225 E Chestnut St

Mifflinburg PA

570-966-3145

  

Lewisburg Office

57 Reitz Blvd Ste 101

Lewisburg PA

570-524-4200 

  

Email:  insure@lawtonins.com

  

  

At this most celebrated, special time of year, we want to pause to give thanks for all of our blessings and for the trust you have placed in our agency.  It is truly a privilege to be your insurance agency.

We at the Lawton Insurance Agency look forward to working with you in 2014 and are committed to doing our very best to exceed your needs.  We wish you a great holiday season and a fruitful New Year!

  

We get calls from our customers all the time wanting to remove a vehicle from their auto policy because it is not working or they won't be driving it for awhile.  We can't blame the customer for trying to save some money while their car is inoperable but there are consequences in removing a vehicle from an auto policy that still has a valid registration.  If a vehicle has not been sold, the tags transferred to another vehicle, or insured by another insurance company, it is important that you turn your plates and registration over to the Department of Transportation.  Pennsylvania Financial Responsibility Law indicates that an owner of a currently registered motor vehicle that does not have insurance or other financial responsibility is prevented from recovering first party benefits.  So that means if you were in an auto accident you would have no medical coverage, income loss coverage, funeral or accidental death benefits.  This applies not only to the deleted vehicle, but to the entire policy, including any other vehicles still listed.  License plates and registration should be mailed to the following address: 

PENNDOT

Return Tag Unit

PO Box 68597

Harrisburg PA

  

Homeowners' insurance policies offer limited or no protection for your business while it is being operated from your home.  They were never intended to cover business exposures; therefore, office equipment in your home is limited.  And your homeowner policy provides no coverage for liability on your home-based business.  On top of this, operating a business in your home may make portions of your homeowner's policy coverage null and void.  (For example, coverage on a detached structure that has a business office in it.)  You need to contact us to discuss the best way to cover your home based business, either by endorsing your homeowners policy to properly cover your exposure, or by purchasing a separate business owners policy.

Should you be contacting us?  Of course, there are obvious reasons we might have to speak to one another;  you're moving; you bought a new car, etc.  But there are other critical times when a short chat will help us protect you better.

- Marital separation or divorce- there is lots to sort out when this occurs.

- Refinancing a loan- good time to review coverage and make sure it's in sync with what the lender requires.

- Home remodel or improvement- anytime you make substantial improvements of $5000 or more you need to let us know to make sure we maintain true "replacement cost" on your home.

- You're giving a family member or relative one of your cars, but keeping it in your name- we have to talk immediately.

- You've purchased some jewelry, fine art, antiques, etc- let's make sure you have the proper coverage for those valuables.

- You have purchased some "vacant land".  Even though there might be no building to insure on the land, you will want to make sure you have liability insurance and your homeowner's policy doesn't always automatically extend to the newly purchased land.

- If you have changed any of your contact information;  phone number, email address, location address- let us know so we don't have problems contacting you.

- One of your children has moved out of the household or your child turned 24 and is still going to college and renting an apartment- if your child leaves your household he or she needs to get their own auto insurance and renter's or home insurance.  If your child is still going to college and is 24 years or older, your home policy no longer protects his or her belongings and liability.  He or she would need to get his or her own renter's insurance policy.

  

Of course, you don't always need a reason to call.  We'd love to hear from you just to say "hello".

  

- EPL Insurance covers not only actual but also alleged acts of employee discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination and other similar acts.  The cost to defend an alleged act could run into the tens of thousands of dollars.  This is a cost that you would incur, even though you did nothing wrong.

- 3 out of 5 employers are sued by former employees every year.

- Over 40% of all EPL Insurance claims are against firms with fewer than 100 employees.  So small businesses are not immune.  If you have any employees other than yourself, your business needs EPL Insurance coverage.

- Some federal and state employment laws apply to all employers, regardless of number of employees.  Any size company has an exposure.

- The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recorded nearly 100,000 charges in 2010 and procured more than $417 million in settlement for claimants.

-  The financial ramifications of not having EPL insurance can be crippling, especially for a small business because they do not have the resources to handle the defense costs, which can run into the tens of thousands of dollars, let alone the settlements or judgments of an insured accusation.

- The median cost of an EEOC lawsuit in 2010 exceeded $270,000.

- There is no EPL Insurance coverage under other insurance policies such as General Liability insurance.

- Since 1997, wage and hour litigation has tripled.  More wage and hour collective or class actions have been filed in recent years than any other types of employment class actions combined.

- Recent Supreme Court decisions have lowered the standard of what constitutes retaliatory treatment.  Retaliation now accounts for more than one third of all EEOC charges.

If you have a business with ANY employees, give us a call to discuss this important coverage.  Without it, your business could be crippled with just an accusation of an improper action.

  

  

  

  

Sincerely,
 
Lawton Insurance Agency