Professional Liability Claims for Design Professionals
The first indication that a professional liability claim might be made against your firm often comes long before an official demand for money or services alleging your negligence. Warning signs often include a client’s dissatisfaction with services provided, or refusal to pay for services. If something unexpected or unusual occurs during a project, early investigation can determine if there is potential liability exposure. Requests that result in providing documents, or testifying on a client’s behalf, or contact by an attorney regarding your services for a client are indications that you may be the target of a claim. The ability to sense a potential claim usually develops with experience.
If you suspect that a claim might be filed, contact your professional liability agent or carrier. The earlier a potential claim is identified and reported, the better the chances of reducing the risk of an actual claim. Prompt notice also can help minimize the possibility of coverage issues. Whether a formal claim is filed, or an incident indicates that you might be involved in a claim, it is important to work with knowledgeable and experienced people to help deal with the issues raised
Disputes happen. Dissatisfied clients, construction firms with cost recovery programs, injured third parties, and other claimants often try to tap into the insurance and financial assets of firms to solve real or perceived problems. We encourage policyholders to report any circumstance or incident that could lead to a claim so that claim professionals can work with you to try to head off potential claims and litigation. At the first indication of a problem, you should discuss the situation with your broker. You also may want to contact, at your expense, your firm’s counsel. Once we have been notified, we will take appropriate steps to try to determine the extent of the problem. A claim professional will work with you to investigate, direct, monitor, and assess your situation. When the carrier decides that early assistance is desirable, the costs incurred in representing you in pre-claim situations are paid wholly by the carrier. Costs associated with reporting a pre-claim or “circumstance” are not viewed as part of the loss experience during the underwriting process. An additional benefit of early reporting is that you lock in the limit of liability and deductible in force at the time the circumstance is reported should the incident later
develop into a claim. A “circumstance” is defined in the policy as “an event reported to the Insurer during the policy term from which the Insured reasonably expects that a claim could
be made.” The pre-claim assistance program can be “preventative medicine” for disputes. You are encouraged to take advantage of the expertise of claim professionals,
and the value of our pre-claim assistance program. Please check your policy or with your agent to see if you have this included in your coverage. For more information please contact your Professional Underwriters, Inc. Agent or click here.