South Carolina Agent & Broker, Summer 2016

SUMMER 2016

Agent & Broker

Duties of Independent Insurance Agents Under South Carolina law Common E&O Risk Management Problems E&O and Recording Phone Conversations

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Summer 2016 • South Carolina Agent & Broker

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SUMMER 2016

Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of South Carolina 800 Gracern Road, Columbia, SC 29210 803-731-9460 803-772-6425 (fax) e-mail: information@iiabsc.com

Contents

Message from the Chairman of the Board

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Message from the National Director

8

118th Annual IIABSC Convention

11

Convention Keynote Speaker: Matt Eversmann

12

E&O and Recording Phone Conversations

20

Duties of Independent Agents Under SC Law

26

2016 Big “I” SC Spring Conference Photo Recap

31

Young Agents Scholarship Golf Tournament Photo Recap

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Common E&O Risk Management Problems

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IIABSC Education & Events Calendar

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Member News

44

2016 Board of Directors and Executive Committee

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IIABSC Staff

G. Frank Sheppard, AAI, CAE President ext. 1239 or 803.760.1239 fsheppard@iiabsc.com Rebecca H. McCormack, CPCU, CIC, AAI Vice President ext. 1238 or 803.760.1238 bmccormack@iiabsc.com Beth Chastie Vice President of Administration & Finance ext. 9462 or 803.731.9462 bchastie@iiabsc.com Laura D. Cornell, CIC Director of Insurance Programs ext. 1227 or 803.760.1227 lcornell@iiabsc.com Megan Huebner Director of Events & Membership ext. 9463 or 803.731.9463 mhuebner@iiabsc.com Anita J. Trevino Director of Communications ext. 1237 or 803.760.1237 atrevino@iiabsc.com Megan Thomas Education Coordinator ext. 1219 or 803.760.1219 mthomas@iiabsc.com Mollie Dent Customer Service Representative ext. 1225 or 803.760.1225 mdent@iiabsc.com Martha Lavigne Administrative Assistant ext. 9461 or 803.731.9461 mlavigne@iiabsc.com

South Carolina Agent & Broker is the official magazine of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of South Carolina and is published four times annually. IIABSC does not necessarily endorse any of the companies advertising in this publication or the views of its writers.

Articles and information published in this magazine may not be reproduced without written consent of the IIABSC. South Carolina Agent & Broker is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, art or photography. The publisher cannot assume responsibility for claims made by advertisers, content provided by the editor, or for the opinions expressed by contributing authors.

For more information on advertising, contact Jim Aitkins Blue Water Publishers, 22727 161st Avenue SE Monroe, WA 98272 360-805-6474 fax: 360-805-6475 jima@bluewaterpublishers.com

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South Carolina Agent & Broker • Summer 2016

Advertiser Index Access Home Insurance 9 Allstar Financial Group 27, 41 American Strategic Insurance 43 AMERISAFE 46 Anderson and Murison 42 Assure Alliance 44 Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Ins 41 Builders Mutual Insurance 13 Burns & Wilcox 5 Centauri Specialty Insurance 19 Contractor Connection 21 FCCI Insurance Group 45

JM Wilson 37 Jackson Sumner & Associates 2 Johnson & Johnson 24, 25 Lighthouse Property Insurance 33 M. J. Kelly of South Carolina 45 Phenix Mutual 17 Preferred Specialty 47 Risk Placement Services 3 Risk Innovations 29 SCHBSIF 7 Southern Insurance Underwriters 15 Summit 43

Genesee General Hilb Group ISU Agency Network

The National Security Group UPC Insurance

23 39 48

35 35

About cover: [Photo credit: ©Daveallenphoto, Dreamtime] Gorgeous sunset view of the Appalachian Mountains off the Blueridge Parkway, which runs through Asheville, NC, the location for this year’s annual convention. To be held Oct. 30 - Nov. 2 at the Grove Park Inn, this year’s event features a Roaring ‘20s theme, industry trade show, local tours and keynote by the real-life hero of Black Hawk Down (and the story of the Battle of Mogadishu). View agenda and speaker preview starting on page 11. You won’t want to miss it!

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T

IIABSC Chairman of the Board

hank you for reading the summer edition of our magazine.

As it has for the past several years, this edition includes an annual convention preview, photo recaps of both the Spring Conference and Young Agents Scholarship golf tournament as well as a recap of the national legislative conference in Washington, D.C. There are many other things you can count on happening whenever summertime rolls around, but one thing it should mean to your agency is the time for a college intern in the office.

Internships not only offer temporary help to your agency’s staff as they each take time off for vacation, but it aids in your agency’s recruiting and selecting future full-time employees. Even if you don’t end up hiring any of the students you host in the summertime, you and your staff will be getting a feel for the newest generation of workers and learning to work together. Plus it exposes your staff to tech-savvy, enthusiastic people who are eager to learn. You’ll be surprised at how their energy rubs off on everyone.

These students are capable of doing much more than just making copies and taking lunch orders. They can help you with most of the items that have been collecting dust on your development to-do list.

Suggested internship projects include: • Reviewing the agency’s website from consumer’s perspective • Developing a marketing plan for certain segments and niche markets • Develop or participate in community outreach project • Design a customer survey • Coordinate an agency E&O self audit (we offer a few tools to help them) • Develop or update a prospect list • Conduct benchmarking survey by comparing agency performance to various industry standards (we offer a few tools to help them) Don’t know where to begin in implementing an internship program at your agency? Give Frank Sheppard a call at 803-731-9640.

IIABSC has relationships with several business and risk management schools at colleges across the Carolinas, including Clemson, USC and College of Charleston in South Carolina and Appalachian State and UNC Charlotte in North Carolina. They all have resources for employers to post internships and full-time positions, participate in career fairs and interview job candidates.

