The situation
An engineering office had moved its professional indemnity cover between insurers over the years, following price. The cover is written on a claims-made basis, so what matters is the retroactive date, and at one of those moves the policy was issued with a retroactive date equal to its own inception. Everything designed or supervised before that point sat uninsured, and the office did not know it. A complaint about a supervision decision on an earlier project was already on its way, and site supervision fell outside the definition of professional services in the wording.
What we did
We read the schedules and endorsements from every year the office had traded and reconstructed the actual chain of cover, then placed a policy carrying the earliest retroactive date the market would grant against that history. Site supervision, staff seconded to clients and liability for sub-consultants were brought inside the definition of professional services. The pending complaint was notified as a circumstance under the correct policy year rather than held back. We also set out what a claims-made policy demands at every future renewal so the date is not reset again.
- Sector
- Engineering Consultancy
Facing something similar?
Describe it to us and we will tell you which covers apply before quoting anything.
Get a Quote Case Studies