Greetings!
 Last week I celebrated my 50 th birthday. Yes, I am really that old. That means I've lived 18,265 days... 438,288 hours. Fifty sounds ancient to me, but I really don't feel half a century old. Whether I look it or not, I'll leave you to decide (but please, be kind).
Friends and family came together to celebrate last weekend, and no... it wasn't traumatic (unless you count the moment when I almost stepped on my Aunt's Chihuahua). I'm happy to say the day did not bring a mid-life crisis experience and there is no little red sportscar sitting in my driveway (wait, maybe I should rethink that). At the same time, there is something about turning 50 that makes you reflect on your life, and take a mental inventory of your time here on earth. History = His story, right? 
In my fifty years, I've lived a lot. I've loved a lot. I've learned a lot. I've been faced with experiences that I never could have imagined for myself. Some positive, others not so much.
- When I graduated college, I never would have thought that I'd find my niche selling insurance - and enjoy it!
- I could never have anticipated being out of work for nine months after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. Four years later I've been given a clean bill of health.
- Never for a second did I imagine that a woman as beautiful, intelligent and caring as my Lisa would put up with me, much less LOVE me (and the feeling is mutual!)
Life is full of unexpected things. They may be good or bad, but the common denominator is that we must be prepared to receive them and deal with them when they hit. Money isn't everything, but its absence only makes a difficult situation worse. It's ok to be optimistic, so long as you are also wise. That's where we come in. Our goal is to know our clients so well that we are able to anticipate your risk, and craft an insurance program tailored to your company and its unique needs. It really doesn't take too much effort to prepare yourself, particularly when you include Mason & Mason as part of the process... but the payoff could be HUGE. Doesn't the business you've worked so hard to build deserve it?
Every life is a story. Make yours a best seller!
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! You can also check us out on Facebook (www.facebook.com/M.M.Insurance)! 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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Automatic Drug Testing - Good Idea?
Imagine two accident scenarios. In the first, a construction worker falls off a ladder from 12 feet up and breaks his ankle. His employer has a policy requiring drug and alcohol testing for all workers who suffer work-related injuries that are likely to result in Workers Compensation claims. Can the employer legally do that? If it can, is it a good idea?
In the second, the construction worker is on the ground near the ladder. Someone asks him a question and he turns around to answer. At that exact moment, a worker 12 feet up on the ladder is stung by a bee and drops a component of the air conditioning unit he was installing. The component strikes the worker on the ground, fracturing his shoulder. His employer has the same policy about automatic testing after a workplace injury. Again, is this legal? Is it a good idea?
Employers have good reason to be concerned about the effects of drug and alcohol use in the workplace. A 2002-2003 workplace study showed that, in the prior 12 months...
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Will Your Liability Insurance Cover Your Subcontractor's Shoddy Work?
A general contractor builds a new home. The GC hires a subcontractor to install certain components. After the home's completion, those components turn out to be defective. Not only that, but their defects begin to affect other parts of the building. The homeowner sues, and the GC, facing large legal defense costs and potential judgments, submits claims to its insurers. The insurers deny coverage, saying that this was no accident, as the insurance policies use the term. Was this incident indeed an accident for which the GC should have insurance coverage, or was it merely a business risk that comes with hiring subcontractors? In the opinion of a federal appellate court, it was an accident.
The case, Stanley Martin Companies, Inc. v. Ohio Casualty Group, involved the construction of 24 duplex townhouses in a suburb of Washington, D.C. Stanley Martin, a home builder, hired Shoffner Industries to supply the wood trusses for the new homes. In its contract, Shoffner gave Martin a warranty guaranteeing that the trusses were free of mold, and it agreed to reimburse Martin for any liability or other costs that might arise out of defects in the trusses or any negligence. After Martin completed the homes, some of the homeowners began to complain of mold infestations. Investigations of the problem showed that the mold growth started with defective trusses and surrounding materials. The affected homeowners sued Martin, who ended up spending a long time in litigation and paying more than $1.7 million to clean up the mold.
Martin sought coverage under its General Liability and Umbrella insurance policies. The court's decision does not say what the General Liability insurance company did, but Ohio Casualty, who provided the Umbrella policy...
MORE...
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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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Time is of the Essence When it Comes to Reporting Claims
Jacqueline Butler did not receive a promotion from the Texas law firm where she worked, and she suspected that her race had something to do with it. In July 2001, she filed complaints with the Texas human rights commission and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC notified the employer, who responded a month later. The following spring, the EEOC informed Butler that she had the right to sue the employer, which she promptly did. In turn, the employer made a claim with the company that provided its Employment Practices Liability insurance. Four weeks later, the insurance company denied the claim; the employer had no choice but to pay for its own legal defense and any potential settlement. In 2006, the employer sued the insurance company for the costs of its defense, but a federal court in 2007 upheld the claim denial.
Why did the employer's insurance not pay for a discrimination claim? Because...
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