Alex - we are considering only one policy for general liability, that from ANI. For all - here is the response from the CEO of ANI on what the general liability insurance would cover. It appears we are completely covered in case of a scattershot suit in which someone sues absolutely everybody he or she can think of associated with GSW for bodily injury, property damage, or personal injury (in our case, slander and libel would be the only plausible types of personal injury). Thinking back to the case that Alex cited at the council meeting - that was a situation of slander and libel. Both General Liability and D&O insurance cover slander and libel. But D&O insurance covers only "wrongful acts" (slander and libel are a subset of this type of injury) and would not cover any expenses connected with lawsuits arising from any other type of situation, such as injuries on a field trip. I don't think we need D&O insurance, as we are unlikely to be sued for "wrongful acts" arising from mismanaging GSW or its employees (we have none). The only thing covered under D&O insurance where we might have a problem is the slander and libel situation, and General Liability has us covered for that. So. we don't need D&O insurance. Cheers Odette _____ From: Pamela Davis [mailto:pdavis@insurancefornonprofits.org] Sent: Friday, April 14, 2017 12:29 PM To: o.b.james@verizon.net Subject: RE: Your Quote for Liability Insurance from ANI Odette, Thanks for reaching out. I think there is a confusion her between "defense" and "attorney fees". If someone is insured on a field trip and sues your organization and the individuals associated with it for bodily injury, the GL policy would cover the full cost of the defense for everyone in your organization and the organization yourself. This includes handling the entire claim to conclusion, whether that entails defending a lawsuit or just arriving at a settlement to the claim, or denying the claim. If we would decline the claim because we were convinced it was not your organization's or any of your individual's responsibility, we would still have to provide the defense and indemnification for all of you if the person injured decides to sue you. That decision of whether to settle with the injured party or continue with the defense would be our decision. Where you see that "legal fees" are not covered, that means that the policy is not required to pay the other party's legal fees. Which is true. However, we, as the insurer, are responsible for handling the claim to conclusion and that typically means including in the settlement an amount that will allow the injured party to cover their attorney fees. We, as the insurer, can't just leave you, our policyholder, dangling. We need to conclude the claim so that you are protected. We then make sure we get a full release so they can't come back and try to get any more money from you for this claim. I hope this helps. If not, feel free to call me at the number below. These things can be confusing. And, by the way, you can get other quotes, but I can assure you that no CEO of another insurance company is ever going to personally answer your email! All the best, Pamela E. Davis Founder/President/CEO 831-621-6018 800-359-6422, ext. 6018 cid:image001.png@01D15532.049626D0 Celebrating 28 years of service to nonprofits! From: Odette B. James [mailto:o.b.james@verizon.net] Sent: Friday, April 14, 2017 8:51 AM To: Pamela Davis Subject: RE: Your Quote for Liability Insurance from ANI Thank you for the quote. Our council discussed the insurance at its meeting on Wednesday and agreed that we do need a general liability policy, but we would like to get quotes from one or two other brokers before making a final decision. One question did come up that we would like answered. Suppose that someone did get injured on one of our field trips and decided to sue the field trip leader and every individual they could think of connected with the organization as well as the organization itself. Everyone named in the suit would have to respond, even if later the court might throw out most of the people originally named. The policy states that the insurer will "defend" the directors, officers and volunteers of the organization named in the suit as well as the organization itself. Does this defense encompass helping them with the individual responses to the original charges? Would there be any lawyers fees that the individuals would incur that would not be covered by the insurance? The policy does not seem entirely clear on this, as in one place it states that legal fees will not be covered, yet in other places it states that everyone will be "defended." I sent this question to the broker we have been dealing with and she responded that attorneys' fees would be paid "if the claim warranted it." That really didn't answer the question. When would the claim warrant paying the fees and when would it not? If one of our officers or volunteers is named in a lawsuit against the organization, along with the organization, would the insurance policy cover the costs for that person to defend himself or herself against the suit? When would the costs not be covered? Best regards Odette James _____ From: pdavis@insurancefornonprofits.org [mailto:pdavis@insurancefornonprofits.org] Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2017 