Author Archive
03 Mar 2020
Insurance Implications for the Corona Virus
The Corona Virus (COVID-19) is much in the news. So far it has not been a major problem in the United States, and hopefully it will not. But it is affecting business in the U.S. because of supply chain issues from countries where the virus is disrupting commerce. This past week Chris Boggs, CPCU, ARM,
13 Jan 2020
The Civil Authority Clause: How Does It Work?
The Business Income Coverage (BIC) form provided by ISO includes an Additional Coverage entitled Civil Authority. Because of the hurricane activity in coastal North Carolina in the last few years, several questions about the coverage and how it works have arisen. So, it may be time to take a more in depth look at this
26 Nov 2019
A Work of Insurance Art!
Some of you may know that my academic background and training was in religion and philosophy. One of the areas of study in philosophy is aesthetics, which is essentially the study of beauty. Mostly aesthetics focuses on the arts, i.e., paintings, music, poetry, drama, etc. Rarely, if ever, is aesthetics mentioned in the world of
27 Aug 2019
How Does a Deductible Work?
I know this sounds like a very simple question, but over the years I have asked this question in classes and there has been some uncertainty in the answers I have gotten. Let’s take a scenario. We have a property insurance policy with a limit of insurance of $100,000 (it does not make any difference
29 Jul 2019
If You Got’m, Smoke’m: New Cannabis Endorsements for Commercial Insurance
The legalization of cannabis is a growing trend in America. We are lucky to have a national authority on cannabis and insurance here in North Carolina: Dr. Brenda Wells at East Carolina University is recognized as one of the most knowledgeable insurance authorities on this subject. Access to some of her work on this subject
29 May 2019
Ride-Helling… (I’m sorry, I meant Ride-Hailing)
Insurance has traditionally been aggregated into two hemispheres: insurance for personal property and activities, and insurance for commercial property and activities. There has always been some use of commercial property for personal uses, i.e. a business vehicle used personally. However, coverage for the use of personal property or activities in a business or commercial manner
20 May 2019
Replacement Cost Issues
In a previous blog, we discussed the concepts of Actual Cash Value (ACV) and Replacement Costs (RC). While the concepts are somewhat straight forward, their application to actual losses continue to have issues. In an ACV settlement, determining RC is relatively straight forward. Regardless of the age or condition of the damaged property, find a
20 Mar 2019
An Important Event
I had originally planned to follow up my last blog on valuation with some additional thoughts. However, on March 5, there was an important event. IIANC provided another excellent E&O Symposium which addressed several very important subjects, one of which was workers’ compensation. Over the last few years, I have received many phone calls from
11 Feb 2019
Recurring Issues… (Part 2)
In the previous blog, we discussed the values more commonly understood by property owners. So, now we must discuss the values more commonly used in property insurance policies and why they differ from the values with which property owners are more familiar. So, what values are more relevant for insurance purposes? A fundamental purpose of
28 Jan 2019
Recurring Issues… (Part 1)
I have heard it said that time gives one perspective and I can only hope that is true. As I look back over the 45 years of my career being an insurance agent and observing insurance agents, several issues seem to be perpetually of concern. One is valuations of property and how insurance policies handle