Category: Blog

BY: KRISTEN DRAKE

The deadline to file claims with the Receiver for Arrowood Indemnity Company’s liquidation is fast approaching. All claims must be submitted on or before January 15, 2025, or they will “be barred forever from recovering on claims against Arrowood, or its estate.” Trinidad Navarro, the Delaware Department of Insurance Commissioner, serves as the Receiver.

If you’re facing a long-tail liability, toxic tort, or latent injury claim, and any of the carrier names listed in this article sound familiar, now is the time to act. PolicyFind’s Team can help you organize and present your evidence of coverage and submit your Proof of Claim before the Claims Bar Date. Time is of the essence to ensure your claim is preserved.

Arrowpoint Capital announced on November 8, 2023, that Arrowood Indemnity Company had been placed into and consented to liquidation by order of the Chancery Court of Delaware.

Formerly known as Royal Globe Insurance Company and/or Royal Indemnity Company, Arrowood Indemnity was acquired by Arrowpoint Capital in 2007 as part of the U.S. insurance operations of Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group plc. Click here for the list of the 75 companies involved with the Arrowood Indemnity liquidation.

Dennis Cahill, President & CEO, attributed the liquidation to factors such as the enactment of child victim act statutes and the persistent emergence of claims related to legacy insurance policies issued decades ago. These developments have significantly impacted the company’s financial condition. Read the company’s full statement here.

Similar to Bedivere Insurance Company’s liquidation in 2021, Arrowood Indemnity’s liquidation may have broad implications for long-tail, toxic tort, and latent injury claims. General liability policies issued by companies like Arrowood often provide coverage for these types of claims. Don’t miss your opportunity to secure your claim—contact PolicyFind for assistance today.

BY: SAMANTHA DEELORRIETA

Effective risk management is crucial for safeguarding an organization’s financial health and operational stability. Companies can protect their capital and earnings from unforeseen disruptions by identifying, assessing, and mitigating potential threats—from financial uncertainty and legal liabilities to accidents. A thorough insurance policy audit ensures that an organization’s historical liability coverage program is robust enough to respond to potential current or future risks. The historical insurance policy and program audit is a proactive approach to minimizing the impact of unexpected events.

Risk management is often handled by a dedicated department in larger corporations, while small businesses, non-profits, and religious organizations may address it sporadically, such as during board meetings.

While many organizations focus on future goals, effective risk management today also requires planning for past liabilities. This includes the potential for civil suits related to bodily injury, property damage, or exposure to harmful substances that may have occurred decades ago. In some cases, organizations may have incomplete insurance records, leaving them unaware of gaps in their historical coverage.

Enter the insurance policy audit.

What is an insurance policy audit, and how does it help manage risk?

“Insurance policy audit” can refer to several different things. A quick Google search populates results for the following types of policy audits:

• A risk professional, such as an insurance agent, may recommend conducting an insurance policy audit to determine whether the organization’s current insurance program provides adequate coverage for its current risks.
• Insurance companies commonly conduct insurance policy audits, also known as premium audits, to confirm an insured is paying the correct premiums for coverage provided.

In insurance archaeology, however, a historical insurance policy and/or program audit is conducted to unearth the long-forgotten policies that comprise an organization’s historic liability insurance coverage. These audits determine the terms of coverage the policies provide and identify which policy years are missing. Whether you’re working proactively, responding to a demand from an environmental agency, or addressing a lawsuit, once this information is uncovered, it can be used to defend against newly filed legal actions—such as those alleging damage or injury from events that occurred decades ago—involving your organization.

How is an audit performed?

The audit process typically begins with a review of an organization’s business records, including insurance policies, financial records, meeting minutes, and litigation files. This review

can be conducted in several ways, depending on the organization’s method of storing its old files and the number of files to review. PolicyFind’s skilled archaeologists can review records onsite at the organization or in their own offices by having them shipped to them. These records can also be analyzed virtually via digital means.

