The Coyle Group Blog

Don’t let your Insurance Coverage go to the Dogs

thecoylegroup — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:57:32 +0000

While dog ownership can be a very fulfilling experience and dogs make wonderful companions, dog bites make up one-third of all homeowners’ insurance liability claims according to the Insurance Information Institute. In addition to the physical and emotional damage dog bites cause, the average cost of a dog bite claim clocked in at $24,461 in 2008. This is an area where risk management techniques are crucial. In order to insure the safety of your family and guests the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta suggest the following:

Owners should carefully choose your pet dog by evaluating the environment and lifestyle. Potential owners should speak with a professional to determine the appropriate type of pet.
Dogs should be neutered to reduce aggressive tendencies.
Never leave infants or young children alone with a dog.
Be sensitive to cues that a child is fearful or apprehensive about a dog.
Children be taught basic safety around dogs (and reviewed regularly).
Dogs with histories of aggression are inappropriate for families with children.
Owners should not play aggressive games with their dog (i.e. wrestling).
If bitten, the bite should be reported immediately.

Following these simple steps can protect you and your loved ones, including your dog. To review your homeowners’ insurance coverage contact The Coyle Group at 1-800-926-0622 or click here. To view our full line of services visit our website at www.thecoylegroup.com

The Chickens Have Come Home To Roost

thecoylegroup — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:42:11 +0000

The Insurance Journal reported today that CRM Holdings, a Bermuda-based company that manages self-insurance trusts and was at one time one of the largest writers of self-insured trusts in New York, is being sued for $405 million by the New York Workers Compensation Board. A separate lawsuit of $150 million is being brought by State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for alleged fraud. CRM’s subsidiary in Poughkeepsie, NY; Compensation Risk Management was the domestic operating company that managed the self insured trusts.

During their heyday, CRM trusts were pricing workers compensation accounts well below the insured marketplace and quickly won over employers seeking rate relief. Unfortunately the suppressed prices CRM charged couldn’t support the long term cost of claims. The end result was that CRM withdrew from the business, leaving many employers scrambling to seek new coverage. It also left hundreds of employers with assessments for their joint and several liability back to the trusts……so in the end, the “good deal” employers thought they had may not have been that good.

The Compensation Board and the Attorney General assert that CRM failed to properly maintain adequate reserves and acted fraudulently in intentionally undervaluing the trust liabilities and under pricing premiums, ultimately leading to several trusts unraveling and becoming insolvent.

CRM of course denies all the allegations.

The moral to the story is, of course, is that if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Prudence is often thrown out the window when an employer is offered a sizable discount on anything, including workers compensation insurance. Next time around, hopefully more employers will ask more questions and think twice about the final cost of that “great deal”. For more information regarding workers compensation insurance click here or contact us directly at 1-800-926-0622. To view our full line of services visit The Coyle Group of New York, Inc.

Workers’ Compensation Insurance

thecoylegroup — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:34:53 +0000

Year end is fast approaching and is a great time to reassess your business insurance needs. If your workers’ comp costs are escalating, you may want to take a page from Gatorland’s procedure manual. A theme park in central Florida, Gatorland numbers “gator wrestlers” amongst its 100+ employees. In spite of the horrifying potential for disaster inherent in mixing man and one of nature’s most efficient predators, Tim Williams, Gatorland’s Dean of Gator Wrestling, describes the incident of injuries as “very, very low”. Mr. Williams credits the organization’s close working relationship with their insurance agent and strict adherence to safety written guidelines as being key to keeping workers and guests safe and keeping their worker’s comp costs low. If the self-proclaimed “Alligator Capital of the World” can keep insurance costs in check The Coyle Group can help you “tame” your insurance expenses. Click here to see Gatorland’s really cool video.

A Tax on Plastic Surgery?

thecoylegroup — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:45:54 +0000

In the NY Times today there was a story of a proposed tax of 5% on all cosmetic surgery being considered in the Senate version of the Healthcare overhaul bill. While the news stories may sensationalize the move there’s a fundamental point here that needs to be made. Paying for an overhaul of the healthcare system in the U.S. is complex and trying to create a patchwork of taxes on a variety of sources only demonstrates that the government isn’t “solving” any healthcare issues; they are merely shifting the costs to other areas.

