How To Avoid Major E&O Claims

With the continuing pandemic, insurance market conditions are ripe for a surge in agent/broker errors and omissions (E&O) claims.

Disputes among policyholders, brokers and carriers have become more common. Already, there have been wide-ranging lawsuits over virus coverage for business interruption, workers’ compensation and related cyber coverage.

The COVID-19 Litigation Tracker reports that since January 2020 there have been over 3,100 lawsuits related to COVID-19.

Claims and lawsuits against insurance carriers and brokers about policyholder coverage for such lines as business interruption and workers’ compensation are already rising in the wake of the pandemic, according to preliminary data from the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers (IIABA).

E&O claims are expected to increase even more as COVID-related losses are excluded or deemed uncovered. New liability protection laws in several states now protect employers from lawsuits based on the pandemic, but those laws expire after the pandemic, and they don’t cover agents and brokers for E&O.