Risk & Business

G. Kevin Nemith, President and CEO of The Business Insurance Center, CNC Insurance Associates Inc., has been named as the Chairman of the Independent Agents and Brokers Service Group of Pa, Md, & Delaware. The association represents over 1900 independent agents and brokers in the tri-State region. The IA&B Service Group is in business to provide products and services to independent insurance agents. Also to provide advocacy and legislative initiatives for the members.

Most of our clients do not know the hidden coverages in a General Liability policy. One in particular is the coverage for "personal injury and advertising". This coverage protects policyholders for libel and slander, personal injury, copyright and trademark infringements and more. Though claims in the past in this coverage have been less frequent, the number has been increasing over the years. Mainly due to the privacy acts that were legislated in many States. Don't forget about this valuble coverage in your Liability policies. Also call us with any questions. K

I know you have probably heard enough about this from me already but I just wanted to remind all our Delaware clients and prospective clients that the new law is now in effect. If you have questions about how the new law impacts you as a sole proprietor or independent contractor, call our office. Also you can go to the websites of the Delaware Department of Labor or the Delaware Insurance Department to get more information. K

Effective July 17th 2007 Independent Contractors who work in the construction business in Delaware are required to carry workmans compensation coverage on themselves. There is a whole lot of scenarios that apply to contractors who need it and those sole proprietors and partnerships who can exempt themselves. It is too much information for this blog, so go to our website home page and click "clients" and then click on the Special Insurance Bulletins. You should be able to see the June issue which goes into more detail about the new law. As always call us with any questions. K

I have had the discussion with many clients on how much liability limits they should buy. I can honestly say over the last 23 years in the business, that there is no easy answer to this question. Large limits available to plantiff attorneys are a big target. I have had clients that had large umbrella policies and were sued because the insurance policy with all that "money" available was too much for the plantiff attorney's to resist. In other words there is some thought out there that the bigger the limits the more your business is targeted. Then there is the thought that it is easier to sleep at night as a business owner when you have large liability limits protecting your business. As a person who makes their living helping business owners protect their businesses, I say buy as much as you can afford. It is better to have a well protected "target" than to have a "target" that is slim when it comes to liability coverage and limits. Notice that as a sm...

The amount of flood insurance being sold to business owners and homeowners is on the rise. This is a good thing since the hurricane season is fast approaching and experts are predicting a few bad storms. We at CNC reccomend all clients buy flood insurance even if you are not in a flood zone. Water run off and ground water excess are common events. These instances of water build up are not covered by standard property insurance and need to be covered under a flood policy. Your business has a high probability of getting "flooded" out by a ground water event after a heavy rain. So call us if you wish to discuss more about floodin and how to purchase flood insurance. We want you to be protected from the unexpected flood. K

The merger between IA&B of Delaware and the IIAD, occurred last night with a unanimous approval from both memberships. The new organization Delaware Association of Independent Insurance Agents Inc. will get up and running in May. As the chair of the IA&B of Delaware I was very excited to have the two groups come together. What does this mean for our clients at CNC ? It means that our agency will be able to tap more resources for education and products, which ultimtely is passed down as a increase in the value of services for our clients. K

Just wanted to give you all an update that the temporary suspension of the wcomp reform bill has been clarified with the passing of a revision. The clarification regarding independent contractors has been approved. Indpependent contractors working in a contracting capacity will be required to carry work comp on themselves. In addition the contracting entity subing the work to a independent contractor will have to carry proof of coverage for three years. I will get more details soon and psot them on the blog. Call us with questions. K

A recent article in the National Underwriter, brought to my attention how big insurance fraud is in this country. The article estimatedthe costs at roughly 25 billion dollars. This is big money. The bad part about insurance fraud is it trickles down from the insurance companies to small business owners like yourself in the form of higher rates. In this months Special Insurance Bulletin newsletter, I write about some of the techniques insurance companies are using to fight insurance fraud. Also I give a few idease to business owners on what they can do to fight insurance fraud. Any way you cut it, if the industry can't find a way to control fraud, then business owners will have to pay larger premiums than they should for a long time. K

