Interior Design Insurance for Professionals

As an interior designer, your job is to alter people’s homes and offices and make them more pleasant, stylish, or contemporary to live and work in. This is an enormous responsibility given the cost of both the design and re-modeling, with changes often being permanent.

As a result, if a client does not like the work you have done, or feels certain actions were taken that breached the original contract, there is always a chance that legal action can be brought against you.
Public liability insurance protects you against cases where your business is found to be negligent. While it is not a compulsory option, most businesses opt to get one anyway given how a single claim can wreck your business and future earning power. Having a policy will generally cover you not only for legal defence, but for the medical costs associated with any injury, as well as the settlement amount for any damages to property or emotional well being of the claimant.

Public Liability for Interior Designers

Finding an insurance policy that is tailored specifically to the needs of an interior designer is not easy to find. Most companies will offer an insurance package designed for tradesman in general, including painters and other home contractors. However, it is based to talk to an insurance company that will recognise not only the uniqueness of your industry, but the unique challenges facing your individual business.
There are plenty of ways that an interior designer can face a lawsuit due to negligence. Some are specific to the business, such as a mistake in the design itself or not specifying to the client what materials are suitable for use in certain projects. Other are accidents that are common to all businesses.
For example, if a client comes to your office and slips on the floor, or if you offer them a hot cup of tea and spill it on their lap, they will have the right to sue you for compensation, particularly if the injury is serious enough to force them to miss work. Given the high cost of a legal defence coupled with the escalating cost of medical treatment, there is no limit to how high the lawsuit will ask for. For this reason, liability insurance typically has a limit of 1 to 5 million pounds.

Other Types of Liability Cover

Typically, you can lower your premiums by bundling your insurance with other types of products. For example, if you have a paid staff, they will not be covered by public liability insurance should they suffer an injury that is the fault of the employer. Employers liability insurance can be purchased to safeguard you from this scenario.
If you combine the product with a public liability insurance policy from the same insurer, you may be privy to a cheaper rate than buying them separately. Another type of insurance interior designers may require is professional liability insurance. In the interior design business, you are often charged with dispensing advice, and any advice that is ruled to be negligent can result in the claimant being awarded financial compensation.
Regardless of how comprehensive your insurance plan is, it should always include public liability insurance. This applies not just to interior designers, but anyone who interacts with clients, as a single accident can result in an injury where you and your business are held liable.

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Insurers Begin Employing IBM’s Supercomputer Watson

Dr. Watson is accepting new patients.
The Watson supercomputer is graduating from its medical residency and is being offered commercially to doctors and health insurance companies, IBM said Friday.

IBM Corp., the health insurer WellPoint Inc. and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center announced two Watson-based applications — one to help assess treatments for lung cancer and one to help manage health insurance decisions and claims.

Both applications take advantage of the speed, huge database and language skill the computer demonstrated in defeating the best human “Jeopardy!” players on television two years ago.
Armonk-based IBM said Watson has improved its performance by 240 percent since the “Jeopardy!” win.
In both applications, doctors or insurance company workers will access Watson through a tablet or computer. Watson will quickly compare a patient’s medical records to what it has learned and make several recommendations in decreasing order of confidence.
In the cancer program, the computer will be considering what treatment is most likely to succeed. In the insurance program, it will consider what treatment should be authorized for payment.
Watson — actually named for IBM founder Thomas Watson and not Sherlock Holmes’ friend — has been trained in medicine through pilot programs at Indianapolis-based WellPoint and at Sloan-Kettering in New York.
Manoj Saxena, an IBM general manager, said the supercomputer has ingested 1,500 lung cancer cases from Sloan-Kettering records, plus 2 million pages of text from journals, textbooks and treatment guidelines.
It also learned “like a medical student,” by being corrected when it was questioned by doctors and came up with wrong answers, Saxena said in an interview.
“Watson is not making the decisions” on treatment or authorization, Saxena said. “It is essentially reducing the effort for doctors and nurses by going through thousands of pages of information for each case.”
The lung cancer program is being adopted by two medical groups, the Maine Center for Cancer Medicine and WestMed in New York’s Westchester County. Saxena said it should be running at both groups by next month.
WellPoint itself is already using the insurance application in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Wisconsin. It will be selling both applications — at prices still to be negotiated — and will compensate IBM under a contract between the two companies, an IBM spokeswoman said.
WellPoint said using Watson should not increase insurance premiums because of savings from waste and errors.

