Posted by Hoelle on Aug 19, 2012 10:31 pm
I'm an insurance broker and will for the most part echo the comments of your colleagues. I think you should be able to find affordable premiums and deductibles, and I'd start with your local insurance agent. If you don't have a local agent, you should be able to find several to choose from with a web search. If you're a member of a state or national association they may also offer a program. As for why this is necessary, you'll find more and more clients of yours are being advised by their attorneys, trade associations and others that they need to make sure professionals working for them are indeed carrying E&O insurance. You can almost be guaranteed that's the situation if you're working for a municipality. The goal for your customer in confirming your coverage is to make sure they (or likely their insurance carrier) don't get stuck with the bill if in fact you do make a mistake or are accused of being responsible for damages of some kind.
Nothing against attorneys, but the plaintiff bar is very well informed, organized and aggressive. You don't have to make a mistake to be named in a suit. It's not necessarily fair, but it's reality. From your standpoint, without question the benefits are payment of covered claims and payment of defense costs, and given the cost of top level legal defense, you'll be happy you have appropriate coverage.
Good luck