Our national association has a few more resources to get you started as well. New to the Virtual University (iiaba.net/vu) is their

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South Carolina Agent & Broker • Summer 2016

Scott Moseley

Talent Recruitment & Development page, with resources divided into two sections: • Hiring – articles on hiring process, interviewing and creating internships, tips for crafting job postings, sample job descriptions for variety of agency roles • Development – articles are a little more abstract with discussions on dress code, contracts, compensation, attracting millennials through workplace environment, identifying sales superstar potential, who in your agency should be licensed, etc.

Once you have the position description and terms, InVest (investprogram.org) and the IIABA Insurance Career Center (careers.independentagent.com/employers) can help you get it to college risk-management students across the county. InVEST is a national school-to-work program for high school and college students that aims to improve insurance literacy in students and attract new talent to the industry. Internship posting are free on the Career Center, and job postings start at just $100 for 60 days. User testimonials suggest that while you may not get a large number of candidates from this service, the responses you do get will be highly qualified. Plus with a job posting you’ll have full access to a database of more than 1,000 resumes from eager candidates, and all entry-level jobs and internships are automatically promoted on the InVEST Twitter page and website to further your reach.

Good luck, and feel free to reach out to the SC Big “I” with any feedback, 803-731-9460.

Summer interns are great for benchmarking evaluations and market-development projects for your agency. IIABSC has relationships with several business risk-management school across the Carolinas as well as several online resources to help with talent recruitment and development.

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National Director Jules Anderson, AAI

T

2016 BIG “I” LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE April 13-14 – Washington, DC

he annual trek to Washington, DC was made again in April as South Carolina agents joined agents from around the country at the IIABA Legislative Conference. South Carolina agents met with each member of the SC delegation, both Representatives and Senators, discussing a variety of topics that interest agents.

Flood Insurance The Big “I” strongly supports a reformed and modernized National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and calls upon Congress to extend the NFIP prior to its Sept. 30, 2017 expiration.

The Big “I” recommends consideration of riskbased rates where appropriate; modernized mapping; increased use of private reinsurance; and additional mitigation.

The Big “I” also supports allowing the private market, where practical, to offer flood insurance as a complement to the NFIP. Crop Insurance The Federal Crop Insurance Program (FCIP) is the cornerstone of the farm safety net and is crucial to the economic security of rural America.

Despite the success of this public-private partnership, the program continues to be in the bullseye for budget cuts, which the Big “I” opposes.

Health Care The “Cadillac tax” assesses a damaging 40 percent tax on health plans that exceed a fixed annual cost. At the end of 2015, with Big “I” support, a two-year delay of the “Cadillac tax” was enacted to move the effective date of the tax from 2018 to 2020.

While not perfect, a delay is a good first step toward full repeal.

Numerous pieces of bipartisan legislation have been introduced to repeal this onerous tax and the Big “I” continues to push for a full repeal. In addition to repealing the “Cadillac tax,” the Big “I” also supports excluding agent compensation from the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) formula in the Affordable Care Act.

SC agents joined others from around the country at the IIABA Legislative Conference where they discussed issues like flood insurance, crop insurance, healthcare reform, insurance regulatory reform, the Risk Retention Act expansion and recent Dept. of Labor regulations with members of Congress. [continued on page 10]

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South Carolina Agent & Broker • Summer 2016

“ACCESS HOME INSURANCE WAS THERE FOR ME IN MY TIME OF NEED. THEY TOOK CARE OF ME AND I THANK THEM FOR THAT.” —Chantelle Riser, Homeowner On the evening of April 30, 2014 Chantelle Riser was awakened by a booming noise.

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[continued from page 8]

South Carolina agents, pictured with Senator Tim Scott (center), traveled to Washington DC earlier this spring for the IIABA Legislative Conference and to meet with each of the SC congressional delegation to discuss a variety of topics affecting the industry.

Insurance Regulatory Reform The Big “I” strongly supports state regulation of insurance and is concerned with federal encroachment into insurance regulation.

The Big “I” supports legislation that would create procedural “checks” for federal officials in international insurance negotiations to ensure that our state-based system of regulation remains strong. The Big “I” also strongly supports creation of the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers. We thank Congress for their support of the NARAB II legislation and continued involvement in the implementation process.

also concerned with new DOL overtime requirements for “whitecollar” workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act that will be overly burdensome for small businesses.

Another Eagle Award for InsurPac South Carolina was presented their 11th consecutive Eagle Award for leadership and participation in InsurPac fundraising.

IIABSC InsurPac Committee Chairman was Gus Brabham, CIC of Regions Insurance in Columbia. No other state has more Eagle awards than South Carolina.

Risk Retention Act Expansion The Big “I” strongly opposes legislation that would allow many Risk Retention Groups to expand their insurance offerings to include all lines of commercial coverage, while retaining a weaker and preferential system of regulatory oversight. This would distort the competitive balance within the insurance market and place consumers at increased risk.

Department of Labor (DOL) Regulations The Big “I” supports numerous legislative measures that seek to remedy concerns regarding DOL efforts to expand the application of the ERISA “fiduciary” standard from just investment advisors to include broker-dealers, who are currently subject to a “suitability” standard. The Big “I” is concerned that this would harm investors and limit consumer access to professional advice. The Big “I” is 10

South Carolina Agent & Broker • Summer 2016

IIABSC was presented their 11th consecutive Eagle Award for leadership and participation in InsurPac fundraising. No other state has more Eagle Awards than South Carolina.