During the records review, the archaeologist will note significant findings and sort out all records pertaining to insurance. This includes actual insurance policies and all documents that may provide “leads” to evidence of historic insurance coverage.

Once the pertinent records have been identified, the archaeologist will comb through them with a sharp eye to identify key information, such as policy numbers, carriers, limits, coverage types, agents, brokers, and more.

After all relevant information is compiled, it is organized into a report containing a Schedule of Insurance, Coverage Chart, and Recommended Next Steps. The report includes an overview of the archaeologist’s findings, the identified coverages (including carriers, limits, and layers), any gaps in coverage, and recommended next steps.

Contact PolicyFind

Knowledge of your company’s historic insurance coverages through an insurance policy audit will add valuable tools to your organization’s risk management arsenal. After the audit, whether there is a current action to respond to or further insurance archaeology to conduct, PolicyFind is here to help.

The best way to accurately assess whether an Insurance Policy Audit is the right option for your organization is to speak with us. During a free consultation, we will learn more about your specific situation and advise potential paths forward. Contact PolicyFind today to get the process started.

BY: JAMES PAWLISH

Insurance carriers should leverage insurance archaeology services to locate historical general liability policies, and the benefits of doing so are substantial.

As the legacy claims landscape continues to evolve, carriers who embrace these specialized services safeguard their insureds and strengthen their collective positions. By looking to the past, carriers better protect the future—for themselves and their insureds.

Understanding the full picture of an insured’s historical liability insurance coverage program is critical. Historical liability policies carry significant implications for claims management, particularly in an era where environmental liabilities, asbestos and talc exposure claims, and long-tail personal injury claims are increasingly common. Enter insurance archaeology — an invaluable service that helps carriers locate and retrieve additional historical coverage to respond to litigation and demands. Here are a few reasons why embracing this service has been a game-changer for carriers.

UNLOCKS ADDITIONAL COVERAGE FOR COST SHARING

Long-tail claims take decades to surface and often relate to environmental damage, product liability, personal injury, or occupational hazards. Carriers may struggle to provide adequate coverage for these claims without access to historical policies. By utilizing insurance archaeology, carriers can identify other carriers and unlock additional coverage. This knowledge empowers insurers to make better-informed decisions about current and future claims.

PROVES TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Policies contain a framework of language that has shifted over time. PolicyFind’s Specimen Policy Library and its insurance archaeology investigations provide unsurpassed insight into how policy language has evolved, helping carriers best understand their obligations (or lack thereof). This is particularly important when dealing with decades-old coverage or claims spanning multiple policy periods. By thoroughly understanding historical coverage and the regulatory environment at the time, carriers can make informed claims decisions.

MITIGATES RISK FOR CARRIERS

Insurance carriers can face significant risk. For instance, if an insured files a claim and the insurer cannot locate that documentation, it could lead to legal repercussions. By employing insurance archaeology services, carriers ensure they have all the necessary documentation at their fingertips, significantly reducing risk.

PROVIDES COST-EFFECTIVE SOLUTIONS FOR CARRIERS

While it may seem like an added expense, investing in insurance archaeology services can save carriers significant costs in the long run. Locating and accessing historical policies can prevent costly litigation, reduce claims disputes, and enhance overall claims management efficiency.

ENHANCES RELATIONSHIPS

Strong relationships are built on trust and transparency. When carriers take the initiative to locate additional coverage information, they demonstrate a commitment to their insured’s best interests. This proactive approach strengthens relationships and fosters loyalty.

By working with PolicyFind, you are leveraging our expertise and resources. Insurance archaeology is a specialized field that combines expert knowledge with advanced technology to locate evidence of historical insurance documents. Insurance carriers may lack the resources to perform this type of research effectively. Partnering with experts specializing in insurance archaeology ensures that carriers can tap into cutting-edge tools and methodologies, maximizing their chances of success in locating lost or misplaced policies.