4:25 PM To: o.b.james@verizon.net Cc: jpittman@cimaworld.com; pdavis@insurancefornonprofits.org Subject: Your Quote for Liability Insurance from ANI We are pleased to let you know that your organization has been approved for membership in the Alliance of Nonprofits for Insurance, Risk Retention Group (ANI) and we are working on a quote for your organization. We will provide your insurance broker, Cima Companies, Inc., with a quotation for your organization's liability insurance shortly. Once your broker has an opportunity to evaluate and review our quote, your broker will be in touch with you to go over the coverages, premium and specialized free and discounted services included with the quotation. But, there are a couple of things about ANI that I'd like you to hear from me, the founder. ANI and NIAC, an affiliate in California, grew from an idea posed in my Master's thesis at UC Berkeley. In my thesis, I proposed that instead of relying on insurance companies that were inconsistent in their willingness to provide affordable insurance, the nonprofit sector actually could get control of this important financial service and make sure we were paying our fair share and no more. My dream was to engage nonprofits in risk management by providing a variety of free or highly discounted management services as part of the insurance purchase. And then, if together we had claims experiences that were better than anticipated, we would share that good fortune with the members that made it happen. Our experience since ANI's founding in 2001 has been terrific. ANI members currently accrue credits toward a dividend plan the company has in place, however, ANI is not yet paying out dividends. For example, for ANI members all of the following are FREE for those purchasing the related insurance coverage: * Driver Training (online, in person, and self-study) (Auto Coverage) * Free and unlimited Employment-related and Pre-termination Consultations (D&O Coverage) All ANI members have access to the following services FREE OF CHARGE: * Unlimited use of our Audiovisual Lending Library * Risk Management materials on our Secure Website * Our Webinar Series * BOARDnetWORK - an online tool for your Board of Directors * My Risk Management Plan * Group Purchasing Portal ANI Members also have access to the following highly discounted services: * Background Checks * Disaster Recovery and Planning online tool * Drug Screening * Motor Vehicle Record Checks (MVRs) * Employee Handbook Builder (D&O Coverage) Click here to download a one-page summary of our services. http://www.insurancefornonprofits.org/resources/Services.pdf Yes, ANI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and our nonprofit members are the beneficiaries of our work. We have grown from $10 million in total grants from the David & Lucile Packard Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to a company rated A VIII by A.M. Best, insuring more than 7000 nonprofits in 32 states and DC. Everything we do is on behalf of other nonprofits like you. I would welcome a call from you to answer any questions you might have about ANI as you consider this important decision. My direct phone number is (831) 621-6018 or you can use the 800 number listed below. If you want to check out what others are saying about ANI, click <http://www.insurancefornonprofits.org/about/what-our-members-are-saying/> here. If you want more details about Risk Retention Groups, click here <http://www.insurancefornonprofits.org/resources/RRG-QA.pdf> . This year, when your insurance broker reviews with you the quotations for insurance, I hope you'll see that with ANI, you will get value from your insurance purchase throughout the year, and not just when you have claims! And, we want you to know that if your broker is recommending ANI it is because they are more willing to serve this important sector than to get the highest possible commission for themselves. Please thank them. We hope you will join us. Visit our website at www.insurancefornonprofits.org. 51224 Pamela E. Davis Founder/President/CEO 831-621-6018 800-359-6422, ext. 6018 Celebrating 28 years of service to nonprofits! Click this link to view our annual report online: https://www.insurancefornonprofits.org/pubs/AnnualReport/index.html https://www.insurancefornonprofits.org CONFIDENTIALITY STATEMENT: This message, together with any attachments is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed. It may contain information that is confidential and prohibited from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, dissemination or copying of this message or any attachment is strictly prohibited. If you have received this item in error, please notify the original sender and destroy this item, along with any attachments. Thank you. Please consider the environment before printing this email. Click this link to view our annual report online: https://www.insurancefornonprofits.org/pubs/AnnualReport/index.html https://www.insurancefornonprofits.org CONFIDENTIALITY STATEMENT: This message, together with any attachments is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed. It may contain information that is confidential and prohibited from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, dissemination or copying of this message or any attachment is strictly prohibited. If you have received this item in error, please notify the original sender and destroy this item, along with any attachments. Thank you. Please consider the environment before printing this email.