118th

Annual Convention Oct. 30 - Nov. 1

Up

Grove Park Inn, Asheville, NC SUNDAY, OCT. 30 11:00 am – 1:30 pm Exhibitor set-up 1:30 – 5:00 pm

Registration desk open

2:00 – 5:00 pm

Exhibit Hall Open

5:00 – 5:30 pm

Business Session

6:30 – 8:30 pm

Opening Reception

MONDAY, OCT. 31 7:30 – 11:45 am

Registration desk open

7:30 – 9:00 am

Exhibit Hall Open w/Continental Breakfast

9:15 – 11:45 am

Opening Session (Exhibit Hall closed)

10:00 am – Noon

Exhibitor Booth Breakdown

12:30 pm

Golf Tournament Grove Park Golf Course

12:30 pm

LaZoom Comedy Tour

TBD 6:30 – 7:00 pm 7:00 pm

Paint & Pour Chairman’s Reception Awards Banquet followed by entertainment

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Keynote:

“Dedication, Pride & Commitment: Leadership Lessons from Black Hawk Down for Business”

by First Sergeant Matt Eversmann (Ret.)

Our keynote speaker is a testament to the true nature of war and heroism. Black Hawk Down is a name given to the Battle of Mogadishu, which was the deadliest firefight U.S. armed forces had faced since the Vietnam War and the aftermath continues to impact our nation’s foreign policy more than twenty years later.

As a part of a U.N. peacekeeping mission gone wrong, Matt Eversmann brings the battle to life, both the horrors of his experience and what he took from it.

Even the most professional and well prepared teams will face the unexpected.

Banquet Entertainment:

TUESDAY, NOV.1 8:00 – 10:45 am

Matt Fore, Comedian/ Magician

Closing Session w/ breakfast

Tuesday speakers: Spencer Houldin, IIABA

President-Elect; Nathan Riedel, IIABA VP Political Affairs; Dir. Ray Farmer, SC Dept. of Insurance; Col. Kevin A Shwedo, SC Disaster Recovery Coordinator.

Summer 2016 • South Carolina Agent & Broker

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KEYNOTE SPEAKER:

Matt Eversmann

Our keynote speaker for the upcoming IIABSC Annual Convention is a testament to the true nature of war and heroism. Black Hawk Down is a name given to the Battle of Mogadishu, which was the deadliest firefight U.S. armed forces had faced since the Vietnam War, and its aftermath continues to impact our nation’s foreign policy more than twenty years later.

On Oct. 3, 1993, about a hundred elite U.S. soldiers were dropped by helicopter into Mogadishu, Somalia. Their mission was to grab the two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord and return to base. It was supposed to take an hour. Instead, they found themselves pinned down through a long and terrible night fighting against thousands of heavily armed Somalis.

As a part of the mission gone wrong, keynote Matt Eversmann brings the battle to life, both the horrors of his experience and what he took from it. One of his messages is that even the most professional and well prepared teams can face the unexpected.

Excerpt from

BLACK HAWK DOWN: A STORY OF MODERN WAR

By Mark Bowden

At liftoff, Matt Eversmann said a Hail Mary. He was curled into a seat between two helicopter crew chiefs, the knees of his long legs up to his shoulders. Before him, jammed on both sides of the Black Hawk helicopter, was his “chalk,” twelve young men in flak vests over tan desert camouflage fatigues.

He knew their faces so well they were like brothers. The older guys on this crew, like Eversmann, a staff sergeant with five years in at age twenty-six, had lived and trained together for years. Some had come up together through basic training, jump school, and Ranger school. They had traveled the world, to Korea, Thailand, Central America ... they knew each other better than most brothers did. They’d been drunk together, gotten into fights, slept on forest floors, jumped out of airplanes, climbed mountains, shot down foaming rivers with their hearts in their throats, baked and frozen and starved together, passed countless bored hours, teased one another endlessly about girlfriends or lack of same, driven out in the middle of the night from Fort Benning to retrieve each other from some diner or strip club out on Victory Drive after getting drunk and falling asleep or pissing off some barkeep. Through all those things, they had been training for a moment like this. It was the first time the lanky sergeant had been put in charge, and he was nervous about it.

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South Carolina Agent & Broker • Summer 2016

Pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death, amen.

It was mid-afternoon, October 3, 1993. Eversmann’s Chalk Four was part of a force of U.S. Army Rangers and Delta Force operators who were about to drop in uninvited on a gathering of Habr Gidr clan leaders in the heart of Mogadishu, Somalia.

This ragged clan, led by warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, had picked a fight with the United States of America, and it was, without a doubt, going down. Today’s targets were two of Aidid’s lieutenants. They would be arrested and imprisoned with a growing number of the belligerent clan’s bosses on an island off the southern Somali coast city of Kismayo. Chalk Four’s piece of this snatch-and-grab was simple. Each of the four Ranger chalks had a corner of the block around the target house. Eversmann’s would rope down to the northwest corner and set up a blocking position. With Rangers on all four corners, no one would enter the zone where Delta was working, and no one would leave.

They had done this dozens of times without difficulty, in practice and on the task force’s six previous missions. The pattern was clear in Eversmann’s mind. He knew which way to move when he hit the ground, where his soldiers would be. Those out of the left side of the bird would assemble on the left side of the

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Summer 2016 • South Carolina Agent & Broker

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street. Those out of the right side would assemble right. Then they would peel off in both directions, with the medics and the youngest guys in the middle. Private First Class Todd Blackburn was the baby on Eversmann’s bird, a kid fresh out of Florida high school who had not yet even been to Ranger school. He’d need watching. Sergeant Scott Galentine was older but also inexperienced here in Mog. He was a replacement, just in from Benning. The burden of responsibility for these young Rangers weighed heavily on Eversmann. This time out they were his.

As chalk leader, he was handed headphones when he took his front seat. They were bulky and had a mouthpiece and were connected by a long black cord to a plug on the ceiling. He took his helmet off and settled the phones over his ears.

