President's Message
Ever walked out the door on a clear summer morning -- and gotten caught in a lunchtime rainstorm, without your umbrella?

Errors & Omissions and General Liability Insurance:
What You May Not Understand -- and What No One Has Really Explained Until Now

By Gary M. Fee, OSSN President

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In other words, you're sharing the maximum coverage level -- whether it's $1 million, or $2 million, or higher -- with the agency's other independent contractors and employees. If the host agency has five employees and 30 outside sales agents, then 35 potential claimants fall under that single policy.

Theoretically, then, if claims from one or two independent contractors working with your host agency exhaust the policy limit, the remaining outside agents (including you!) will be completely exposed if something else goes wrong. (Just imagine what happens if the host agency has a $1 million policy limit with a thousand or more independent contractors.)

OSSN encourages all host agencies to communicate this fact clearly to every independent contractor who may believe mistakenly that their host agency's policy limit applies to them "independently" of other claims.

If you can afford your own E&O/GL policy, on the other hand, then you will be completely covered on your own up to your policy limit -- regardless of how many host agencies you work with in any given year. (The typical cost from Berkely for this type of policy is $350.)

Watch your OSSN news for an exciting update by the end of 2005 -- because we've been negotiating with a new company that will offer very competitive options compared to Berkely for E&O/GL policies!