CONTACT POLICYFIND

PolicyFind’s expertise operates on two key fronts. First, our team of experts uncovers evidence of historical coverage to tackle long-tail claims through Insurance Archaeology. Then, leveraging our extensive specimen policy library, we can reconstruct these old policies. This powerful approach delivers an impressive ‘one-two punch.’

Schedule a free consultation to determine if PolicyFind’s Specimen Policy Library and Insurance Archaeology services fit. To get started, contact PolicyFind today.

BY: KRISTEN DRAKE

Splashed across headlines throughout the country, is where to find situations in which Insurance Archaeology can provide potential pools of funds that may not otherwise exist. From the Biden-Harris Administration finalizing the EPA action designating PFOA and PFAS as hazardous substances under CERCLA (in effect on July 8, 2024) to billion-dollar talc cancer lawsuit settlements to million-dollar sexual abuse lawsuit settlements involving religious and educational institutions. Each of these present-day scenarios highlights the need to locate historical insurance policies for various claims, and the evolving nature of litigation and legislation.

Insurance Archaeology, once considered a niche industry, is now a mainstream construct and an integral part of legal strategies on both sides of the aisle. As societal awareness and legal frameworks evolve, it’s likely that the demand for such services will only continue to increase.

WHAT IS ‘INSURANCE ARCHAEOLOGY’?

Merriam-Webster would approve, as we begin with definitions. A practitioner for nearly a decade, I often define Insurance Archaeology as “the process of locating and retrieving proof of the existence, terms, conditions, and limits of lost or destroyed policies.”

If a more contemporary definition is preferred, ChatGPT defines the practice this way:

“Insurance archaeology refers to the process of researching and reconstructing historical insurance policies and coverage details for various purposes. This could include locating old insurance policies to determine liability, coverage, and obligations for environmental cleanup, asbestos claims, product liability, or other legal matters. It often involves delving into archives, records, and historical documents to gather information about past insurance arrangements.”

In short, Insurance Archaeology can be likened to genealogy – with an insurance bent. While PolicyFind’s investigators are proven experts at spotting even a modicum of potentially valuable information within old files and historical documents, those documents, oftentimes, are non-existent.

Insurance Archaeology is frequently suggested by an attorney, insurance broker, or environmental consultant, when all efforts to reconstruct historical insurance programs have failed. Searches that don’t involve Insurance Archaeologists typically arrive at dead-ends because 50- or 60-year-old business records were purged long ago.

WHAT DOES INSURANCE ARCHAEOLOGY ENTAIL?

Broadly, once armed with pertinent details about the historical operations of a business entity or institution, an Insurance Archaeologist will define and deploy a detailed and linear investigative strategy. The investigation typically takes 60-90 days to complete and may include boots on the ground research, interviews with stakeholders and key personnel, and research within public and private repositories. The aim in each investigation is the same: to locate potentially applicable policies by identifying and conducting a pain-staking review of priority sources of information. Generally, insurance archaeology strategies vary, as do the claims facing businesses, non-profits, and educational and religious institutions.

COMPONENTS OF THE INSURANCE ARCHAEOLOGY INVESTIGATIONS

While each Insurance Archaeology investigation is unique, there are some common strategies employed within the investigations. These components can be employed either within an insurance archaeology investigation, or employed as standalone options.

• Use of a ‘Specimen Policy Library’. Specimen forms and policies provide additional information needed to determine the terms, conditions, and limits of coverage for policies that are identified by evidence of coverage, such as cancelled checks, ledger entries or certificates of insurance that provide policy numbers. PolicyFind uses a myriad of proprietary sources to find actual policies or significant evidence of coverage. Our extensive specimen policy library contains hundreds of general liability and excess liability insurance policies to ground-truth evidence of coverage and help reconstruct missing portions of policies.
• Insurance Policy Audits. A valuable tool for those who have previously enlisted an Insurance Archaeology firm or for those who have received regulatory closure for prior environmental issues, but now may face additional PFAS-related concerns. This component is also vital when new claims or litigation has been filed alleging wrongdoing during a different policy period than when an Insurance Archaeologist previously investigated. An audit reviews and evaluates which policies may respond and which policy years are missing.
• Corporate History Reconstruction. This is a critical component for companies with a corporate history rife with mergers and acquisitions. Through this process, insurance archaeologists perform a full historical insurance audit to identify with whom historical liability lies. This practice also provides benefit to corporations acquiring ownership of present-day companies that risk acquiring potential liabilities with roots in past practices of the companies they acquire.
• PRP Research and Identification. Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) research comes into play when companies are unfairly singled out for environmental expenditures. More specifically, when regulatory agencies discover soil and groundwater contamination, the most obvious legally liable parties (responsible parties) are commonly the first to receive a demand. The most obvious party may be only one in a history of past owners and operators, waste transporters or generators that may have contributed to the environmental impairment. PRP research levels the playing field to involve all parties historically associated with a contaminated site.