Odette: Because GSW is running field trips more regularly now, requires insurance to meet in some other locations, and appears it can afford it, having General Liability Insurance makes sense. I fully expect the GSW Council, after considering the cost/benefit ratio, will decide against any Directors and Officer (D&O) liability insurance. However, I was concerned that this decision might be made on too narrow of considerations. Thus far, in the D&O liability insurance conversation, the insurance was said to be unneeded because GSW does not have employees, does not publish, or is protected by some aspects of DC charitable immunity or volunteer protection laws. · True - GSW has no employees, and this appears to be the leading cause of legal action against a board of directors. (Said to be nearly 90% of reported D&O claims.) · GSW meetings are publicly advertised, in practice are open to the public, and the minutes are freely posted online. These are opportunities for public libel, slander, and defamation - GSW publishes in both oral and written forms. · I would expect general liability insurance to cover defense expenses to the limit of the coverage for both everyone in GSW and GSW itself for the types of offenses that are covered. Items in the long list of exclusions enumerated in the ANI general liability policy are not covered for either defense nor settlement. The ANI policy appears limited to defense and settlement coverage for losses arising from bodily injury and property damage only. · What is excluded by that ANI general liability insurance could be termed management liability or financial damages, not bodily injury or property damage. Most pertinent here are personal and advertising injury (libel, slander, and defamation); publisher’s liability (plagiarism, copyright infringement); disparagement of goods, products or services; publication of material that violates a person's right of privacy; fundraising; mismanagement of assets; and failure to remit/pay taxes. · Some states have charitable immunity or volunteer protection laws and there is the 1997 federal Volunteer Protection Act. These laws vary from state to state, do not shield a nonprofit organization from liability or from being sued, cannot preclude federal violation liability, and do not provide for the cost of defense. · GSW ought not rely on being governed by DC jurisdiction because it is a DC corporation. With field trips possible in surrounding states, GSW corresponding members though out the country, and a website, a justification could be made that a legal jurisdiction more favorable to the plaintiff is possible. · Since more than one half of all D&O claims close at zero indemnity – with no payment to the plaintiff – the duty of the insurance company to defend covered claims is of greater value than the obligations to pay settlement or judgement amounts. A cost/benefit judgement by GSW Council will likely be that D&O liability insurance for GSW is not justified. My concern is that the GSW Council make the decision with their eyes wide open to the variety of their exposure, as they or future Councils will have their personal assets at risk by serving on Council. The alternative here is to have written policies and procedures in place that are made continually known and followed to minimize any of those management liabilities. Alex ------------------- > On Apr 14, 2017, at 6:02 PM, Odette B. James <o.b.james@verizon.net> wrote: > > Alex - we are considering only one policy for general liability, that from ANI. > > For all - here is the response from the CEO of ANI on what the general liability insurance would cover. It appears we are completely covered in case of a scattershot suit in which someone sues absolutely everybody he or she can think of associated with GSW for bodily injury, property damage, or personal injury (in our case, slander and libel would be the only plausible types of personal injury). > > Thinking back to the case that Alex cited at the council meeting - that was a situation of slander and libel. Both General Liability and D&O insurance cover slander and libel. But D&O insurance covers only "wrongful acts" (slander and libel are a subset of this type of injury) and would not cover any expenses connected with lawsuits arising from any other type of situation, such as injuries on a field trip. I don't think we need D&O insurance, as we are unlikely to be sued for "wrongful acts" arising from mismanaging GSW or its employees (we have none). The only thing covered under D&O insurance where we might have a problem is the slander and libel situation, and General Liability has us covered for that. > > So. we don't need D&O insurance. > > Cheers > Odette > > From: Pamela Davis [mailto:pdavis@insurancefornonprofits.org <mailto:pdavis@insurancefornonprofits.org>] > Sent: Friday, April 14, 2017 12:29 PM > To: o.b.james@verizon.net <mailto:o.b.james@verizon.net> > Subject: RE: Your Quote for Liability Insurance from ANI > > Odette, > > Thanks