Having proper Legal Liability, and Errors and Omissions Insurance has become an absolute necessity in today’s uncertain and litigious business climate. But, your coverage is only as good as the company backing it and the way in which they handle claims. It is imperative that your cover includes 1^st dollar legal defense so that in the event your company is held legally liable for damages; your insurer will start the process of defending you immediately and diligently without the application of a deductible.
 
Below is an example of Claims Management
 
“Upon arrival, a few cartons were said to have gone missing from a container and the consignee made a claim. The consignee was quite adamant that these were lost during transit and insisted that the claim be paid immediately. The Freight Forwarder passed this on to his liability insurers and even though the case fell below the deductible. The insurer established that the FF was not responsible because the cartons appeared to have never been loaded. The insurers declined the claim directly to the consignee and this was a great relief to the FF because they avoided any adverse commercial conflict with their client because this was being handled by their insurers.”
 
In reading this case it should be noted that a costly and lengthy court case and avoided. The insurers stepped in immediately and at no additional cost to the insured to begin the process of defending their client. They were able to settle out of court by reaching an agreement that was acceptable to all. This type of settlement would have been much more difficult (if not impossible) to reach for an uninsured or under-insured forwarder without a team of lawyers and insurance professionals overseeing the proceedings for them and negotiating on their behalf.

Your coverage is only as good as the claims handling process!