There were signs this one would go. The commander of Task Force Ranger, Major General William F. Garrison, had come out to see them off. He had never done that before. A tall, slender, gray-haired man in desert fatigues with half an unlit cigar jutting from the corner of his mouth, Garrison had walked from chopper to chopper and then stooped down by each Humvee.

One of the crew chiefs tapped his shoulder.

“Be careful,” he said in his Texas drawl.

“Matt, be sure you remember to take those off before you leave,” he said, pointing to the cord.

Then he’d move on to the next man.

Then they had stewed on the hot tarmac for what seemed an hour, breathing the pungent diesel fumes and oozing sweat under their body armor and gear, fingering their weapons anxiously, every man figuring this mission would probably be scratched before they got off the ground. That’s how it usually went. There were twenty false alarms for every real mission.

Back when they’d arrived in Mog five weeks earlier, they were so flush with excitement that cheers went up from Black Hawk to Black Hawk every time they boarded the birds. Now spinups like this were routine and usually amounted to nothing.

Waiting for the code word for launch, which today was “Irene,” they were a formidable sum of men and machines. There were four of the amazing AH-6 Little Birds, two-seat bubble-front attack helicopters that could fly just about anywhere. The Little Birds were loaded with rockets this time, a first. Two would make the initial sweep over the target and two more would help with rear security. There were four MH-6 Little Birds with benches mounted on both sides for delivering the spearhead of the assault force, Delta’s C Squadron, one of three operational elements in the army’s top secret commando unit. Following this strike force were eight of the elongated troop-carrying Black Hawks: two carrying Delta assaulters and their ground command, four for delivering the Rangers (Company B, 3rd Battalion of the army’s 75th Infantry, the Ranger Regiment out of Fort Benning, Georgia), one carrying a crack CSAR (Combat Search and Rescue) team, and one to fly the two mission commanders--Lieutenant Colonel Tom Matthews, who was coordinating the pilots of the 160th SOAR (Special Operations Aviation Regiment out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky); and Delta Lieutenant Colonel Gary Harrell, who had responsibility for the men on the ground. The ground convoy, which was lined up and idling out by the front gate, consisted of nine widebody Humvees and three five-ton trucks. The trucks would be used to haul the prisoners and assault forces out. The Humvees 14

were filled with Rangers, Delta operators, and four members of SEAL (Sea, Air, Land) Team Six, part of the navy’s special forces branch. Counting the three surveillance birds and the spy plane high overhead, there were nineteen aircraft, twelve vehicles, and about 160 men. It was an eager armada on a taut rope.

South Carolina Agent & Broker • Summer 2016

“Good luck.”

Then the next.

“Be careful.”

The swell of all those revving engines made the earth tremble and their pulses race. It was stirring to be part of it, the cocked fist of America’s military might. Woe to whatever stood in their way. Bristling with grenades and ammo, gripping the steel of their automatic weapons, their hearts pounding under their flak vests, they waited with a heady mix of hope and dread. They ran through last-minute mental checklists, saying prayers, triple-checking weapons, rehearsing their precise tactical choreography, performing little rituals ... whatever it was that prepared them for battle. They all knew this mission might get hairy. It was an audacious daylight thrust into the “Black Sea,” the very heart of Habr Gidr territory in central Mogadishu and warlord Aidid’s stronghold. Their target was a three-story house of whitewashed stone with a flat roof, a modern modular home in one of the city’s few remaining clusters of intact large buildings, surrounded by blocks and blocks of tin-roofed dwellings of muddy stone. Hundreds of thousands of clan members lived in this labyrinth of irregular dirt streets and cactus-lined paths. There were no decent maps.

Pure Indian country.

The men had watched the rockets being loaded on the AH6s. Garrison hadn’t done that on any of their earlier missions.

It meant they were expecting trouble. The men had girded themselves with extra ammo, stuffing magazines and grenades into every available pocket and pouch of their load-bearing harnesses, leaving behind canteens, bayonets, night-vision goggles, and any other gear they felt would be deadweight on a fast daylight raid. The prospect of getting into a scrape didn’t worry them. Not at all. They welcomed it. They were predators, heavy metal avengers, unstoppable, invincible. The

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feeling was, after six weeks of diddling around they were finally going in to kick some serious Somali ass.

It was 3:32 P.M. when the chalk leader inside the lead Black Hawk, Super Six Four, heard over the intercom the soft voice of the pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Mike Durant, clearly pleased.

Durant announced, “**** Irene.”

And the armada launched, lifting off from the shabby airport by the sea into an embracing blue vista of sky and Indian Ocean.

They eased out across a littered strip of white sand and moved low and fast over running breakers that formed faint crests parallel to the shore. In close formation they banked and flew down the coastline southwest. From each bird the booted legs of the eager soldiers dangled from the benches and open doors.

Unrolling toward a hazy desert horizon, Mogadishu in midafternoon sun was so bright it was as if the aperture on the world’s lens was stuck one click wide. From a distance the ancient port city had an auburn hue, with its streets of ocher sand and its rooftops of Spanish tile and rusted tin. The only tall structures still standing after years of civil war were the ornate white towers of mosques--Islam being the only thing all Somalia held sacred. There were many scrub trees, the tallest just over the low rooftops, and between them high stone walls with pale traces of yellow and pink and gray, fading remnants of pre-civil war civility. Set there along the coast, framed to the west by desert and the east by gleaming teal ocean, it might have been some sleepy Mediterranean resort.