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Banks Sitting on $208M in Insurance Checks for N.Y. Sandy Victims

Nearly $208 million in insurance payments in 6,600 checks haven’t been released from banks to victims of Superstorm Sandy, according to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.He says his administration is working with banks to pay the money more quickly. The insurance company payments must get over several bureaucratic hurdles when homeowners have mortgages on their properties.


State Financial Services Superintendent Ben Lawsky said Monday the banks are cooperating in trying to get the funding to victims faster so they can pay for repairs. He said his office has received hundreds of complaints from Sandy victims.

Much of the delay is because federal mortgage agencies require proof of repair work before paying insurance reimbursements.

After insurance companies have sent homeowners checks to pay for repairs, the money should not be sitting with (banks and other lenders) because of red tape,” Cuomo said of the companies that manage mortgage accounts. “Servicers need to use maximum discretion to get money into homeowners’ hands as quickly as possible.”
Lawsky said insurance companies and banks — regulated by his office — are working together to speed the process. Some of that is simply applying more workers to the task. Other steps include electronically transmitting payments rather than sending them through the mail.
Four banks alone — Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citibank and JP Morgan Chase — have 4,000 checks worth $131 million that they and Lawsky are trying to free up faster.
“In December, we reached an agreement with the servicers that resulted in freeing up a portion of insurance funds,” Lawsky said.
“But we are seeing now that the money is still not moving as quickly as homeowners need. While we understand there are some limits on how servicers release funds, we want to make sure that servicers are pushing those limits and getting insurance money out quickly.”
The December agreement speeded smaller, emergency repair checks to homeowners. But now larger checks are being issued and companies are being stricter about verifying the repairs. That verification is required by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government programs that help many middle class homeowners secure mortgages.
Lawsky is contacting banks now. He said homeowners who are current on their mortgage payments and suffered only partial losses during Sandy should be subject to less restrictive and time-consuming reviews and approvals.

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Zurich Posts $ 3.9 Billion Net Income, Farmers GWP up 24% to $4.4 Billion

The Zurich Insurance Group reported a business operating profit (BOP) of $4.1 billion and net income attributable to shareholders (NIAS) of $3.9 billion for the year ended December 31, 2012.
Zurich’s report gave the following highlights for 2012:

