E&O Weekly Prevention
Strategies for the Professional Agent
  
October 18, 2012

 

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Benefits of AoA

E&O Blog

Free eBook

Free Membership

Free Newsletter

Free Social Media EBooks

Market Solutions

Press Releases

Meet the Experts  

Editor (Chief Fire Starter)

Managing Editor 

Publisher

Insurance Blog

Recommended Reading

 

Insurance Resources

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Letter from the Editor

  
This week's edition of AOA E&O Prevention:

 

 

In Pah-Ree Dee-Lick-Toe: A Lesson in Latin for Counsel Defending Professional Liability Claims. 

 

Latin for "in equal fault," the in pari delicto defense provides that a plaintiff who has participated in wrongdoing should not be able to recover damages arising from the same wrongful acts.  On December 6-7, 2012, learn why the defense is taking center stage for accountants, lawyers, underwriters and other professional service advisors at the DRI Professional Liability Committee's seminar in New York.  Learn what you need to know to protect your clients in 2013 -  DRI's Professional Liability Seminar" 

 

 

Table of Contents    

  

Claims Leakage - Plugging the Hole with Predictive Modeling Part 3 of 4

By Ronald T. Kuehn, Kim Piersol & Todd Dashoff

 

By Elizabeth L. Musser, Esq. 

  

Discovery of Facebook Information

By Joshua H. Romirowsky, Esq. 

 

By Pamela E. Woodside., Esq. 

  

 

Check out this week's edition of World Risk & Insurance News at WRIN.tv.

 

 

In Pah-Ree Dee-Lick-Toe: A Lesson in Latin for Counsel Defending Professional Liability Claims. 

 

Latin for "in equal fault," the in pari delicto defense provides that a plaintiff who has participated in wrongdoing should not be able to recover damages arising from the same wrongful acts.  On December 6-7, 2012, learn why the defense is taking center stage for accountants, lawyers, underwriters and other professional service advisors at the DRI Professional Liability Committee's seminar in New York.  Learn what you need to know to protect your clients in 2013 -  DRI's Professional Liability Seminar"

 

AgentsofAmerica.ORG has partnered with WebCE, a leading nationwide provider of Continuing Education for insurance professionals, to provide you with state-approved self-study CE courses to satisfy your CE requirements online! Check out your CE State Requirements.

  

Also available is our most recent edition of "AOA Tips, Views, News & More," including our new feature "Insurance Resources." & "Recommended Reading".  Remember that membership in AgentsofAmerica.ORG is FREE! Also if you have any thoughts, comments or suggestions, please email me at i[email protected]

 

"Bringing the Best Together"

 

Angelo J. Gioia

Publisher


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AOA News, Views, Tips and More

 

Employment Practice Liability - Risk Management Tip 

By Britton D. Weimer. Esq. of Jones Satre & Weimer PLLC

 

The top 8 rules of EPL discrimination claims prevention.

Rule number two:  "When advertising or interviewing to fill a position, do not ask applicants directly or indirectly about their membership in any of the categories protected by federal, state, or local law."

 

Rationale:  Just as the law prohibits adverse actions against current employees based upon their membership in a legally-protected group, so it prohibits adverse hiring decisions against prospective employees in a protected group.

 

Applicants who are not hired may use the application questions or advertising as evidence of discriminatory intent in a claim for discriminatory hiring practices. And applicants who are hired may make the application questions or advertising Exhibit A in a subsequent claim alleging a pattern of discrimination.

 

Employers often get tripped up in this area by asking applicants "ice breaker" questions about their age, marital status, national origin, or other matters pertaining to protected status under federal or state law.  If a subsequent claim is filed, the employer has an uphill battle arguing that the question was not relevant to the employment decision. 

 

Source: Employment Practices Liability, Chapter 6 (2nd Ed. National Underwriter 2012).

Contact Brit 
952/820-8403 or [email protected].


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Ask the Auditor

By Howard Gerver President of HR Best Practices

 

 

TIP #1 - Improve Value By Helping Clients Reduce Healthcare Costs

 

While everyone knows healthcare costs continue to spiral out-of-control, few brokers and advisors are willing to help their clients reduce their respective costs if it means their own commissions will be reduced. 

 

Well guess what? At least 10 brokers are knocking on your clients' doors.  Guess what else? Your competitors are having the healthcare cost reduction discussion that you're not having.  Oh, and one more thing.  By the third time your client heard the same cost containment idea from your competitor, their message is starting to stick.  As the new message from your competition starts to stick, guess whose "sticky" relationship is starting to get "less sticky?"   Good guess, you're right!