I think most people believe that healthcare in the U.S. is something that needs to be “fixed”. But what does “fixed” mean? I think for most folks they would say it needs to be more affordable and more accessible for more Americans.

To make it more affordable doesn’t mean levying more taxes on an already overtaxed populace. It means finding solutions to streamline bill paying, driving waste out of the system and fixing the root causes that make healthcare unaffordable. When it becomes more affordable then more Americans can access it. Does that mean every American can access it? Is healthcare an “unalienable right” like those guaranteed in the Constitution? In my opinion I don’t think so, but I do think that in a civilized society we need to provide care for those that are unable to do so for themselves (within limits). Quantifying that would take pages, so I’ll leave it at that.

But back to my original point. Don’t think that just because you haven’t had or aren’t planning plastic surgery that this tax doesn’t apply to you. Congress will find a way into your pocket book through taxation to help pay for the healthcare overhaul. Don’t be lulled into a false sense that you’ll paying less for health insurance in the future. Until we can effectively impact the real costs of healthcare, we will be unable to impact the cost of financing healthcare, which is otherwise known as health insurance.

For more information about managing the cost of your insurance program and our unique risk management process click here for our website or call 1-800-926-0622.

Unemployment and Risk Management

thecoylegroup — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:35:05 +0000

I ran across this interesting graphical map of the U.S. unemployment rate moving over a time line of 33 months. Disturbing at best, it shows much of the country has moved in a negative direction over that time, other than the mid-west farmland states. Worst hit; Michigan, California, and Arizona….. Not that any state really faired well during this economic downturn.

While I tend to be an optimist and see things positively, there’s not a lot of good news in this map, other than we will probably only improve from here. The question from a risk management perspective is what are you doing to grow your business even in the worst economic recession of our time?

You may be surprised to hear this but now may be the best time to start implementing some strategic risk management processes.

Why?

Let’s face it, if your plant or job load is a little slow and there’s some excess capacity in work load why not capitalize on that to implement new ideas before the upturn when things will be too hectic? Also, if you’ve downsized staff to your core workers, these are the folks most likely to run with a new strategic process. This is your “A Team”. Why not have them developing and testing new theories while they can.

What should you be considering?

How about ideas relating to:

Personal Protective Devices
Driver Training
Fleet Safety
Work Process Evaluation
A new Safety Manual
OSHA Compliance
OSHA Mock Evaluations
Lock Out / Tag Out

I’m sure there are dozens of opportunities out there for improvement, but for help in developing your wish list, please feel free to give me a call 1-800-926-0622 or see our website for more details by clicking here.

Workers Compensation Claims, Legit or Not?

thecoylegroup — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:22:04 +0000

Jon Coppelman of Lynch Ryan, a specialty workers compensation consulting firm, posted a very humorous blog today about the compensability of a loss involving a worker who injured herself while retrieving shampoo from her car in the employer’s parking lot. It’s so good, it’s worth reposting here: http://www.workerscompinsider.com/archives/001137.html

The point worth emphasizing in Coppelman’s blog is that the best time to control the outcome of a questionable workers compensation claim is at the BEGINNING of the claim process – not after the claim is settled. When the facts of the claim may seem strange, weird or questionable to you it’s time to have a conversation with your broker or claims handler directly so that you can have some influence over the outcome. For more information on our unique and diagnostic process for managing risk, please contact us at 1-800-926-0622 or by clicking here.

D & O Protection

thecoylegroup — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:01:57 +0000

In the latest IRMI newsletter post, Bob Bregman makes some very good comments regarding the need for mid-market companies to consider the need for stand alone “Side A” D&O protection, based on the current litigation surrounding the Stanford Financial Group.

“Side A” D&O cover is a stand alone dedicated limit of D&O protection for corporate Directors and Officers (current and former) that is preserved for the Ds&Os in situations where the corporate D&O policy cannot or will not respond for defense of directors and officers. This occurs when claims are delivered in the form of derivative actions or insolvency, and other cases where state law may prohibit the corporation from advancing defense costs, or the corporate policy doing so. In the Stanford Financial Group case there are as many as 60 executives and employees seeking the protection of the company’s D&O program to cover their legal bills. Here is yet another reminder of why stand alone Side A may be a benefit, and that is additional limits.