Well, as of this posting, the Del insurance dept. has temporarily suspended the mandate for independent contractors to carry work comp on themsleves. This following the confusion from the new work comp law that passed Jan 17th. There is a industry meeting this week to make some clarifications and hoepfully clear up the confusion. In the meantime if you have questions call our office. K

As of this date clarification regarding the requirement of independent contractors and subcontractors to carry work comp coverage is still pending. Currently, based on the Delaware Department of Labor Feb 14th press release, all independent contractors and subcontractors are required to carry comp coverage on themsleves and employees as of Jan 17th. The question now becomes, who qualifies as an independent contractor and can independents exempt themselves like the old days. I spoke with department (Labor) today and they are going to post a clarification sometime in the near future. As of now however all independent contractors and subs, should carry comp coverage. Please call us with questions or for further discussion, and we are ready to get the coverage in place for you. K

The new Delaware Work Comp reform, has a strong section regarding independent contractors and workmans compensation. All independent contractors will need a comp policy for any "helpers" (ie employees) that they bring on the job site. Also if an injury occurs and there is no work comp in place the independent contractor will be fully responsible for the injury and will not be allowed to go to the general contractors work comp policy for a remedy. This is a big change from the past. If you are a independent subcontractor , we highly advise getting a work comp policy in place. Gone are the days where a subcontractor brings other "helpers" on the job and calls them subs too. K

Berkely Insurance Company just recognized CNC Insurance Associates as one of their top representing agents. The qualifications for this recognition is insurance sales volume, growth, and also customer service. This puts CNC Insurance in an elite group Nationally. The good news for our clients is that it gives us more ability to place business insurance with one of the Nation's strongest companies at the most competitive rates.

A recent study by Ames & Gough found that contractors are increasingly assuming risk that previously were considered the domain of architects and engineers. This is occurring through contract risk transfer and many unassuming contractors are "holding the bag" and they do not even know it. READ YOUR CONTRACTS CAREFULLY... Watch for words and paragraphs that deal with indemnification and hold harmless language. Especially as it relates to architects and engineers! Keep us informed so we can discuss your insurance options. Also, if this poses a big risk to you because of the type of jobs you do, then buy Contractors Liability coverage. Call is if you need this coverage or want to discuss it. My personal feeling is ever contractor should have this... K

It remains to be seen what the overall effect on rates will be, but this Delaware Reform bill is very neccessary. Clients have been calling me already asking when will they see rate reductions. I do not know but I would imagine before the end of the year there will be adjustments. It is good to see the Del Legislative give small business in Delaware some relief from the high comp rates that have held Delaware behind the other surrounding States. Lets stay tuned to the future positive developments. K

In a recent article in Fortune Mag., a study finds business owners dealing with more and more workplace "drama" between employees. Relationship issues, sexual harrassment, racial discrimination, etc... are causing business owners to reevaluate thier policies and procedures to protect themselves. If you do not have a policy and procedures manual to deal with these type of issues, you are setting yourself up for a indefensible lawsuit. Also the insurance industry has coverage called and EPLI policy, which will protect the business owner from employee lawsuits. If you are interested in buying this coverage contact our office. GKN

Sue Novellino celebrates her 20th year with CNC Insurance Associates. Sue has worked as the company internal accountant for most of this time. She did work as a client service agent for a brief while before entering into the accounting. Thank you Sue for all your years of hard work!

From all of us here at CNC Insurance we wish all our clients and prospective clients a very happy holiday season! Be careful out there!!

Over the last few years we have seen more and more of our clients communicating with us by email. Also the amount fo credit card premium payments has grown over 35%. What does this mean? Well it tells us that our clients are very busy people and making a change request by email or paying premiums by credit card, certainly saves time. Do not worry, we will always be here to answer the phone. We will take care of your business insurance needs the new way or the old way, doesn't matter to us. Thank you for your business!! Kevin

In a recent article published in one of the trade journals I was surprised to see that most business owners have thier property underinsured. The biggest reason for this is the fact that most people have no ideal what their assets are worth. Very few business owners get appraisals done on their properties and businesses, so they do not keep up with the soaring values. This can cause a problem when there is a claim. You are penalized for underinsurance in most insurance policies. So please review your values and call us to increase them!! Kevin