As the helicopter force swept in over it, gliding back in from the ocean and then banking right and sprinting northeast along the city’s western edge, Mogadishu spread beneath them in its awful reality, a catastrophe, the world capital of things-gonecompletely-to-hell. It was as if the city had been ravaged by some fatal urban disease. The few paved avenues were crumbling and littered with mountains of trash, debris, and the rusted hulks of burned-out vehicles. Those walls and buildings that had not been reduced to heaps of gray rubble were pockmarked with bullet scars. Telephone poles leaned at ominous angles like voodoo totems topped by stiff sprays of dreadlocks--the stubs of their severed wires (long since stripped for sale on the thriving black market). Public spaces displayed the hulking stone platforms that once held statuary from the heroic old days of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, the national memory stripped bare not out of revolutionary fervor, but to sell the bronze and copper for scrap. The few proud old government and university buildings that still stood were inhabited now by refugees. Everything of value had been looted, right down to metal window frames, doorknobs, and hinges. At night, campfires glowed from thirdand fourth-story windows of the old Polytechnic Institute. Every open space was clotted with the dense makeshift villages of the disinherited, round stick huts covered with layers of rags and 16

South Carolina Agent & Broker • Summer 2016

shacks made of scavenged scraps of wood and patches of rusted tin. From above they looked like an advanced stage of some festering urban rot.

In his bird, Super Six Seven, Eversmann rehearsed the plan in his mind. By the time they reached the street, the D-boys would already be taking down the target house, rounding up Somali prisoners and shooting anyone foolish enough to fight back.

Word was there were two big boys in this house, men whom the task force had identified as “Tier One Personalities,” Aidid’s top men. As the D-boys did their work and the Rangers kept the curious at bay, the ground convoy of trucks and Humvees would roll in through the city, right up to the target house. The prisoners would be herded into the trucks. The assault team and blocking force would jump in behind them and they would all drive back to finish out a nice Sunday afternoon on the beach. It would take about an hour.

To make room for the Rangers in the Black Hawks, the seats in back had been removed. The men who were not in the doorways were squatting on ammo cans or seated on the flak-proof Kevlar panels laid out on the floor. They all wore desert camouflage fatigues, with Kevlar vests and helmets and about fifty pounds of equipment and ammo strapped to their load-bearing harnesses, which fit on over the vests. All had goggles and thick leather gloves. Those layers of gear made even the slightest of them look bulky, robotic, and intimidating. Stripped down to their dirt-brown T-shirts and shorts, which is how they spent most of their time in the hangar, most looked like the pimply teenagers they were (average age nineteen). They were immensely proud of their Ranger status. It spared them most of the numbing noncombat-related routine that drove many an army enlistee nuts. The Rangers trained for war full-time. They were fitter, faster, and first--”Rangers lead the way!” was their motto. Each had volunteered at least three times to get where they were, for the army, for airborne, and for the Rangers. They were the cream, the most highly motivated young soldiers of their generation, selected to fit the army’s ideal--they were all male and, revealingly, nearly all white (there were only two blacks among the 140-man company). Some were professional soldiers, like Lieutenant Larry Perino, a 1990 West Point graduate. Some were overachievers in search of a different challenge, like Specialist John Waddell on Chalk Two, who had enlisted after finishing high school in Natchez, Mississippi, with a 4.0 GPA. Some were daredevils in search of a physical challenge. Others were selfimprovers, young men who had found themselves adrift after high school, or in trouble with drugs, booze, the law, or all three. They were harder-edged than most young men of their generation who, on this Sunday in early autumn, were weeks into their fall college semester. Most of these Rangers had been kicked around some, had tasted failure. But there were no goofoffs. Every man had worked to be here, probably harder than he’d ever worked in his life. Those with troubled pasts had taken

Summer 2016 • South Carolina Agent & Broker

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harsh measure of themselves. Beneath their best hard-ass act, most were achingly earnest, patriotic, and idealistic. They had literally taken the army up on its offer to “Be All You Can Be.”

at his bravado.

They held themselves to a higher standard than normal soldiers.

With their buff bodies, distinct crew cuts--sides and back of the head completely shaved--and their grunted Hoo-ah greeting, they saw themselves as the army at its gung ho best. Many, if they could make it, aspired to join Special Forces, maybe even get picked to try out for Delta, the hale, secret supersoldiers now leading this force in. Only the very best of them would be invited to try out, and only one of every ten invited would make it through selection. In this ancient male hierarchy, the Rangers were a few steps up the ladder, but the D-boys owned the uppermost rung.

Goodale told her it would be like, as a nurse, after all her training, never getting the chance to work in a hospital. It would be like that.

Rangers knew the surest path to that height was combat experience. So far, Mog had been mostly a tease. War was always about to happen. About to happen. Even the missions, exciting as they’d been, had fallen short. The Somalis--whom they called “Skinnies” or “Sammies”--had taken a few wild shots at them, enough to get the Rangers’ blood up and unleash a hellish torrent of return fire, but nothing that qualified as a genuine balls-out firefight.

Which is what they wanted. All of these guys. If there were any hesitant thoughts, they were buttoned tight. A lot of these men had started as afraid of war as anyone, but the fear had been drummed out. Especially in Ranger training. About a fourth of those who volunteered washed out, enough so that those who emerged with their Ranger tab at the end were riding the headiest wave of accomplishment in their young lives. The weak had been weeded out. The strong had stepped up. Then came weeks, months, years of constant training. The Hoo-ahs couldn’t wait to go to war. They were an all-star football team that had endured bruising, exhausting, dangerous practice sessions twelve hours a day, seven days a week--for years--without ever getting to play a game.

They yearned for battle. They passed around the dog-eared paperback memoirs of soldiers from past conflicts, many written by former Rangers, and savored the affectionate, comradely tone of their stories, feeling bad for the poor suckers who bought it or got crippled or maimed but identifying with the righteous men who survived the experience whole. They studied the old photos, which were the same from every war, young men looking dirty and tired, half dressed in army combat fatigues, dogtags hanging around their skinny necks, posing with arms draped over each other’s shoulders in exotic lands. They could see themselves in those snapshots, surrounded by their buddies, fighting their war. It was THE test, the only one that counted.

