Directors and Officers Liability Insurance
Length: 3 Hours
This seminar is in three parts. The first addresses the corporate law principles that govern the standard of care for directors and officers. Simply put, what is the nature of the underlying liability that we are seeking to insure? After this, the seminar turns to a practical application of the first principles discussed. What are the current issues directors and officers face, and what are the trends with regard to claims?
This forms the basis of the next section: a discussion of the statistics on severity and frequency of directors and officers claims, along with a few statistics on what actually does drive D&O purchasers and what should drive them to the purchasing decision. The purchasing decision has to confront the costs in the marketplace as it exists today, and the section concludes with some observations about price and capacity.
The final section is extensive. It is devoted entirely to the D&O policy forms that producers are likely to encounter. It also contains an extended discussion on the structural transition from for-profit to non-profit organizations (along with a discussion of why nonprofit directors and officers to consider D&O insurance).
With claims-made being the predominant form in the D&O world, the seminar detours into what may be a reminder for many insurance professionals – the difference between claims-made and occurrence products and the impact of retroactive dates. The seminar concludes with a few of the conditions of the standard policy form and some points which may be subject to being negotiated for larger risks.
Richard S. Pitts is a private practice attorney in the insurance industry. Rick serves as Vice-President and General Counsel to Arlington/Roe & Co., Inc., an insurance brokerage and managing general agent headquartered in Indianapolis. Rick also serves as general counsel to the Independent Insurance Agents of Indiana, Inc., as well as its sister organization in Kentucky. Rick speaks annually at the “Roadshows” in Kentucky and Indiana’s Agency Compliance Seminars and presents various seminars on insurance and employment related matters. Pitts has also presented continuing education seminars to insurance professionals nationally through industry groups including the National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research.
Rick is a 1983 graduate of Wabash College and a 1986 graduate of Indiana University School of Law – Indianapolis. Pitts clerked for the Honorable Patrick D. Sullivan, a judge of the Indiana Court of Appeals in 1986-87. Rick is admitted to practice before Indiana state and federal courts, the United States Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and is a member of local, state and national bar associations. Pitts has tried multiple cases and participated in over seventy appeals.
Pitts is the recipient of the “Excellence in Continuing Legal Education Award” from the Indiana Continuing Legal Education Forum (ICLEF), having served as a panelist and lecturer on a variety of continuing education subjects. Pitts has co-authored two articles appearing in the Indiana Law Review.