The best way to accurately assess whether insurance archaeology is the right option for you is to speak with an insurance archaeologist who can learn more about your situation and advise you accordingly. PolicyFind’s experienced insurance archaeologists offer a confidential consultation to determine potential paths forward to cost recovery. Contact PolicyFind

Many drycleaners engaging an Insurance Archaeologist fall into one of three categories: 1. They worry their property may be contaminated due to operations taking place prior to their (now green) operation; 2. They know there is likely contamination onsite, but they’re not ready to deal with it because it’s expensive; or 3. They’re not being asked to investigate it, so it’s being ignored.

If you fall into one of those categories, you’re in the right place.

Let’s start at the beginning and hit the high points.

The official definition of Insurance Archaeology is: “The practice of locating and retrieving the proof of the existence, terms, conditions, and limits of lost or destroyed insurance policies.” We often liken it to ‘genealogy with an insurance bent’.

PolicyFind was conceived to work for dry cleaners. Over twenty years ago, our CEO, Steve Henshaw, assembled a team of investigators, geologists, and engineers to work with and for drycleaners, with a keen focus on marrying two concepts: cleaning up contaminated properties and finding funding to ‘turn liabilities into assets’.

Insurance Archaeology can be (and maybe should be) performed before there’s a known issue. We believe in two basic tenets: helping our clients protect their investment and leaving the environment better than we found it. The fact is, being a business or property owner is, at its core, an investment. It may be your savings plan, or it might be your children’s livelihood one day. If drycleaning operations existed at your property dating back decades, you owe it to your future self to protect your investment by investigating all funding sources available to you if you believe harmful chemicals may have been used in prior operations.

Steve Henshaw was one of the first to understand the immense value of historical general liability insurance policies as it relates to environmental matters. When leveraged, these historical insurance policies are assets that can be worth millions of dollars in legal defense, cost-sharing of defense, and settlements. More importantly, Henshaw understood these occurrence-based policies were worth more than their weight in gold when uncovered and applied properly and that most business owners would have purchased these policies to respond to everyday incidents – like slip and fall accidents.

The types of policies PolicyFind hunts for, most frequently, are those occurrence-based general liability and umbrella/excess policies. More specifically, in most states throughout the country, PolicyFind is tasked with locating policies issued prior to the 1985/1986 time period because that is when policies started to incorporate the Absolute Pollution Exclusion.

How is it possible new claims can still be made against old policies? First, you should know that these policies never expire. ‘Occurrence-based’ policies—are those policies that cover losses if the damage happened during the time the policy was in effect, regardless of when a claim is filed.

PolicyFind works with drycleaners across the nation, day in and day out, to locate, quantify, and bring to bear these decades-old policies to pay for clean-up and remediation. Because no vault or database exists in which old insurance information is held, we conduct interviews, put boots on the ground to physically search files, and develop and follow ‘leads’ to reconstruct insurance coverage portfolios. This, along with our knowledge of state-by-state case law relating to ‘long-tail’ environmental matters and our knowledge of how the insurance industry operates, is what gives our policyholder clients access to more funding options when facing large and expensive environmental clean-ups.