Sergeant Mike Goodale had tried to explain this to his mother one time, on leave in Illinois. His mom was a nurse, incredulous 18

South Carolina Agent & Broker • Summer 2016

“Why would anybody want to go to war?” she asked.

“You want to find out if you can really do the job,” he explained.

Like those guys in books. They’d been tested and proven. It was another generation of Rangers’ turn now. Their turn.

It didn’t matter that none of the men in these helicopters knew enough to write a high school paper about Somalia. They took the army’s line without hesitation. Warlords had so ravaged the nation battling among themselves that their people were starving to death. When the world sent food, the evil warlords hoarded it and killed those who tried to stop them. So the civilized world had decided to lower the hammer, invite the baddest boys on the planet over to clean things up. ‘Nuff said. Little the Rangers had seen since arriving at the end of August had altered that perception. Mogadishu was like the postapocalyptic world of Mel Gibson’s Mad Max movies, a world ruled by roving gangs of armed thugs. They were here to rout the worst of the warlords and restore sanity and civilization.

Eversmann had always just enjoyed being a Ranger. He wasn’t sure how he felt about being in charge, even if it was just temporary. He’d won the distinction by default. His platoon sergeant had been summoned home by an illness in his family, and then the guy who replaced him had keeled over with an epileptic seizure. He, too, had been sent home. Eversmann was the senior man in line. He accepted the task hesitantly. That morning at Mass in the mess he’d prayed about it.

Airborne now at last, Eversmann swelled with energy and pride as he looked out over the full armada. It was a state-of-the-art military force. Already circling high above the target was the slickest intelligence support America had to offer, including satellites, a high-flying P3 Orion spy plane, and three OH-58 observation helicopters, which looked like the bubble-front Little Bird choppers with a five-foot bulbous polyp growing out of the top. The observation birds were equipped with video cameras and radio equipment that would relay the action live to General Garrison and the other senior officers in the Joint Operations Center (JOC) back at the beach. Moviemakers and popular authors might strain to imagine the peak capabilities of the U.S. military, but here was the real thing about to strike. It was a well-oiled, fully equipped, late-twentieth-century fighting machine. America’s best were going to war, and Sergeant Matt Eversmann was among them. © 1999 Mark Bowden. All rights reserved. ISBN: 0-87113-738-0

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From the Virtual University:

E&O

and Recording Phone Conversations

A

Available to IIABSC agency members, the Virtual University (iiaba.net/vu) is an online resource offering access to technical insurance and agency management articles, sample ISO forms, white papers, monthly webcasts and other information on issues affecting today’s insurance marketplace. The following is from the popular “Ask an Expert” service where members can submit a question not already answered in the Research Library and get responses from the volunteer faculty of experts.

By IIABA Big “I” Virtual University Faculty

n agency’s new phone system allows them to record incoming and outgoing conversations. The agency thinks this will be good for E&O and be better than relying on handwritten notes. What do you think? The agency also wants to know if they are obligated to advise the other party that the conversation is being recorded.

Question: “This week we met with both our phone vendor and our management information system vendor to discuss our ability to record incoming and outgoing telephone conversations and being able to save the conversations in our computer system. Our phone system can do this and our computer server has the capacity to handle the additional data. Currently, all voice messages are captured on our telephones and in our computer. Most voice messages get deleted after we listen to the voice message unless 20

South Carolina Agent & Broker • Summer 2016

there is some material information on the voice message. It is my understanding that with telephone conversations we will not be able to delete them once they get into our computer system.

“I believe recording of phone conversations will be a good thing relative to our E&O. It will be better than relying on handwritten notes and will certainly be able to clearly determine what was or was not said, good or bad. I would like know whether you have other insureds that are doing this. Is this something E&O insurers encourage their insureds to do?

Has this helped or hurt agents in E&O situations?

“I would also like to know if you are aware whether we are obligated to advise the caller we are recording the conversation in Wisconsin. Our telephone vendor says we are not obligated to notify the caller they are being recorded. With our new phone

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system, each employee has their own direct line. When a call goes to a direct line we do not have any recording indicating the call may be recorded for quality control purposes before our employee begins the conversation.”

Answer: We ran this by the VU faculty and some E&O gurus. Below are their responses, collectively referred to as “Faculty Response” in each instance. This is an emerging issue so we don’t have any definitive recommendations, just some preliminary thoughts. We suggest seeking competent legal counsel.

Faculty response: I’m quite sure they need a disclaimer about the recording but in general I think having the voice documentation saved is so much better than written documentation if an E&O claim were to come up with a client.

Faculty response: There are several angles to approach the issue of retaining conversations and voice mails with customers. I believe the first question is if there is a legal obligation to provide the customer with notification that the call is being recorded.

I’m not sure if there is a legal requirement but based on the number of times you hear “this call may be recorded for quality assurance,” it is certainly a common practice if not a legal requirement.

The key to preventing E&O claims is follow-through and doing what you say you are going to do to meet your customers‘ needs. Sound agency procedures with appropriate followup and verification procedures are key along with good documentation. Documentation is the most important item in being able to successfully defend a claim. With that said, a recording of customer conversations and voice mails can be a double-edged sword that could help or hurt an agency’s claim.

If an agency procures the coverage requested by the customer, offers additional coverage options, provides increased limits, etc. and it is documented via an voice electronic system then great. But, what if the agency does not and a claim occurs and those voice files are subpoenaed and 22

South Carolina Agent & Broker • Summer 2016

clearly show that the customer requested something that was not delivered? The “he said, she said” claims will be settled more definitely and let’s hope the agency is on the right side.