 

The good news is it does not have to be this way.  As the great Stephen Covey writes in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, it's all about being proactive.  Rather than wait for your clients to come to you with your competitors' ideas (or fire you), is it not smarter to be proactive and show them you truly care about their financial well-being?  Of course the answer is "yes!"  To that end, here's a real easy cost containment discussion to have.

 

Dependent eligibility audits have been a best practice for 7 plus years.  The removal of ineligible spouses and children often represent 5% - 10% of a dependent population.  Their removal translates to a reduction of claims (self-insured plans) of 3%.  In insured plans, the plan can reduce costs by at least 1 - 2% annually.  Moreover, in both situations, the removal of each ineligible dependent avoids a future liability.  Not only is this technique intuitive, it actually works.  Dependent audits are one of the easiest ways for plans to enjoy savings in a fully transparent, immediate and recurring manner.

 

So, guess what else?  Your ability to help your client reduce its healthcare costs, even though it means you might be making slightly less commission, really sticks and goes a long way with your client! 

 

Contact Howard HR Best Practices at 201.891.8010 or [email protected].  Visit us at www.HRBestPractices to discuss this and other healthcare cost management methods.

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Results of Last Poll Questions

 

The last time that I sent my sales staff (producers / account execs) for formal sales training

program was:

 

a) Within the last year                                                                         60%

b) Between 1-3 years ago                                                                    20%

c) Over 3 years ago                                                                            17%

d) Not sure if they have ever been trained in sales skills                          3%  

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This Week's Poll Question

 

As an Insurance Agent, what service from an insurance carrier do you care most about?

  

a) Dedicated sales/service teams

b) Product Info/training access 

c) Underwriting & turnaround time

d) Simple commissions schedules 

Articles 

A1Claims Leakage - Plugging the Hole with Predictive Modeling Part 3 of 4                                              

By Ronald T. Kuehn, Kim Piersol & Todd Dashoff Huggins Actuarial Services, Inc

 

 

In Part 3 of this article, we discuss another method of employing predictive modeling and claims leakage studies.

 

See Part 1 http://www.agentsofamerica.org/pr_detail.php?id_art=765

See Part 2. http://www.agentsofamerica.org/page.php?id=845 

 

The Problem: The Happy Person Insurance Company was a new insurer writing liability coverage in the State of Bliss. In order to make sure that the company was adequately reserved, the claims examiners for Happy Person were instructed to reserve every claim at their opinion of the maximum amount that might be paid if the company's insured was found to be fully liable. In addition, that reserve was to put up only once the examiner as sure that they had enough information in the claim file to support the decision on the reserve value.

 

  

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Read More...

  

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Firebrand Social Media   

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

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By Joshua H. Romirowsky, Esq.of Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin, P.C.

 
Trail v. Lesko, Allegheny Cty. CCP, C.A. No. GD 10-017249 (July 3, 2012)(Wettick, J.)  
 

Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas Judge Wettick has provided the public with a thoughtful overview and analysis of the discoverability of information on plaintiffs' and defendants' Facebook pages. After providing a review of judicial decisions in Pennsylvania and throughout the country that have addressed this issue, Judge Wettick provides us with a status of the law on this issue. Judge Wettick explains that, as a threshold matter, a party seeking discovery of restricted Facebook information must "articulate some facts that suggest relevant information may be contained within the non-public portions of the profile." From his perspective, "Courts have relied on information contained in the publicly available portions of the user's profile to form a basis for further discovery."

 
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By Pamela E. Woodside., Esq. of KDVG, LLP.

  

If the outcomes of three recent federal cases are any indication, the answer is yes. The original Americans with Disability Act ("ADA") provided protection to individuals who were morbidly obese, where the obesity was the result of a physiological condition or disorder and the obesity substantially limits one or more major life activities. In 2008 the ADA was amended to expand the definition of disability. Now, employees no longer have to demonstrate their obesity is caused by a physiological disorder; the fact that an individual is classified as obese - not just morbidly or severely obese - based on their weight, and that their weight impacts a major life activity such as walking or breathing, is sufficient to categorize an employee as disabled. 

 

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This newsletter is produced in conjunction with Agents of America, www.agentsofamerica.org. The contents of which may not be reproduced without the express written permission of Agents of America. Copyright 2012