Greetings!
I know the New Year is upon us and Christmas is past, but I can't help sharing with you one more holiday memory. Each year the crew at Mason & Mason gathers together for our annual Christmas Party. This year the party was hosted by our Insured, The Notchland Inn. The 1860's granite mansion was a magical setting... numerous Christmas trees, all beautifully  decorated... incredible cuisine provided by their house chef... and of course the unparalleled hospitality of innkeepers, Les Schoof and Ed Butler. One might think it couldn't get much better than that.
Enter the Carol Sing. Oh yes, your Mason & Mason staff LOVE to sing (learn something new every day, don't ya?) Some of the crew sing beautifully... others, well... let's put it this way. We LIKE to sing. 'Nuff said. We have some standard favorites that are part of every year... Silent Night, O Holy Night, O Come All Ye Faithful. Pretty and serene.
And then there are the OTHER numbers. One that we try each year is "Baby It's Cold Outside". If you're one of the few people on the planet that's never heard the song, here's the gist: it's sung in two parts, with one kind of answering the other. To hear Margaret Whiting and Johnny Mercer croon it, you'd think it was easy. They make it seem effortless. But have a go at it for yourself and see what happens. As many times as we've attempted this number, we just can't seem to get it together. The timing is always off and it inevitably ends with a rousing chorus of laughter, rather than a crescendo of music. It takes teamwork to pull it off - the two parts relying on one another to produce a sound that meshes and is complete. Eh... we have a good time trying, anyway. J
While we may be challenged in regards to musical duets, when it comes to meeting your insurance needs, we here at M&M have teamwork down to a science. We not only work with one another (and have a blast doing it!) to put together the perfect insurance program for your business, we also work with you,  gathering information and assessing your needs so that we can mesh all the pieces together into a risk management plan that is complete and tailored to you. We know that your business is unique; your insurance program should be as well. Teamwork makes it all happen.
Stay warm (Baby, it's cold outside!), and remember... we're here working together on your behalf. But trust me on this, don't ask us to sing. J
Tom Messier, Vice President
Mason & Mason Insurance Agency
M&M Assurance Group
P.S. If you enjoy this newsletter, check out our website at www.mmins.com. Click the "Clients" tab at the top of the page and then enter the site with username: "Client" and password: "INFO4U". You'll find more helpful articles on a wide range of topics. There's even a list of all our previous newsletters, so you can browse by topic to find exactly what you're looking for! If you have any questions, give us a call at (800) 298-0802. We'll be happy to hear from you! |
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Hold Harmless Agreements and Contractual Liability Insurance Help Manage Risk
Lawsuits are a common occurrence in our litigious society. An effective way to limit your liability is to specify your responsibility in a contractual relationship. Risk can be transferred contractually by including "hold harmless" clauses in agreements.
In a hold harmless agreement, one party agrees to protect or "indemnify" another from claims brought by a third party for financial loss or damage. A good example is a general contractor who hires a subcontractor to complete a job for a third party. To protect himself, the general contractor may require the subcontractor to sign a hold harmless agreement. The agreement would indemnify the general contractor if any problems arose from the subcontractor's work.
Read before You Sign on the Dotted Line
In a hold harmless agreement, the indemnitor (the party that has assumed the liability) is responsible for all financial loss. Some hold harmless clauses are very broad. Surprisingly, they may include liability even if the indemnified company was solely responsible for the damage. On the other hand, a Contractual Liability insurance policy can protect the indemnitor, but might not cover all aspects of liability.
In our example above, the hold harmless agreement gives the general contractor the right to collect for damages paid to the third party to the extent enforceable under the law. However...
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Employers: Take Control of WC Claims
 In today's tough economy where the cost of doing business continues to soar, companies need to take steps to operate as cost-efficiently as possible. Assigning a company's Workers Compensation costs to a specific department encourages managers and group supervisors to pay close attention to safety and training programs, and to monitor carefully an injured employee's return to work. As an additional incentive to cut Workers Compensation costs, claims reimbursements can be deducted from a departmental budget, rather than from a general fund.
Employers can take greater control of instituting and enforcing preventive measures and injury management procedures by initiating simple internal procedures that hold individual departments accountable for Workers Compensation expenses. These procedures will help decrease both the frequency and severity of injuries, a win-win situation for employees and employers alike, resulting in reduced claims and reduced Workers Compensation premiums.
By communicating directly with those employees who are potential Workers Compensation beneficiaries, employers can more readily attain their safety goals. As a first step, employers should...
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About Mason and Mason
For more than 20 years we've been committed to meeting the insurance and bonding needs of the construction industry. The success and leadership of our practice has led to strategic and proprietary relationships with insurance companies similarly committed to the industry. Our clients benefit from our insurer relationships in the form of products designed with their special needs in mind. Our access to many construction specialty insurers also assures our clients are afforded a range of options at various cost levels in order to match the level of protection for their particular needs. As important as these insurer relationships are, our true competitive edge is the people who serve our clients. We have team of construction insurance professionals who understand the complexities of the worker's compensation and general liability insurance regulatory environment as applied to the industry. We leverage this specialized knowledge and our broad risk management expertise to the benefit of our construction industry clients.
Mason and Mason Insurance M&M Assurance Group
458 South Avenue 3304 White Mountain Hwy
Whitman, Massachusetts 02382 North Conway, NH 03860
T (800) 759-1452 T (800) 298-0802
F (781) 447-2832 F (603) 356-9290 |
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DOES YOUR INSURANCE PROVIDE COVERAGE TO DEFEND YOU IN COURT?
Commercial General Liability insurance pays for lawsuit settlements or court judgments that an organization would otherwise have to pay for certain types of harm others suffer. These include bodily injuries, property damage, advertising injuries, and personal injuries such as violations of privacy. Another benefit of this insurance, however, can be just as valuable or even more so: Coverage for the cost of legal defense.
The standard CGL insurance policy gives the insurance company "the right and duty to defend the insured" against any suit seeking damages. Conversely, the company has no duty to defend the insured against a suit seeking damages for an incident the policy does not cover. The company's duty to defend ends when...
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