– NIAS* of $3.9 billion, up 3 percent compared with 2011, Q4 NIAS of $983 million, up 82 percent compared with prior year
– BOP* of $4.1 billion, down 4 percent compared with 2011, Q4 BOP of $569 million, down 42 percent compared with prior year
– Combined ratio of 98.4 percent, compared with 98.9 percent in 2011
– BOPAT ROE 9.3 percent, down from 10.2 percent in 2011; NIAS ROE of 11.8 percent comparable to last year
– Pricing and portfolio management discipline generate strong underlying profitability
– Accelerating top-line growth in target markets
– Excellent investment performance delivering 7 percent total return
– Strong capital base and cash flows support a sustainable and attractive dividend proposal of CHF 17 [$18.40]
*Zurich noted that some prior periods, as indicated, “have been restated. The ending 2012 shareholders’ equity is unaffected by the restatement. Due to the restatement, third quarter 2012 BOP and NIAS were higher by $264 million and $194 million respectively.”
“We delivered a solid performance in 2012, a year characterized by ongoing economic challenges. Our dividend proposal is again very attractive and reflects our confidence in the success of Zurich’s business strategy as well as the Group’s strong cash generation and capital base,” said CEO Martin Senn.
“The integration of our acquired insurance businesses in Latin America and Malaysia is progressing well and contributing meaningfully to growth as evidenced in the strong contribution to profitability from these areas. In addition, during 2012, we expanded our bank distribution agreements through alliances in the Middle East, Italy, Spain and Indonesia.”
“We continue to execute our proven strategy, growing our business in emerging markets while delivering a resilient performance in mature markets. This strong underlying profitability ensures we remain well positioned to continue to deliver for our customers, employees and shareholders in 2013,” he concluded.”
The earnings report also noted that the Group ”remains focused on delivering its targets. The underlying loss ratio for General Insurance continued to improve in 2012 and was 61.4 percent at year end. The business segment showed a strong underlying performance, which was adversely impacted by weather-related events, a continued decline in investment income as well as decreases in favorable development on reserves established in the prior years and by the previously announced financial adjustments in Germany.”
Zurich said its global life business “maintained profitability levels while continuing to show growth in gross written premiums, policy fees and insurance deposits. The business segment strategy of diversifying geographically into target markets and diversifying product mix into protection and fee-based offerings is offsetting the volume and margin pressures in Europe.
“Farmers showed an increase in BOP of 5 percent in the management services company, while the second consecutive year of significant weather-related events and the absence of favorable prior year loss development compared with 2011 led to losses from reinsurance operations.”
The section of the report, which detailed Farmers operations in 2012, noted that its “business operating profit decreased by $72 million to $1.4 billion or by 5 percent, primarily due to a net underwriting loss incurred by Farmers Re.”
Farmers Management Services business operating profit, however, “increased by $71 million to $1.4 billion or by 5 percent, primarily driven by the increase in gross earned premiums in the Farmers Exchanges, which are managed but not owned by Farmers Group, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Group. Farmers Re business operating profit deteriorated by $142 million to a loss of $26 million, mainly reflecting the absence of favorable development of reserves established in prior years, which benefited Farmers Re during 2011.”
Zurich added that its Farmers Management Services management fees and other related revenues” increased by $79 million to $2.8 billion or by 3 percent, which was driven by the 3 percent increase in gross earned premiums in the Farmers Exchanges.
“The 24 percent increase to $4.4 billion in gross written premiums of Farmers Re was mainly a result of changes in the All Lines quota share reinsurance agreement, as well as the 3 percent gross written premiums growth in the Farmers Exchanges. These changes were an increase in the Farmers Re participation in the Farmers Exchanges business to 20 percent effective December 31, 2011 from 12 percent throughout 2011 and a decrease in the All Lines participation to 18.5 percent effective December 31, 2012, subject to regulatory approval.”
The report added that “non-core businesses recorded an increased business operating profit of $128 million resulting from an increased profit from other run-off businesses.
“Total return on Group investments, which includes investment income, net capital gains and losses and impairments as well as changes in net unrealized gains and losses reported in shareholders’ equity, was 7 percent, an increase of 1.7 percentage points compared with 2011. This excellent investment performance was achieved through a disciplined approach to investing relative to liabilities underpinned by prudent risk management.
“The Group preserved an excellent capital position with shareholders’ equity increasing by $3 billion to $34.5 billion.
Source: Zurich Insurance

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Reliance Life Insurance launches super endowment plan

Mumbai: Reliance Life Insurance, a part of Reliance Capital, today announced a new plan that offers guaranteed life cover and maturity benefits.
The plan Reliance Life Insurance Super Endowment Plan would provide life insurance coverage for the full policy term by paying for just half of the selected policy period, a company statement said.

"This new product is in line with our philosophy to enable customers across all income segments to insure their life and provide security to their dependents," Reliance Life Insurance Chief Executive Officer Anup Rau said.
The new plan is available for customers in the age group 8-60 years with a minimum sum assured of Rs 1 lakh. The policyholder can opt for two policy terms ¿ 14 years or 20 years.
An interesting feature of the policy is that the premium payment term is only half the policy term - 7 years for a 14 year policy; and 10 years for a 20 year policy ¿ while the Life Cover is valid for the entire period.
"This is ideal for people who want to limit their premium payment commitment period but like to enjoy Life Cover for a longer time. Policyholders will be entitled for guaranteed maturity benefits at the end of the policy period," Rau said.
Reliance Life Insurance is one of India's top private sector life insurance companies with business premium, including renewal premium of over Rs 5,498 crore for the year ended March 31, 2012

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AIG Sues to Preserve Right to Sue Bank of America, Others Over Mortgage Debt

American International Group Inc. has filed a lawsuit against a vehicle created by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to help bail out the insurer, in a bid to preserve its right to sue Bank of America Corp .and other issuers of mortgage debt that went sour.

