverage. Some alarm E&O policies will exclude "monitoring" or "cameras" or "guard response". Since you need that coverage as well, you need to be careful how the policy is wording, because it needs to be as broad and clear as the promotion material you read before you signed up for the mumbo jumbo policy. [sort of like some of the alarm contracts being used that are all but impossible to read or understand - and I am not referring to Kirschenbaum Contracts TM, which are written in clear and concise manner].
Because of the disconnect between the advertised coverage and the policy terms, and the underwriting and claims departments of the carrier [and by extension the house or panel counsel hired by the claims department] what your E&O policy covers needs to be broad and clear to meet your expectation when the claim comes in.
Scrutiny of a claim certainly differs with the type and scope of a claim. A minor loss may be covered without much thought or even when the coverage is questionable. A large claim however may receive a lot of coverage attention with the goal of avoiding coverage if possible, and I am not talking about you avoiding responsibility for the loss [which is the purpose of the Standard Form Agreements] but your carrier's obligation to defend and indemnify you from the claim.
The insurance, all insurance, starts with the Application or renewal application.  You will be representing that all the information provided by you is accurate and can be relied on by the carrier in determining whether it will write the insurance and what premium it will charge for it. A failure to disclose information, or providing false information, may be grounds for a carrier to claim that it was "defrauded", enabling it to cancel the insurance coverage, retroactive to the start date of the policy. That leaves you without coverage for the claim that prompted the inquiry by the carrier into your operation and representations in the application. The larger the claim the more scrutiny your application may face.
It's essential that when taking out the insurance, or renewing it, you read the exclusions to make sure you aren't offering the services. Monitoring is a good example. While you may not be doing the monitoring yourself, you are contracting for the service and then subcontracting it to your wholesale monitoring center. if a claim comes in that involves monitoring [and even if it doesn't and the central station is sued and then expects indemnity, including insurance coverage] the claim will be for monitoring and you may not be covered. Or your policy may not mention cameras and the claims department may think that's not part of an alarm operation; same with access control or guard response. The point is, that the size of the claim and the inexperience of the claims department [assuming no real bad faith to just avoid a claim if it can get away with it] can result in a Reservation of Rights Letter, denial of coverage or termination of your policy.
Shawn will be addressing these and other issues and you need to pay attention. If you miss the live presentation the webinar will be recorded and posted on the K&K website under Alarm Webinars.

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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com