Have you ever been victim to a frivolous lawsuit?

Did you know that included in many insurance policies is liability coverage.  There are many different types of policies and liability coverage.  Your homeowner or renters policy usually provides personal liability.  This type of liability is very broad and covers "you" anywhere.  Most people think that the liability coverage provided on this type of policy only protects you if someone gets hurt on the property.  Actually, it is much broader than that.   This is the type of liability coverage I am going to focus on today.  Here is some more specific information, in hopefully easy to understand language:

Personal Liability:  Found on  your homeowners or renters policy.  You must read your specific policy language for specifics of what is covered or not covered.  Who is covered is also defined in your policy language.  However, in most cases "YOU" are a named insured and any resident relatives.  Also, in most cases the policy language states that they will pay all sums up to the amount shown on the declaration page which anyone we protect becomes legally obligated to pay as damages because of a personal injury or property damage resulting from an occurrence during the policy period.  

A good example is if you are in the supermarket and you accidentally hit someone or perhaps their vehicle with your shopping cart.  If you are sued, your insurance company will hire and attorney, investigate, and if necessary go to court and pay any claims up to the limit on your policy.

If your son or daughter, who lives with you, is playing in the yard and accidentally knocks a ball through a window - a neighbors house or car, again you will be protected.

Here is the most important thing I want you to know about this coverage and the least known:

Personal liability coverage is the LEAST expensive coverage on  your policy. Often times $100,000 worth of coverage is automatically included in your premium. Did you know that usually for $20-$30 approximately more a year you can make that $1,000,000.  

Please contact us if you would like a free review of your current home or renters policy, even if you are with another agent or if you would like to increase your coverage.

You can also contact us on the web and get a free homeowner quote or visit us at one of our three locations.

Workers Compensation Insurance for the Construciton Insdustry & Contractors

In October of 2010, the New York Construction Industry Fair Play Act took effect.  The law created a definition specifically for the construction industry as to who was an 'employee'.  There will also now be penalties for employers who fail to properly classify the employee.

Here is how you determine whether someone is an independent contractor. (They must meet all three of the criteria below):

(1) Free from control and direction in performing the job, both under contract and in fact.

(2) Performing services outside of the usual course of business for the company and;

(3) Engaged in an independently established trade, occupation or business that is similar to the service they perform.

In the past the company that hired the subcontractor used to have to pay for workers compensation coverage for all monies paid to the subcontractor but in a lessor expensive class code used solely to identify subcontractors.  Now if they don't meet the criteria above the monies paid will all be put into the governing class code on the policy.  For carpentry or roofing this could be VERY expensive bill at the end of the year.

There are SEVERE penalties for employers who violate the newly enacted law.

Today, most companies that have a workers' compensation policy in place will require that any person they hire as a subcontractor also has their own insurance.

You can read about the Fair Play Act here:  http://www.labor.ny.gov/formsdocs/wp/P738.pdf

Here is a poster also provided by NYS Department of Labor: http://www.labor.ny.gov/formsdocs/ui/IA999.pdf

If you are interested in more information or a worker's compensation quote, please feel free to check out our website at www.tiains.com or stop by one of our three locations.

Contractors and Fall Protection

This has become a major issue for Contractors in the State of NY.  Fall claims have driven up the cost of insurance and a lot of standard insurance carriers in NY are no longer writing contractors that have a height exposure.  This applies to carpenters, electricians, heating and air conditioning contractors and commercial snowplowing just to name a few.  It is not so much the fact the insurance companies even end up having to pay out anything on these types of claims.  However, the insurance companies still have to hire and pay an attorney, go to court and then pay any required claims.  This could take years to finalize and cost insurance companies hundreds of thousands of dollars just in attorney fees.

If you have had continuous insurance and have a good claims history and have a safety plan in place there is a good chance you can still get insurance with one of the standard carriers in NY. 

Following are some resources to develop your own safety plan:

http://www.osha.com/store/written-safety-plans.html

http://www.ehso.com/sampleplans.php

http://freeonlineoshatraining.com/index.html

https://safetyskills.com/

http://www.nsc.org/products_training/Training/Pages/OnlineTraining.aspx

Once you have a safety plan in place it is important to give a copy to your employees, go over it in detail and have them sign off on it.  It is important to do this at least once a year and definitely upon hiring someone new.  Check for updates too.

If you are interested in more information or a quote, please feel free to contact us at www.tiains.com.