I think retaining customer conversations could prove helpful but only as a supplement to written documentation and followup with the customer.

At this point we do not have any specific E&O procedures for implementing a voice recording system. The next generation E&O seminar material which are already thinking about will explore technology related issues such as this one so we can better provide risk management guidance for the way today’s agents do business.

Faculty response: I Googled this though I can’t attest to its accuracy: Wisconsin is currently a one-party state though recent attempts in the legislature there have attempted, unsuccessfully so far, to change it to two-party. Even so, any evidence gathered by a one-party consensual recording is inadmissible except in murder or drug cases, as they say.

The Wisconsin Stats 885.365 Recorded telephone conversation (1) states “Evidence obtained as the result of the use of voice recording equipment for recording of telephone conversations, by way of interception of a communication or in any other number, shall be totally inadmissible in the court of this state in civil actions, except as provided by 968.28 to 968.37.” Exceptions are it the party is informed before the recording is informed at the time that the conversation is being recorded and that any evidence thereby obtained may be used in a court of law or such recording is made through a recorder connector proved by the telecommunications utility as defined in WI Stats 968.28 - 968.37 (which is the stat for court ordered wiretaps) which automatically produces a distinctive recorder tone that is repeated at intervals of approximately 15 seconds. Fire department or law enforcement agencies are exempt as are court ordered wire tapes.

Also a recording on the phone made from an out-ofstate call or made to an out-of-state party, has to have the party informed of the recording and his consent or the tone on line, every 15 seconds, or a consent in writing before the recording is started.

Needless to say this does not allow a person not a party to the conversation to record any part of the conversation without the parties to the conversation being informed the third party is recording the conversation.

(Source: http://www.callcorder.com/phone-recording-law-america.htm)

Aside from the legality issue, if my agent was permanently recording my phone calls without my knowledge or option to opt out, I would not be happy at all. I suspect that unhappy customers that feel aggrieved are more likely to sue.

As for the E&O perspective, as you say, the recording could either be a lifeline that saves the agency from drowning in an E&O claim or could be used to form a noose and hang them. I’d have a concern about over-reliance on an audio confirmation instead of a written one in so far as the former might make it less likely that the agency staff member would actually follow up on a request as opposed to having something written and in the agency management system to prompt them.

Faculty response: I will weigh in based on my general understanding, without the benefit of special research. It is my general understanding that there are a number of states where it is illegal to have a call recorded without prior notice, permission to record it, and/or a regular signal on the call to indicate recording. If it is not known where someone is calling from when a call is placed or where they are when a call is received (such as if generated by or made to someone using a cell phone), there is no way to know what state law is applicable as the laws of state where the call is made and where it is received can apply, and may differ. Thus, to avoid having to sort through and remain current on possibly changing state laws on this issue, risk failing to comply with applicable laws, and uncertainty around which state law applies, it has become common practice for businesses that record calls to notify callers that a call may be recorded.

Penalties for violating these laws can be quite significant; I have not researched this for quite a while but recall that in some states there used to be criminal penalties for violations. It also is unpredictable if and where any E&O or other claims may be made, and again, state laws may differ on the admissibility and/or weight of recorded calls as evidence, so it would seem prudent to maintain appropriate records in the ordinary course of business distinct from whatever practices are adopted relative to recording calls. I hope my comments are helpful but let me know if you need any clarifications.

Faculty response: I’m not aware of agents recording conversations at this point, but I will check further into it. If an agency adopts this practice with all the precautions that have been mentioned, will all the conversations involving principals and producers on cell phones in the field also be recorded? If not, the agency would not have a consistent approach which is such an important principle for agency E&O risk management.

In addition, even if the agency records telephone conversations, it will be important for the agency to continue to document the phone conversation in the agency management system so there is a consistent formal record of all client conversations and this also applies to agency principal and producer cell phone calls in the field. (It will also enable the agency to pinpoint the phone call if saved.)

Text messages and emails also need to be documented in the agency management system just as phone conversations are so all client communications are together. I believe agents are starting to convert text messages into email and attaching them to their agency management systems as they are attaching emails.

Copyright © 2016 Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

Summer 2016 • South Carolina Agent & Broker

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Duties of Independent Insurance Agents

S

under South Carolina law

By Susan Taylor Wall, Esq. & Henry W. Frampton, IV, Esq., McNair Law Firm, PA

outh Carolina courts increasingly view insurance agents as professionals. This means that, as a general matter, courts no longer consider insurance agents as mere salespeople, but rather impose on agents a duty to handle their clients’ insurance needs in accordance with generally accepted practices of the profession.

Agents have a general duty to exercise reasonable skill and care in handling their clients’ insurance business. In addition, agents should be aware of at least four duties discussed in the case law: (1) a duty to procure coverage upon a customer’s request, (2) a duty to place coverage in accordance with the customer’s request, (3) a duty to place coverage that is not void or materially deficient, and (4) generally speaking, a duty to advise the customer concerning his/her coverage needs.

Each duty is discussed in more detail below.

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South Carolina Agent & Broker • Summer 2016

Duty to Procure Coverage As a general matter, agents are required to procure coverage, if reasonably available, upon a customer’s request. Claims against agents often arise from miscommunication between the agent and customer as to whether or what coverage was requested and for whom/what entities coverage was requested.

To avoid these kinds of claims, it is important for an agent to be clear with the customer that coverage will not be bound until the customer performs certain acts, such as signing the application and paying the premium. Many agents include in their voicemail greeting that coverage cannot be bound by voicemail to avoid a later claim that a customer thought he had coverage because he left a voicemail requesting insurance or changes to existing insurance. Likewise, it is important that the agent place coverage for the entity or entities that the customer

27

specifies, using the correct legal name of all such entities. It is also prudent for an agent to document when a customer declines offered coverage.

