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Q. What kind of company
should consider Fiduciary Liability Insurance?
A. Any corporation that offers its employees pensions and/ or welfare plans
has ERISA exposures and should consider the purchase of Fiduciary liability
Insurance. Fiduciary Liability Insurance provides protection from lawsuits by
third parties against the Trustees, advisors, and the plans themselves.
Q. How often do Trustees
get litigated?
A. Trustees have always had an exposure from litigation, however with the great
increase in bankruptcies, mergers & Acquisitions, and weakening economy
has brought increased allegations of ERISA violations and mismanagement. Recently,
the industry has experience new large claim payments.
Q. Do D&O and Fiduciary
liability overlap?
A. Some companies share overlapping 'directorships" between their corporate
directors and senior management and the company's pension and welfare plans.
Frequently large D&O litigation will also include ERISA violations and/or
proceed with parallel litigation against the trustees of the pension plans.
Many of the same events will affect both policies, such as mergers & acquisitions,
and bankruptcies.
Q. Does the economy parallel
fiduciary Liability litigation?
A. Although we are not aware of any published studies evidencing a direct relationship
between our economy and increased litigation, experience has shown that the
number and settlements of claims do increase during merger mania and financial
difficulties.
Q. Does one need to be concern
about 'continuity' when purchasing Fiduciary Liability insurance?
A. Continuity is one of the main issues when evaluating any purchase of a 'claims
made' policy and Fiduciary liability is no exception. This can be better described
by your ExecutivePerils broker.
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