Professional Errors and Omissions Insurance is a type of errors and omissions insurance protects business professionals whose clients could claim damages as a result of the business professionals' faulty performance. The faulty performance may be because of a negligent act, error, or omission by the professional.
Speed Your Business Insurance Application Process Along With These Handy Tips
Business insurance coverage, and particularly Professional Liability insurance, is important in any business industry, but for those companies that provide IT services, it is critical. While General Liability insurance coverage addresses claims of bodily injury or property damage, Professional Liability insurance, also known as Errors and Omissions insurance, protects organizations against claims of professional negligence and errors or omissions in professional work. Specifically, Professional Liability insurance for techs will help protect against cases in which a client is rendered unable to operate their business as a result of loss of data, or software or system failures, as an example.
During the application process, however, nearly 25 percent of the companies that apply for General Liability and Professional Liability insurance for techs are declined. Sometimes this is due to high-risk behavior on the technology company's part, but often it's a result of not thoroughly understanding what is being asked and not properly answering the questions on the application. There are, however, several steps companies can take to help protect against an application decline. These steps also apply when submitting information for technology insurance quotes.
* Be Honest: Practice the utmost honesty when answering all questions on the business insurance coverage application. Be sure to disclose all pertinent information, as this automatically opens the door to claim denials should the company become involved in a lawsuit. Claim adjusters tend to review original applications and technology insurance quotes for misrepresentations. This includes any statements that, if answered truthfully, would be considered reason for the insurance provider to decline an application. Not only will the claim likely be denied, but the company also runs the risk of loosing the insurance carrier's legal defense and settlement payments.
* Provide a Thorough Description of your Business Operations: Be diligent in providing thorough descriptions of your business operations. Simply providing a short one- or two-answer sentence gives the appearance that the company is hiding something. Underwriters will becomes suspicious, which could either result in a refusal for further consideration of the application or significant questioning, which slows down the underwriting process tremendously.
* If the Information is on the Company Web site, It Needs to Be on Your Application: When insurance providers are considering a company for business insurance coverage, they make it standard practice to thoroughly review the company Web site. If the site contains any contradictory information, "red flags" are automatically raised. This could be as simple as a tech company, in an effort to appear more professional to prospects, listing a broad scope of work in which they specialize even though they are not currently performing that work. If the underwriter finds such contradictories, they may reject the application or request more answers, which also can slow down the underwriting process, leaving the business uninsured and vulnerable.
James Cochran is the founder of Techinsurance. Since 1997, Techihsurance.com has been providing high quality professional liability insurance at a reasonable price to IT firms across the nation. They quickly became a leader in providing business liability insurance, and have since maintained their position as one of the top IT business insurance providers.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Cochran
One of the areas of greatest confusion is the difference between Professional Indemnity, General Liability and Product Liability Insurance. Professional Indemnity Insurance provides coverage for professionals (corporate or individual) for any negligent act, error or omission alleged to have occurred while in the performance of their professional activities and duties. It differs from General Liability and Product Liability Coverage in that the acts covered are those acts performed by an engineer, architect, doctor or attorney in rendering professional services to their clients. To better understand this coverage we will have a brief discussion below of Product Liability, Professional Indemnity and the application of the latter and how it functions.
A. Product Liability
Product Liability is the legal responsibility of a manufacturer to a consumer of its' product. Liability arises out of the negligent manufacture of a product including defective or faulty workmanship, materials or components. It is a liability that arises from the failure of a manufacturer to properly manufacture, test or warn about its product and occurs when the product departs in a negligent manner from its intended function.
Product Hazards includes bodily injury or property damage arising out of the named insured's products, but only if the bodily injury or property damage occurs away from the premises owned or leased by the named insured and after physical possession of the products have been relinquished to others and is in the stream of commerce.
Completed Operations includes bodily injury and property damage arising out of operations or reliance upon a representation or warranty made at any time with respect thereto, but only if the bodily injury or property damage occurs after such operations have been completed or abandoned and occurs away from premises owned by or rented to the Named Assured.
Excluded from General Liability and Product Liability Coverage is that negligence attributable to Professional Liability, which includes the services or consultations rendered negligently by architects, engineers, or other professionals.
B. Professional Indemnity
The Professional Indemnity Policy is designed to answer the professional services exclusion in the CGL/ Product Liability Policy. The Professional Indemnity Policy covers the negligent services of a professional to its client and covers an act of negligence, error or omission on the part of an assured in the execution of his professional activities. These professional activities usually include design, the drafting of specification, feasibility studies, calculations, maps and supervision of same by the insured professional.
Professional Indemnity, or Errors & Omissions, Insurance protects an insured, its employees and directors against liability arising from their professional negligence. It covers the Legal Liability to compensate a third party who has sustained injury, loss or damage created by the existence of a duty of care owed to third parties as a result of a negligent act, error or omission in the rendering of professional services by the assured.
In light of today's increasingly litigious society, Professional Indemnity Insurance provides important protection for the professional assured.
Coverage attaches under the Professional Indemnity Policy as soon as the design for the products begins and provides protection for any professional negligent act, error or omission which would result in a claim by third parties.
C. Applicability of Professional Indemnity Coverage
In discussing the applicability of Professional Indemnity coverage, certain basics should be kept in mind.
Firstly, Professional Indemnity is a third-party coverage that is a liability cover, not a property cover, which is provided to the assured for the claims against the insured from third party claimants.
Secondly, while coverage attaches from the beginning of the design phase of the project, a claim will not be until after delivery of the product and the product has left the premises of the assured.
Coverage for liability which occurs in the assureds' workplace must be found elsewhere, such as the General Liability, Builder's or Contractor's All Risk or Protection and Indemnity policies.
Thirdly, of course the claim must arise out of a failure in the professional services provided. There is some limited coverage afforded under the Professional Liability for faulty workmanship, materials and/or components. Also, included in the Product Liability cover would be any claim for defective materials or components, defect in manufacturing, or workmanship.
Fourthly, any inadvertent, non-intentional breach of a patent or copyright infringement is also covered under this policy.
In its history of providing insurance services to its clients for over thirty years, Nausch Hogan & Murray has provided coverage for all areas of liability - both on land and at sea. On landside we provide our clients with a short discussion of the various forms of liability coverage available in the market place, in order for them to better judge which best suits their company's needs.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Maria_Dawson
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I have recently started a small business and is planning to insure it. I was looking for some information about what type of insurance do I took. You have shared such a nice information in this regard, Thanks for sharing it.
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