The best way to accurately assess whether insurance archaeology is the right option for you is to speak with an insurance archaeologist who can learn more about your situation and advise you accordingly.

PolicyFind’s experienced insurance archaeologists offer our future clients a confidential consultation to determine potential paths forward to cost recovery. Contact PolicyFind.

On November 8, 2023, Arrowpoint Capital announced that Arrowood Indemnity Company has been placed into, and has consented to, liquidation by order of the Chancery Court of Delaware.

Arrowpoint Capital acquired the U.S. insurance operations of Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group plc in 2007. Arrowood Indemnity is formerly known as Royal Globe Insurance Company and/or Royal Indemnity Company.

Dennis Cahill, President & CEO, said the liquidation was due, in part, to “the enactment of child victim act statutes and the continued emergence and re-emergence of claims related to legacy insurance policies issued decades ago continue to adversely impact the company’s financial condition.” Read the company’s full statement here.

Like Bedivere Insurance Company’s liquidation in 2021, Arrowood Indemnity’s liquidation action has a potentially far-reaching impact in the world of long-tail, toxic tort, and latent injury claims, which are typically covered by general liability policies formerly written by companies like Arrowood Indemnity.

As a result of this liquidation order, all claims need to be filed with the Receiver on or before January 15, 2025, or “be barred forever from recovering on claims against Arrowood, or its estate.” The Delaware Department of Insurance Commissioner, Trinidad Navarro, serves as the Receiver.

LEARN MORE
For more information about the liquidation action, the Complaint for Entry of a Liquidation and Injunction Order with Bar Date can be viewed in full here.

THERE IS STILL TIME

If you’re facing a long-tail liability, toxic tort, or latent injury claim and any of the carrier names listed in this article sound familiar, please contact PolicyFind. There is still time for our team to help you locate and present your evidence of coverage and to submit Proof of Claim, ahead of the Claims Bar Date set for a little more than a year from now.

BY: KRISTEN DRAKE

On October 1, 2023, Maryland’s Child Victims Act took effect. Here, PolicyFind explains what this new law means for survivors of childhood sexual abuse, defendant institutions, and what role Insurance Archaeology can (or should) play.

Over the course of the past several years, PolicyFind has closely monitored and reported on the wave of ‘reviver statutes’ sweeping the nation. The ‘reviver statute’ or ‘look-back window’ is legislation that temporarily lifts the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse claims to be filed in civil court. These reviver statutes have been enacted for finite terms in more than a dozen states, including New York, New Jersey, California, and Arkansas.

To be clear, Maryland’s Child Victims Act is not a look-back window. This law eliminates the statute of limitations permanently; and Maryland is not alone in enacting this type of legislation, Vermont and Maine have similarly removed their respective statutes of limitations for civil matters. These measures allow adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file a civil lawsuit, regardless of when the abuse occurred.

As adult survivors file civil lawsuits, they often name not only the perpetrator but also the associated educational or religious institutions as defendants. According to marylandmatters.org, “Maryland Child Victims Act caps liability for public entities at $890,000 and increases the liability limit to $1.5 million for claims against private institutions for non-economic damages such as pain and suffering.” So, once a judgment is derived, where does the money come from?

With public schools and churches already in need of monetary support, without having new civil lawsuits against them, how will these, and other struggling non-profit, youth-based organizations, handle meeting these obligations? One option is insurance. This insurance is likely not the defendant organization’s current coverage, rather historical occurrence-based general liability coverage – the kind that was in place when the alleged wrongdoing occurred. This type of insurance is the same kind that would have responded to slip and fall accidents. Because of its wide range of coverage, it left a footprint. The tracing of that footprint is also known as Insurance Archaeology.

Another option for defendant institutions are those actions outlined within the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s press release, issued days before the new law in Maryland took effect. That statement outlined the organization’s pre-emptive move of filing for Chapter 11 reorganization.