The complaint filed in the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan seeks a declaration that AIG has not transferred billions of dollars of “litigation claims” to Maiden Lane II, including many related to the insurer’s $10 billion lawsuit against Bank of America.

Maiden Lane II was created in December 2008 to buy residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) from AIG and ease liquidity strains.
According to the complaint, New York Fed officials in December told Bank of America that Maiden Lane II had, by agreeing to buy the securities, assumed from AIG all litigation claims relating to what it bought. AIG said this included more than $7 billion of damages claims against Bank of America.
AIG is not seeking monetary payments in the lawsuit, but wants the court to clarify that the New York-based insurer still has the right to sue issuers of securities in Maiden Lane II.

New York Fed spokesman Jack Gutt declined to comment. Bank of America spokesman Lawrence Grayson also declined to comment.
The lawsuit is part of the fallout from AIG’s $182.3 billion federal bailout that began in September 2008, and which was fully paid off last year.
It came after AIG provoked a firestorm in Congress and from the American people this week as it mulled whether to sue the government that bailed it out by joining a $25 billion lawsuit by former Chief Executive Maurice “Hank” Greenberg. AIG eventually decided to stay out of that case.
When it sued Bank of America in August 2011, AIG accused the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender of misrepresenting the quality of more than $28 billion of securities it had bought from the bank and its Countrywide and Merrill Lynch units.

An AIG spokesman said Friday’s lawsuit “narrowly seeks a declaration from the Court that a 2008 contract between AIG and ML II did not transfer to ML II AIG’s right to sue Bank of America and other financial institutions for the billions of dollars of damages they caused AIG and its shareholders in connection with the fraudulent sale of RMBS to AIG.”
According to Friday’s complaint, Maiden Lane II paid $20.8 billion for a variety of subprime and other mortgage securities from AIG, barely half of their estimated $39.3 billion face value.
The case is American International Group Inc. et al v. Maiden Lane II LLC, New York State Supreme Court, New York County, No. 650115/2013.

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Utah Man Accused of Killing Officer Sues Insurer

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Casualty insurance, stupid people

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The Advantages of Property and Casualty Insurance

A go for that a corporation guarantees to buy associatey property or personal damages in exchange for an in agreement monthly fee paid by the policy holder is termed a Property and Casualty Insurance. This covers all the 3 business connected intangible and tangible assets like cash and securities, inventory, accounts-receivable, furniture, provides and machinery. The multiple-peril policy of property insurance covers the losses caused by felony and hearth and different possible disasters.

Business or personal estate risks like injury, theft, loss of money, machinery, furniture, records, complete names, even emblems and provides ar all taken care of by the Property and Casualty Insurance. whereas natural disasters like fires, earthquakes and floods that destroy a business premise or residence is catered for by some specific insurance policies.

You can insure your property each for one or multiple specific dangers. within the event of an occurrence occurring on your property, you'll be needed to fully establish all that was lost. a transparent case is once your home is burnt down; you will stage your claim below the "fire catastrophe property insurance", provided you had ensured your home was lined for fires.

The other incidents usually lined for ar explosions, flood, lightning, earthquake and felony. you must invariably contemplate the possible perils which will occur together with your property associated your location to finally decide an adequate property and casualty insurance choice. If you've got not planned well you will end up paying for insurance policies you a lot ne'er need.

