When the going gets tough, everybody gets the blame. This article is about how recessions bring increases in claims, why this happens and why insurers are always well prepared.

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Out of touch, means out of pocket!

There’s a growing debate on Directors protection (they need protecting from regulators looking to fill Government coffers), fuelled by an article in a legal publication. Directors are finding that the cover they thought protected them actually doesn’t, because of small print. Lawyers are not being paid as a result and they’re starting to wonder “why?”

TheLawyer.com are a bit late in noticing this issue – we highlighted it back in 2010 when we wrote about the withdrawal of legal defence for mad Bernie Madoff. In mad Bernie’s case, Lloyds of London spent £4 million defending him before they pounced on the opportunity to withdraw cover, when one of his co-defendants pleaded guilty to fraud and admitted Madoff was purposely stealing client money, rather than accidentally stealing people’s money.

I agree with most of the comments in the article, yet the paragraph that says that insurance “will cover all Directors defence costs” only mentions one exception to the rule. There is always more than one exclusion – plus each policy is different. If they weren’t, insurers would be suing each other for breach on copyright, at the very least. And that’s another legal matter entirely.

How do insurers avoid getting caught out?

Insurers were prepared for this recession, as a result of the last recession. They’d worked out what caused the majority of claims last time and reduced, excluded or watered down the options they made available thereafter. They sneak most such changes into renewal documents because they know brokers and policyholders don’t read them.

It doesn’t help that a lot of Directors have been advised that a limited company protects them personally. No it doesn’t, as I keep telling them… gently, it covers shareholders. Directors that are shareholders do not get the benefit of shareholder protection. After all, they are supposed to be running the business and keeping an eye on everyone else in it, not turning a blind eye to rogue Directors riding roughshod over clients, employees and shareholders.

Wrap up: Not all Directors are the same so why would their insurance be? Work out what could go wrong before embarking on a search for comprehensive cover. It doesn’t exist.

Top Tip

Insurers rarely lose so peek at their exclusions to see what they are prepared to take a chance on.

P.S. Look out for our next blog which highlights how a lady reported the obliteration of a garden wall to a home-owner, shared a cup of tea with them and the “investigating officer”, then (after excusing herself) be unveiled as the perpetrator – only thanks to a neighbour’s CCTV.

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