Over the past several years, PolicyFind has penned many articles extolling the virtues of defendant institutions that have engaged an Insurance Archaeologist to locate and bring to bear evidence of these valuable historical occurrence-based policies. That’s because, day in and day out, PolicyFind works directly with churches, schools, non-profits, and youth-based organizations, throughout the country, to identify and reconstruct historical liability insurance programs to respond to these types of complaints.

It has often been said, and it’s true, these oft-discarded old policies are worth more than their weight in gold. PolicyFind works with defendant institutions to locate evidence of these historical insurance policies because, once identified, they provide funding to answer these complaints spanning back four, five, or six decades.

Insurance Archaeology is the practice of locating and retrieving proof of the existence, terms, conditions, and limits of lost or destroyed insurance policies. Under current and future reviver statutes and emerging new laws across the country, historical CGL policies issued to businesses, schools, churches, and other organizations, are the first line of assets to be explored to pay for claims against them.

Contact PolicyFind today to learn more about how to discover and reconstruct your organization’s historical liability insurance portfolio.

BY: KRISTEN DRAKE

Over the past several years, many school districts, youth-based organizations, religious institutions, and municipalities have enlisted PolicyFind’s Insurance Archaeologists to locate their lost liability policies. This sharp increase in the demand for insurance archaeology correlates with individual states passing legislation that expands the statute of limitations for filing civil lawsuits related to child sexual abuse claims. 

In recent years, more than a dozen states nationwide have opened reviver statute ‘windows’ – either for a finite term (1-2 years, generally) or permanently. These windows allow survivors of sexual abuse to file previously time-barred civil lawsuits against perpetrators and associated organizations decades after the alleged acts occurred.

PolicyFind has conducted Insurance Archaeology for defendant organizations throughout the country and has been engaged most frequently in (but not limited to) California, New York, and New Jersey. However, the landscape of reviver statutes seems ever-evolving.

MARYLAND’S CHILD VICTIMS ACT OF 2023

Most recently, in April, Maryland’s governor signed the Child Victims Act of 2023, eliminating the statute of limitations and allowing adult survivors of child sexual abuse to file a civil lawsuit, regardless of when the abuse happened. Maryland’s lookback window opens on October 1, 2023, and, similarly to Vermont and Maine, it will be open permanently.  

CALIFORNIA’S AB 452

In California, just over a month after the Child Victims Act reviver statute ended in December of 2022, lawmakers introduced AB 452, the “Justice for Survivors Act”. While the Child Victims Act window was open for a 3-year period, if passed, AB 452 would eliminate the civil statute of limitations for child sexual abuse. The prior version would have opened a permanent lookback window. AB 452 passed the Assembly on May 25, 2023, and is now in the Senate for review.

ARKANSAS’ SB 676

In February, SB 676, the “Justice for Vulnerable Victims of Sexual Abuse Act” became law in Arkansas. The law opened a two-year window allowing survivors aged 55 and younger to file civil lawsuits against alleged perpetrators or responsible organizations. This window closes on January 31, 2024.

These matters are sensitive and undoubtedly full of complexities for defendant institutions. When a school district, a religious institution, or a non-profit receives a civil complaint of this nature, they will likely begin to assemble a team to assist them. The team will probably be anchored by the attorney representing the defendant’s institution. An Insurance Archaeologist needs to have a place of prominence on the team, too. Insurance Archeologists are the experts at bringing to light those often long buried or lost general liability insurance policies issued to the school or non-profit. These old General Liability policies can respond today and provide the funds needed to answer revived claims of abuse – even if the allegations span back to the 1960s. While these old policies can provide monetary relief, the policyholder must first prove the policy existed. This can be problematic, especially when the policies have long ago been discarded. 

Insurance Archeology is the practice of locating and retrieving proof of the existence, terms, conditions, and limits of lost or destroyed insurance policies. Under current and future reviver statutes and emerging new laws across the country, historical CGL policies issued to businesses, schools, churches, and other organizations, are the first line of assets to be explored to pay for claims against them.

Contact PolicyFind today to learn more about how to discover and reconstruct your organization’s historical liability insurance portfolio.