Ask Tim

Two Minutes With Tim - Child Victims Act - When The Insurer Is No More

​For one year, people in New York can sue over sexual abuse they suffered as children. But what if the insurance company that provided the coverage back then no longer exists?​

 

​Slideshow: ​Child Victims Act Claims - What if the Insurer No Longer Exists?​​

Child Victims Act Claims - What if the Insurer No Longer Exists?

New York's Child Victims Act - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires;

Disability Benefits For An Organ Donation?

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​Photo by martakat83. Used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Question from a Big I New York member: One of our employees is considering donating a kidney. Would the disability that follows be covered under the New York State Disability Benefits Law?

Answer: Yes. The New York State Disability Benefits Law is found in Article 9 of the New York Workers’ Compensation Law.

• That article says that “Disability benefits shall be payable to an eligible employee for disabilities …”
• The definitions section of the article says that “disability” is “the inability of an employee, as a result of injury or sickness not arising out of and in the course of an employment, to perform the regular duties of his employment …”
• The same section says that the terms “injury” and “sickness” include “incapacitation as a result of being an organ donor in a transplant operation.”

Since incapacitation as a result of being an organ donor in a transplant operation is “injury or sickness,” and disability results from injury or sickness, then it follows that an eligible employee may receive disability benefits for some period of time after a kidney donation.

Two Minutes With Tim: Sexual Discrimination

​So you're a private school or college, and you find it necessary to expel a male student for unacceptable behavior. The student disagrees with your decision and sues, claiming his punishment would have been less if he was female. Will your liability insurance provide you with defense and indemnity? Watch the video to find out, and click the link below to read all about the case.

John Doe v. Syracuse University court opinion

2 Minutes With Tim: Sex Discrimination from Big I New York on Vimeo.

A Horrible Reminder of Why Insurance Matters

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This is horrible. Twenty people enjoying an autumn Saturday afternoon. Two of them who just happened to be in the wrong parking lot at the wrong time. Seventeen others being responsible by hiring a driver so that they could celebrate a birthday with some adult beverages and without endangering anyone else. One person doing his job.

All of them gone in an instant. The pain their loved ones are enduring today is unimaginable.

It feels crass to even raise this subject, but eventually the survivors will seek restitution. I know nothing about the limousine company that provided the vehicle and the driver, but the reports indicate the limo was the only vehicle in motion at the time of the accident. It seems logical to assume that the inevitable lawsuits will be filed against the limo company.

 

2 Minutes With Tim: Ordinance or Law

​All right, by now you should know that the whole "Two Minutes" label is metaphorical. But hey - at least it's not two hours, even if it may feel that way.

At any rate, the state building code may soon require certain buildings to have diaper changing stations installed. This is yet another reason to discuss Ordinance or Law Coverage with your insureds who own commercial properties. Which of these alternatives would you prefer?

• Be a hero in your client's eyes after a covered loss because you suggested this coverage
• Have your name be synonymous with the contents of a diaper because you didn't

Your choice. I explain it all in the video.

2 Minutes with Tim: Ordinance or Law from Big I New York on Vimeo.

NY High Court Limits Coverage For Additional Insureds

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Earlier this month, the New York State Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, issued a ruling that will affect the business of every insurance agency in the state that insures construction risks. By a vote of 4 to 2 (the court was short one judge due to the recent death of Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam), the court held that additional insureds under Commercial General Liability Insurance polices have coverage only for occurrences "proximately caused by" the named insured. Previously, all that was required was for the occurrence to have some connection with the named insured's work. Under this ruling, there is no coverage for the additional insured unless the named insured's own negligence is the proximate cause of the accident.

It is unclear how this might affect the liability insurance market for contractors in New York. One outcome I can foresee is that owners and general contractors may start to reject the modern versions of the Insurance Services Office's (ISO) additional insured endorsements. That is by no means a certainty, but it's possible.

When Does a General Liability Policy Not Provide Any Liability Coverage?

An IIABNY member emailed me last week about a quote she had received from a wholesale broker for a Businessowners Policy (BOP). The quote was from a surplus lines carrier that is a member of a large, nationally known insurance group. I will leave the names of the carrier, wholesaler and retail agency anonymous.

The BOP is intended for a transportation company. By definition, the predominant risk for a company like that is in the automobile line of coverage; the property and liability coverages, while still important, tend to be an afterthought. The member had concerns about a prototype endorsement that was included in the quote, and she wanted my thoughts on it.

New State Rules: New WC Credit, Nurse Practitioners Can Certify Medical Marijuana Patients

Some people look at Wednesday as merely the halfway point of the work week, the day when the soul-crushing despair of Monday morning slowly begins to give way to the Snoopy dance of Friday afternoon. Such people overlook the true significance of the fourth day of the week, the reason why some of us bounce out of bed that day filled to overflowing with anticipation and excitement.

Wednesday, you see, is the day that the New York State Department of State publishes the new issue of New York State Register, the official compendium of the state government’s regulatory activity.

Order in the Court (Part 3): Scaffold Law Homeowner Exclusion

New York's (in)famous scaffold law exempts owners of one- and two-family dwellings. Homeowners don't have to worry about absolute liability, right?

Well, it depends. A New York appellate court refused to apply it to one homeowner last week.

A worker died during the construction of a one-family home in New York City. The homeowner also happened to be an officer of the general contractor who was building the home. He was an experienced construction worker. The deceased worker was an employee of an electrical contractor acting as a subcontractor on the project. The homeowner provided the workers with a 14-foot ladder that he built himself out of "two-inch by four-inch pieces of wood connected by nails and screws." As the subcontractor's employee was coming down the ladder with a heavy drill in hand, the ladder jerked and he fell.