In the Stanford case it is estimated that there will be between $50 million and $90 million in D&O insurance cover available. While this may appear to be substantial, it may fall well short of the need to protect current and former officials due to the complexity of the proceeding and the number of defendants. If a Side A coverage had been purchased it would certainly increase the likelihood that persons involved in the case will obtain some if not all of the payment for defense that will be necessary.

One thing is for sure. D&O is a complex coverage form that requires expertise that many “insurance generalists” just don’t understand. Whether you sit on the board of a privately funded start up or an established public company your personal assets are at stake and you should demand expertise in crafting Directors & Officers protection. For more information regarding D&O Insurance, please click here or contact Gordon Coyle at 1-800-926-0622.

Texting & Driving in New York

thecoylegroup — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:21:15 +0000

So we start this week with a new law on the books in New York that bans texting while driving. Critics of the law say that it’s a weak law since it’s a secondary enforcement law; which means a driver will be ticketed for texting only if they’re pulled over for a primary offense like speeding. Nevertheless the issue for business owners isn’t necessarily the fact that there’s a new law on the books or enforcement, it’s how do you control this behavior of your employees while driving company vehicles or driving their own vehicles on company business?

The intent of the law is of course to stem the tide of horrific accidents that occur when drivers are distracted by texting. Some estimates say that drivers are 23 more times likely to get into an accident than non-distracted drivers.

If we look at this as a behavior that requires modification, then how do we encourage that modification? In the business setting and specifically in managing risk we frequently have to use tools such as: education, monitoring, positive reinforcement (rewards), peer pressure, goal setting, and punishment. Any combination of which will work as long as the goal is continually reinforced, which is an element of an ongoing risk management program. For more information on this and other Risk Management topics, please feel free to contact us at 1-800-926-0622 or by clicking here.

Your Data is Almost Certainly Gone

thecoylegroup — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:47:08 +0000

Recent news that T-Mobile may have lost all the data of Sidekick phone users is certainly disturbing. The company says that the data is “almost certainly” gone, but they are hoping to recover some or all of it. Possibly the largest disaster in the short history of cloud computing, imagine the impact this has on T-Mobile and Microsoft who makes the phones through a subsidiary company. We’re talking brand and reputation damage, potential lawsuits for loss of data, intellectual property loss, basically the whole shootin’ match here. PLUS, a total loss of confidence in the world’s largest computing company.

Think you’re having a bad day? Imagine telling thousands of your customers that all their personal information stored on their phones is gone. Applying a dollar figure to this may be impossible, but I’m sure a whole bunch of smart lawyers specializing in IP and New Media will figure it out! Your technology company may not be T-Mobile or Microsoft, but you face similar risks that require specialized attention and the forward thinking of an expert. When you’re ready to thoroughly review your risk management and protection plan give us a call. Contact Gordon Coyle at 1-800-926-0622 or by clicking here.

Texting While Driving

thecoylegroup — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:02:28 +0000

You can hardly pick up a newspaper today without seeing some new study regarding the affect of texting while driving. Some studies suggest that the impact of texting on driver awareness is akin to being three times over the legal limit for alcohol! Some articles focus on teens, others on truckers, others the various state laws that are being issued or considered.

But, here’s a question for you.

If you’re a business owner or key decision maker in a business what are you doing about it?

Have you issued a written statement regarding cell phone use while driving?
Have you technically “banned” texting and e-mailing while driving?
Have you set penalties in place for offenses for either?
Do you have a process for monitoring driver’s licenses for accidents and violations (including cell phone/texting violations) of your drivers?

If you haven’t taken a proactive approach to managing this risk then you are exposing your company to greater liability by contributing to negligent behavior. In the event of a particularly bad accident, your company could be facing punitive damages in a settlement. In most states punitive damages are NOT covered by insurance.

Could you afford a multi-million dollar lawsuit out of pocket? Probably not. For assistance on managing this risk, please contact me: Gordon Coyle 1-800-926-0622 or by clicking here.