for reaching out. I think there is a confusion her between “defense” and “attorney fees”. If someone is insured on a field trip and sues your organization and the individuals associated with it for bodily injury, the GL policy would cover the full cost of the defense for everyone in your organization and the organization yourself. This includes handling the entire claim to conclusion, whether that entails defending a lawsuit or just arriving at a settlement to the claim, or denying the claim. If we would decline the claim because we were convinced it was not your organization’s or any of your individual’s responsibility, we would still have to provide the defense and indemnification for all of you if the person injured decides to sue you. That decision of whether to settle with the injured party or continue with the defense would be our decision. > > Where you see that “legal fees” are not covered, that means that the policy is not required to pay the other party’s legal fees. Which is true. However, we, as the insurer, are responsible for handling the claim to conclusion and that typically means including in the settlement an amount that will allow the injured party to cover their attorney fees. We, as the insurer, can’t just leave you, our policyholder, dangling. We need to conclude the claim so that you are protected. We then make sure we get a full release so they can’t come back and try to get any more money from you for this claim. > > I hope this helps. If not, feel free to call me at the number below. These things can be confusing. And, by the way, you can get other quotes, but I can assure you that no CEO of another insurance company is ever going to personally answer your email! > > All the best, > > > Pamela E. Davis > Founder/President/CEO > 831-621-6018 > 800-359-6422, ext. 6018 > > <image001.jpg> > Celebrating 28 years of service to nonprofits! > > > From: Odette B. James [mailto: <mailto:o.b.james@verizon.net>o.b.james@verizon.net <mailto:o.b.james@verizon.net>] > Sent: Friday, April 14, 2017 8:51 AM > To: Pamela Davis > Subject: RE: Your Quote for Liability Insurance from ANI > > Thank you for the quote. Our council discussed the insurance at its meeting on Wednesday and agreed that we do need a general liability policy, but we would like to get quotes from one or two other brokers before making a final decision. > > One question did come up that we would like answered. Suppose that someone did get injured on one of our field trips and decided to sue the field trip leader and every individual they could think of connected with the organization as well as the organization itself. Everyone named in the suit would have to respond, even if later the court might throw out most of the people originally named. The policy states that the insurer will "defend" the directors, officers and volunteers of the organization named in the suit as well as the organization itself. Does this defense encompass helping them with the individual responses to the original charges? Would there be any lawyers fees that the individuals would incur that would not be covered by the insurance? The policy does not seem entirely clear on this, as in one place it states that legal fees will not be covered, yet in other places it states that everyone will be "defended." > > I sent this question to the broker we have been dealing with and she responded that attorneys' fees would be paid "if the claim warranted it." That really didn't answer the question. When would the claim warrant paying the fees and when would it not? If one of our officers or volunteers is named in a lawsuit against the organization, along with the organization, would the insurance policy cover the costs for that person to defend himself or herself against the suit? When would the costs not be covered? > > Best regards > Odette James > > > > From: pdavis@insurancefornonprofits.org <mailto:pdavis@insurancefornonprofits.org> [mailto:pdavis@insurancefornonprofits.org <mailto:pdavis@insurancefornonprofits.org>] > Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2017 4:25 PM > To: o.b.james@verizon.net <mailto:o.b.james@verizon.net> > Cc: jpittman@cimaworld.com <mailto:jpittman@cimaworld.com>; pdavis@insurancefornonprofits.org <mailto:pdavis@insurancefornonprofits.org> > Subject: Your Quote for Liability Insurance from ANI > > We are pleased to let you know that your organization has been approved for membership in the Alliance of Nonprofits for Insurance, Risk Retention Group (ANI) and we are working on a quote for your organization. We will provide your insurance broker, Cima Companies, Inc., with a quotation for your organization's liability insurance shortly. Once your broker has an opportunity to evaluate and review our quote, your broker will be in touch with you to go over the coverages, premium and specialized free and discounted services included with the quotation. But, there are a couple of things about ANI that I'd like you to hear from me, the founder. > > ANI and NIAC, an affiliate in California, grew from an idea posed in my Master's thesis at UC Berkeley. In my thesis, I proposed that instead of relying on insurance companies that were inconsistent in their willingness to provide affordable insurance, the nonprofit sector