Blog posts

There's no denying the momentum behind regulation D and the JOBS Act. But these regulations have also created some confusion when it comes to a company’s directors and officers insurance. Are securities exempt under crowdfunding regulations covered? Is an endorsement required? How does coverage react in the event that the fund raise is successful and we decide to file an IPO? Since D&O insurance policies are a primary source of defense when lawsuits arise, these are all important questions.

Purchasing insurance for bodily injury and property damage claims seems straight forward enough - that's the intent of a commercial general liability policy. The problem however, is that many companies today provide some degree of professional services, and most liability policies exclude coverage for claims arising from “professional services”. A typical exclusion will read:

This insurance does not apply to any “bodily injury”, “property damage”, “personal and advertising injury” arising out of the rendering of, or failure to render professional services.

The professional services exclusion is included in a range of policies, from liability policies to umbrella policies and D&O policies. Its purpose is logical but its application flawed. Its intent is to shift professional liability related exposures to an appropriate professional liability policy. Understandable enough.

Originally published for NYU compliance blog with guest author: Dallas Hammer from Zuckerman Law

Directors and officers insurance policies are mazes of intricate language that are often difficult to interpret. In order to assist the c-suite and their attorneys perform a proper assessment of their D&O insurance portfolios, we have created a thorough 80 point private company D&O blueprint/checklist (PDF AVAILABLE HERE). For our accompanying EPLI Checklist CLICK HERE.

When it comes to cyber security and insurance, companies have been vocally concerned over finding themselves losing twice – the victim of both a cyber breach and cyber insurance claim declination. First they experience a security event which results in significant damages, then they discover their insurance policy will not respond. From hidden language, to sub-limits, we explore some of the more significant cases and areas in which carriers are declining coverage (or expected to decline coverage) and how to avoid them.

*/ /*-->*/ In order to assist the c-suite, their advisors and counsel, GB&A has deployed "Risk Alerts", a curated collection of well published articles discussing recent rulings and decisions, lawsuits, regulatory alerts, news briefs, resources, and featured readings from the world of GRC (governance, risk and compliance).

In the world of constant cyber intrusions, protecting against theft of digital IP and source code is quickly becoming a top concern for many organizations. Difficult to protect against and near-impossible to insure against, many companies are left having to manage the risk on their own. This means securing against external hackers and internal threats alike (including executives and employees).

Despite all of the large scale hacks and cyber related headlines, cyber security litigation itself remains in its infancy. Case law is sparse, and policy language is slowly beginning to adapt itself to modern risk. In the interim, the c-suite is being confronted with constantly increasing regulatory requirements and new cyber exposures that threaten to test their abilities to remain in compliance – from breach notification laws, to social media related regulation FD violations and more. It goes without saying that the cyber risk environment has changed everything.

Aside from insurance executives themselves, insurance is not a topic that raises excitement among directors and officers. In fact it may feel more like necessary torture. Applications with The same never-ending questions, sprinkled with overly technical sections that require completion by your GC or CSO (often resulting in mysterious disappearance of the application altogether). Hours of legwork that, half the time, may find you at the end of a dead end. However exhaustive, this annual exercise is one that still requires undivided attention and due diligence.