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Your Insurance Proposals - Will They Help You or Hurt You in E&O Litigation
By Curtis M. Pearsall, CPCU, AIAF, CPIA, Executive Director AOA Learning Center
Most agencies and their respective producers look at insurance proposals as one of the key tools that will determine whether they land the account. However in addition to the sales benefit, a quality insurance proposal can also provide solid E&O benefits. The key word is "quality" because there is certainly the possibility that your proposals can cause you some E&O nightmares if a problem were ever to develop. How do the proposals in your agency measure up?
Employers who Solicit Facebook Friend "Snooping" Could Face Liability Under Federal Stored Communication Act
By Mark Fijman, Esq. of Phelps Dunbar, LLP
Facebook postings by employees have increasingly become a factor in employment discrimination lawsuits. In some of my recent cases, employers were made aware of an employee's threats of violence, workplace misconduct or other inappropriate actions when a co-worker, who also was a Facebook "friend", brought the Facebook post to the employer's attention. Such posts can be powerful evidence in defending against a discrimination lawsuit and proving that any adverse employment action was for a legitimate non-discriminatory reason.
Employee Engagement Made Easy: 5 Tips to Increase Employee Engagement
By Michael Mercer, Ph.D. of Mercer Systems, Inc.
Employee engagement is a big topic in management periodicals. Strongly engaged employees are said to prove more productive and loyal than low engagement employees. Plus, surveys claim a bigger percentage of employees feel low engagement with their jobs and employers.
By Marc Zimet, Esq, of Jampol Zimet LLP
CA Supreme Court Holds Violations of the Unfair Insurance Practices Act May Be Actionable Under Unfair Competition Law
A recent California Supreme Court decision holds that a violation of the Unfair Insurance Practices Act (UIPA; Ins. Code, §790 et seq.) may provide a claim under the Unfair Competition Law (UCL; Bus. & Prof. Code, §17200 e seq.) in certain circumstances. The case, Yanting Zhang v. Superior Court was decided August 1, 2013.
South Carolina Supreme Court Introduces "Continuum" Approach for "Occurrence"
By Sina Bahadoran, Esq. and Todd M. Davis, Esq. of Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP
Last week, inAuto-Owners Ins. Co. v. Rhodes, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that an "occurrence" can include subsequent events, so long as they were in some fashion caused by the initial accident. In that case, the insured constructed three billboards. One billboard fell onto the adjoining interstate and also damaged the owner's land.
Business Associate Definition Expanded and HHS Empowered to Impose New Civil Fines
By Frank Fanshawe, Esq. and Jason LaFlam, Esq. of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP
Long-awaited omnibus regulations (Omnibus Rule) adopted earlier this year by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) made significant modifications impacting "business associates" to the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Enforcement and Breach Notification Rules (collectively, the HIPAA Rules).
Stop; Hammer (Clause) Time
By Michael P. Luongo, Esq. and James Gilroy, Esq. of Goldberg Segalla LLP
Litigation is big business with big dollar signs. As a result of the large awards that can result from malpractice suits, many professionals, their attorneys, and insurers are interested in early settlement discussions. When considering settlement, the defense team must balance "right and wrong," pride, defense costs, and other complicated factors that are difficult to quantify.
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