XL Catlin Expands Professional Indemnity Offering in Iberia

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XL Catlin’s insurance operation in Iberia announced an extension of its professional indemnity coverage.

Traditionally, the coverage protects professional service firms against legal costs and claims for damages to third parties which may arise out of an act, omission or breach of professional duty in the course of a business operation, said XL Catlin, explaining that it has now enhanced this coverage to include:

Mitigation Costs (pre-claim): covers the costs incurred by the insured to avoid or mitigate the consequences of an error or omission before the claim.
Image Restitution Costs (post-claim): covers the costs incurred by the insured if they hire an external consultant to reduce the damage to the insured’s reputation caused as a consequence of a claim.
Media Liability: covers the risks the insured faces when publishing content or contributing content to the media, e.g., books, newspapers, magazines, corporate blogs, social networks and corporate web pages, as this might cause alleged damages to third parties.
Right to Be Forgotten: In May 2014, Europe’s highest court ruled that individuals had a “right to be forgotten.” With this ruling, EU citizens have the right to request that certain links be removed from internet searches if they contain information that is “inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant, or excessive in relation to the purposes for which they were processed and in light of the time that has elapsed.”

The new data protection legislation enacted by the European Commission in April 2016 also includes a “right to be forgotten.” This policy extension covers the fees of consultants or lawyers reasonably incurred by the insured in filing a request with the search companies – Google, Yahoo and Bing – covering the links they would like “delisted,” and the basis for making the request.

The Media Liability extension is the newest to the market and hence there are questions about what is covered, said Estefanía Taboada, underwriting manager, International Financial Lines, for XL Catlin’s insurance operation in Iberia (the region covering Spain and Portugal).

“If for example, a law firm sends a newsletter to its clients or publishes it on their website, and it inadvertently contains inaccurate information about changes in tax laws, the Media Liability extension would cover any damages the firm’s clients incurred as a result of decisions they took based on the faulty information,” Taboada explained.

“The ‘Right to be Forgotten’ cover is also in demand in Spain and we anticipate a lot of interest in this cover,” said Ana Dores, deputy underwriting manager, International Financial Lines, for XL Catlin’s insurance operation in Iberia.

“After the EU established such a right in May 2014 – based on the Costeja case in Spain – Google and the other major search companies created a process whereby individuals can request that certain links be removed or certain information related to an error or omission in the provision of professional services be removed,” Dores continued.

“In this regard, this coverage offers policyholders an additional tool for protecting their professional reputations, and help ensure the continuity of their businesses,” she said. “In the year since the ruling was issued, Google received more than 253,000 delisting requests covering more than 920,000 links. Approximately 22,500 of these requests were from Spain. It has been reported that Google removed about 380,000 links, or 41 percent, over this one-year period.”

José Ramón Morales, country manager Iberia for XL Catlin’s insurance operation, said: “We are living in increasingly litigious times, more plaintiffs are willing to pursue claims in court, and courts are awarding higher damages. Broad professional indemnity coverage is becoming more important in Iberia, especially for the legal profession, media and technology organizations and other professional bodies. Our clients are in real need of new, modern coverages and we are committed to meeting that need….”

Source: XL Catlin

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