Today on "In the Know," Eric Jesse from Lowenstein Sandler's Insurance Recovery Group outlines recommended New Year's insurance resolutions for 2024. He suggests making sure you know where all of your documents are, including complete copies of all of your policies and proof of insurance for all your vendors, suppliers, and other providers; and considering the benefits of seeking competitive bids on your lines of coverage.
Speakers:
Eric Jesse, Partner, Insurance Recovery
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Eric Jesse: Hi, I'm Eric Jesse from Lowenstein Sandler's Insurance Recovery Group, and welcome to "In the Know."
We hope that everyone's new year is off to a happy and healthy start. As we kick off the new year, we thought it would be a good idea to share a few "insurance" New Year's resolutions, and you'll want to stick to these.
Some of these resolutions and tips are simple. For example, do you have complete copies of all your policies? When your policy renewed last year, your broker probably sent you a binder—a document that is a few pages long that confirms that coverage is in place. But it usually takes some time for the complete policy to be issued. So, check and make sure you have your complete copy of the policy.
Your company may also require its vendors, its contractors, and other service providers to provide proof of insurance—or proof that your company was named as an additional insured on the service providers' policies. In the same vein of making sure you have your own policies, make sure you have the required proof of insurance, whether it be a certificate of insurance, or copies of the key policy documents or endorsements from those third parties.
Now, here's a resolution for you that is critical. Check and see if you have any open claims where there is a statute of limitations—or limitations period—that's required by the policy that is approaching. If that limitation period expires, you may not be able to recover on that claim, even if it is a valid one. Therefore, your company may need to take immediate action and that could be filing a lawsuit to preserve your rights or seeing if the insurer will enter into a tolling agreement.
Now, if your company underwent a corporate restructuring last year—even if it was an internal one among affiliated entities—consider whether that restructuring impacted any change in control provisions that could be in your policies. If there was a change of control event that may have, albeit unintentionally, created a gap in coverage to close out.
Here's one more resolution you should be thinking about in the new year. Given the difficulties in the insurance market and increases in premium and constricting of terms and conditions, start thinking today about whether it makes sense to competitively bid your lines of coverage. Reach out to your broker to discuss where they see the insurance market, and more importantly, your insurance program going in the new year.
We here at Lowenstein wish you a happy and healthy New Year. Thank you for joining us on "In the Know."
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