You can conjointly get associate "open perils insurance cover", these handles all the grounds of harm and loss that don't seem to be excluded in your existing policy. Unless your policy expressly denies it, you must be able to get facilitate from the "open peril" insurance for nearly all incident cases. However, if you choose to opt of coverage for flooding, you'll sure as shooting not receive compensation for damages to your plus as a results of flood.

Some of the natural disasters on the list of exclusion to open perils ar war, earthquake, and nuclear incidents. Your home is also exposed to such dangers, and you'll be needed to get the special property and casualty policy that deals with such open perils cases. people that board the West Coast ought to be aware of disasters like earthquake whereas those living within the south should contemplate dangers from tornados and people living in Hawaii could have the hazards of volcanic activity.

The benefits of a property and casualty insurance can not be over stressed these days. each owner or business should ascertain the actual policy that meets their would like and select it. we tend to board a world that daily is sweet-faced with all varieties of dangers each recent and new that appears to be increasing every passing day. With associate policy covering our assets, we are able to be rest assured that we've done the a lot of we are able to do towards the safety of our plus whereas we tend to leave the remainder to providence.

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Casualty Insurance in Connecticut

If You need Individual lines of home owners insurance in Florida Connecticut, auto insurance, life insurance, health insurance casualty, Commercial insurance, Employee benefit plans, and Bonding services for our company. They will bring expertise to our table and provide us with lowest cost-effective insurance solutions tailored to our individual needs. States where Connecticut casualty company providing insurance: Connecticut Casualty Company is licensed in and can provide insurances in the following states: Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, and Nevada. New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont. Virginia, Maine, New York & New Hampshire. Products offered by Connecticut Casualty Company: It provides a full line of products including: Property, Casualty, Life, Accident, Plainville Health insurance, High End Luxury Insurances, Boat and Yachts insurances, Motorcycle, Municipal and Tax District liability insurances, personal insurance casualty, Condominium liability insurances and all lines of business insurances casualties and investment products on both an individual and group basis. Services offered by partners of Connecticut Casualty Company: It has developed very close partnerships working directly with related business insurance casualty service providers. These high quality partners offers services such as Payroll, Book keeping, Accounting, Real Estate, Legal Technology and Home Contracting Services, Commercial Maintenance, Appraisers Surveyors, Mortgage Services, Web Designs & Hosting, SEO and URLO services and more. They also provide homeowners insurance casualty in Florida Connecticut Opportunities for Entrepreneurs: This Company provides insurance for entrepreneurs willing to start a business. Insurance services include individual or group health insurance, health coverage solutions, worker’s comp and other related business insurances. Job Opportunities in insurance Casualty Plainville: They are searching for quality candidates to join in their growing team. If you reside anywhere in Connecticut or in any of the states are licensed, and feel qualified. Contact and Register in their site. They will provide comprehensive training for right candidates to insure they have the ability to navigate the path to success. They have job openings in the following domains: Accounts executives, customer service satisfaction

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What is Auto Casualty Insurance

Auto casualty insurance is a term that is used to describe a policy that typically covers the three main types of loss involving automobiles; theft, accident, and liability. This is also called comprehensive insurance in many states.
Comprehensive insurance will cover anything associated with the loss, theft, or destruction for your car. This type of insurance is typically the most expensive policy you can purchase, but there are ways to save money on this type of coverage.

Purchasing auto insurance online is the best way to find the best rate on a policy. When choosing full coverage car insurance policy it is even more important to use an online quote comparison site. This will allow you to see the estimated cost of such coverage from many companies on one web site.
The advantage of this is obvious. If you only have to fill out the required information one time to see several quotes it will save you a lot of time and at the same time help you to save a lot of money. When you see the quotes side by side it allows you to narrow down your search based on the price difference of the quotes.
It is important to buy enough coverage however so donít simply buy the policy with the lowest quote. If the policy is cheaper, but doesnít offer the coverage you need it may not fully protect you in the case of an accident.
The best part about purchasing comprehensive auto insurance is that if you are unfortunate enough to be involved in an accident or have your car stolen the details will usually be handled by the insurance company. In many cases this includes a rental car while your vehicle is being repaired.
Buying comprehensive auto insurance online is a fast and convenient way to find the lowest price on the policy you need. In fact buying auto insurance has never been easier provided you are willing to spend a little bit of time online before committing to a policy.