actually could get control of this important financial service and make sure we were paying our fair share and no more. My dream was to engage nonprofits in risk management by providing a variety of free or highly discounted management services as part of the insurance purchase. And then, if together we had claims experiences that were better than anticipated, we would share that good fortune with the members that made it happen. Our experience since ANI's founding in 2001 has been terrific. ANI members currently accrue credits toward a dividend plan the company has in place, however, ANI is not yet paying out dividends. > > For example, for ANI members all of the following are FREE for those purchasing the related insurance coverage: > Driver Training (online, in person, and self-study) (Auto Coverage) > Free and unlimited Employment-related and Pre-termination Consultations (D&O Coverage) > All ANI members have access to the following services FREE OF CHARGE: > Unlimited use of our Audiovisual Lending Library > Risk Management materials on our Secure Website > Our Webinar Series > BOARDnetWORK - an online tool for your Board of Directors > My Risk Management Plan > Group Purchasing Portal > ANI Members also have access to the following highly discounted services: > Background Checks > Disaster Recovery and Planning online tool > Drug Screening > Motor Vehicle Record Checks (MVRs) > Employee Handbook Builder (D&O Coverage) > Click here to download a one-page summary of our services. http://www.insurancefornonprofits.org/resources/Services.pdf <http://www.insurancefornonprofits.org/resources/Services.pdf> > > Yes, ANI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and our nonprofit members are the beneficiaries of our work. We have grown from $10 million in total grants from the David & Lucile Packard Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to a company rated A VIII by A.M. Best, insuring more than 7000 nonprofits in 32 states and DC. Everything we do is on behalf of other nonprofits like you. I would welcome a call from you to answer any questions you might have about ANI as you consider this important decision. My direct phone number is (831) 621-6018 or you can use the 800 number listed below. If you want to check out what others are saying about ANI, click here <http://www.insurancefornonprofits.org/about/what-our-members-are-saying/>. If you want more details about Risk Retention Groups, click here <http://www.insurancefornonprofits.org/resources/RRG-QA.pdf>. > > This year, when your insurance broker reviews with you the quotations for insurance, I hope you'll see that with ANI, you will get value from your insurance purchase throughout the year, and not just when you have claims! And, we want you to know that if your broker is recommending ANI it is because they are more willing to serve this important sector than to get the highest possible commission for themselves. Please thank them. > > We hope you will join us. Visit our website at www.insurancefornonprofits.org <http://www.insurancefornonprofits.org/>. > > > 51224 > > > Pamela E. Davis > Founder/President/CEO > 831-621-6018 > 800-359-6422, ext. 6018 > > <image002.jpg> > Celebrating 28 years of service to nonprofits! > Click this link to view our annual report online: https://www.insurancefornonprofits.org/pubs/AnnualReport/index.html <https://www.insurancefornonprofits.org/pubs/AnnualReport/index.html> > > https://www.insurancefornonprofits.org <https://www.insurancefornonprofits.org/> > > > > CONFIDENTIALITY STATEMENT: This message, together with any attachments is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed. It may contain information that is confidential and prohibited from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, dissemination or copying of this message or any attachment is strictly prohibited. If you have received this item in error, please notify the original sender and destroy this item, along with any attachments. Thank you. > > Please consider the environment before printing this email. > > Click this link to view our annual report online: https://www.insurancefornonprofits.org/pubs/AnnualReport/index.html <https://www.insurancefornonprofits.org/pubs/AnnualReport/index.html> > > https://www.insurancefornonprofits.org <https://www.insurancefornonprofits.org/> > > > > CONFIDENTIALITY STATEMENT: This message, together with any attachments is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed. It may contain information that is confidential and prohibited from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, dissemination or copying of this message or any attachment is strictly prohibited. If you have received this item in error, please notify the original sender and destroy this item, along with any attachments. Thank you. > > Please consider the environment before printing this email. > > _______________________________________________ > GSW-Councilplus-l mailing list > > The GSW Councilplus list serv intended for GSW Council members and GSW Committee Chairs to receive and post messages. > > GSW-Councilplus-l@minlists.org <mailto:GSW-Councilplus-l@minlists.org> > http://lists.minlists.org/mailman/listinfo/gsw-councilplus-l <http://lists.minlists.org/mailman/listinfo/gsw-councilplus-l>