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Auto Casualty Insurance - 5 Coverages You Should Know About

Sometimes it's what we do; sometimes it's what others do. 
Furthermore, unless you live in Wisconsin or New Hampshire, it is a state law and required of you.
Actually it is to your benefit to obtain auto casualty insurance...so it is wise to know what the coverage is all about.
It is just not about acting in accordance with the law, but it also minimizes costly expenses when an accident does occur.
Auto Casualty Insurance - Five Types of Coverage

1. Liability Coverage - In addition to property this covers medical costs when you're at fault in an automobile accident.
2. Collision Coverage - Although this is optional, if the accident is your fault, this coverage will help pay for the repairs of your car. You pay a predetermined deductible, and your insurance company compensates for the rest.
Note: Your insurance company will pay you the car's cash value, if they deem the vehicle is totaled.
3. Comprehensive Coverage - This insurance is optional as well. It would be wise to consider obtaining it as it covers:

• Theft
• Damage Windshields
• Vandalism
• Falling trees
• Fire
• Flood
• "Acts of God" (other unexpected perils.)

4. PIP (Personal Injury Protections) - Personal Injury Protection is optional in some states and a must in others. It covers medical and disability cost, as well as loss of incomes for your and your passengers...regardless of whose fault it is.5. Uninsured Motorist Protection - This protection covers property damage and bodily injury, if the car accident is someone else's fault and they are uninsured.
Seek advice from your local insurance agent as he/she will be knowledgeable in regards to your individual state laws. When talking to your agent, inquire about how to handle a claim, obtain estimates for repairs when damage occurs and time-limitations for filing a claim. Also find out the length of time for receiving payments of processed claims.
After you have digested all the relevant information and purchased the auto casualty insurance policy that is right for you, then you can relax in the knowledge you are prepared for any auto casualty situation that might arise.

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Brief Guide on Casualty and Property Insurance

Casualty and property insurance covers most of the business or individual property cases such as theft, damage, and loss of money, machinery, records, trademark, furniture and many other things. Case of natural disasters like floods, fires and earthquakes, which harm the primary residence of people comes under specialized insurance policies. You can insure your property by numerous or named dangers. You just need to find out what have you lost. Some of the other commonly occurred and covered danger includes theft, explosion and lighting. Thus, it is very important for you to take into consideration all issues that come under your insurance policy. If you do not consider the problems that are listed under your insurance plan, then you might be spending for insurance that cannot help you when required because of some other reasons.

Open peril takes care of damage or loss that that has not been expelled from the insurance policy. You can get aid from open peril property insurance for all sorts of instances until your policy particularly forbids it. Remember that you cannot get a compensation for any loss or damage occurred due to flood in case you have not chosen floods within your insurance contract. So, make sure to select the options carefully while opting for property or casualty insurance plans. Some of the items listed in the open peril exclusions include war, earthquakes, terror attack, nuclear incidents, etc.

If your property is at risk from any of these above mentioned, then you can buy an additional coverage for the things that your open peril property insurance does not cover an open peril you are going through. This information is particularly important for residents of the west coast. Residents living in the Midwest or the east coast would probably think of insurance contracts that include winter damage of ice and hailstones. You can simply reduce your premium of property insurance by having a measure at your place that can decrease the chances of risk or loss and having a better claim history. Installation of various security devices like smoke detectors, security personnel, alarms and sprinkler systems can help in lowering the cost of premium of property insurance. These devices can help in preventing loss or damages to some extent.

There are many companies that prefer to get their property insured by the Business Owner's insurance policy also known as BOP. These kinds of insurance policies generally offer a less coverage as compared to a traditional casualty insurance policy. However, these kinds of casualty insurance plans are quite convenient. The main reason behind why so many companies like to buy additional casualty insurance plans to get full coverage of their loss or damage.

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