Duty to Place Coverage in Accordance with the Customer’s Request As a general matter, agents are required to place the coverage that the customer requests if such coverage is reasonably available.

If the customer specifies that he or she is seeking coverage for a particular type of loss, the agent generally has a duty to procure a policy that would cover that loss if reasonably available.

In a leading case on this subject, the customer requested premises liability coverage and specified that the policy should cover losses in the elevator on the premises. After receiving the policy, the customer reiterated that he wanted coverage for an accident in the elevator and asked the agent whether the policy procured would cover such a loss. The agent replied that the policy would cover an accident involving the elevator. During the policy period, there was an accident involving the elevator, and the carrier correctly denied coverage because the policy did not include elevator coverage. The court found the agent liable to the customer for failing to procure insurance in accordance with the customer’s request. Notably, the court specifically ruled that the agent was liable even though the customer had a copy of the policy and could have determined the scope of coverage by reading he policy. The court ruled that the customer was entitled to rely on the agent’s interpretation of the policy.

Riddle-Duckworth, Inc. v. Sullivan, 253 S.C. 411, 171 S.E.2d 486 (1969).

To comply with this duty, it is important that an agent pay attention to potential losses that the customer has discussed and then procure a policy that would cover such a loss if such a policy is reasonably available. Because every policy contains conditions and exclusions, it is important that the agent explain material limitations on coverage. For example, if a customer is particularly concerned with obtaining a property policy that will cover roof damage, the agent should procure an appropriate policy and then explain any material limitations on coverage for roof damage (e.g. a policy provision that excludes roof damage caused by a named storm). The customer should also be advised in writing that the policy contains exclusions, that the customer should read the policy carefully, and that the agent cannot guarantee coverage in any particular situation.

While the courts have imposed on agents the duty to procure coverage that conforms to the customer’s specific request, the courts have also held that a customer’s general request for the “best coverage,” or “full coverage” is not enough to impose a duty on the agent. Trotter v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 297 S.C. 465, 377 S.E.2d 343 (Ct. App. 1988). Likewise, agents do not have a duty to procure coverage at the best available price.

Sullivan Co., Inc. v. New Swirl, Inc., 313 S.C. 34, 437 S.E.2d 30 28

South Carolina Agent & Broker • Summer 2016

(1993); Houck v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Ins. Co., 366 S.C. 7, 620 S.E.2d 326 (2005). Although this case law is helpful, if an agent receives a request for “full coverage,” the “best coverage” or something similar, it is prudent that the agent explain that there is no such thing as the “best coverage” or “full coverage” because every policy insures certain risks and excludes others.

Duty to Place Coverage that Is Not Void or Materially Deficient According to the case law, an insurance agent has a duty to place coverage that is not void or materially deficient. Unfortunately, because the case law in this area relatively undeveloped, the courts have not yet explained this duty in detail. While this duty could manifest in myriad ways, in our practice, we see at least two categories of cases implicating this duty.

First, we see cases in which the insurer claims that coverage is void because of an error or misrepresentation in the application process. An insurance agent should have the customer sign all applications (even where the customer gives the agent express permission to sign for him, unless there are exigent circumstances, the customer should sign the application), and the agent should advise the customer – preferably in writing – to review the application carefully and ensure all information is fully correct before signing. It is also prudent for the agent to go over each question in the application with the customer, emphasizing the importance of providing accurate information.

Second, we see cases in which the customer claims that coverage is materially deficient, often because the customer has a non-covered loss that the customer expected would be covered.

The risk of these kinds of claims can be mitigated by considering the kinds of losses most likely to occur in the customer’s industry or business and discussing the kinds of coverage that are standard or customary for that business or industry. Another way to mitigate the risk of a later claim is to review the basic terms and primary exclusions of the policy with the customer.

The agent should send a copy of the policy to the customer with a cover letter noting key exclusions/conditions and instructing the customer to carefully read the policy. Although customers often seek assurances that they are “fully covered” or “taken care of”, agents should be careful to avoid such shorthand references.

Duty to Advise Under South Carolina law, insurance agents do not have a duty to advise their customers concerning insurance coverage absent a specific request by the customer to do so; however, a duty may be implied when: (1) the agent receives compensation beyond a mere payment of the premium, (2) the customer makes a clear request for advice, or (3) there is a course of dealing over an extended period of time which would put an objectively reasonable insurance agent on notice that his advice is being sought and relied on.

In practice, it is not difficult for customers to show an implied duty to advise. While the courts are clear that mere requests for “full coverage,” the “best coverage,” or similarly general phrases are not enough to trigger a duty to advise, specific questions about the scope of coverage raised by the customer may be sufficient. Likewise, while South Carolina cases have not clarified what constitutes an “extended relationship,” customers who have been with an agent for more than a few years may satisfy the relationship element. As a result, agents should not rely on the lack of a duty to advise but should instead operate under the working assumption that they may be charged with that duty.

To avoid claims based on the duty to advise, agents should attempt to understand their customers’ business. Written risk assessment questionnaires or similar tools may be helpful in this regard. Agents should recommend insurance products based not only on their understanding of the industry, but from information provided by the customer. An agent should document when the customer declines to provide information and/or declines to purchase insurance as offered by the agent to preserve a record should a claim later arise. Similarly, if a customer declines to engage in the risk assessment process and is clear about what he or she wants to buy (e.g., customer wants commercial property insurance and does not want to discuss other products, such as commercial liability), this should be documented and communicated to the customer, preferably in writing, to defeat or mitigate a later claim that the agent should have provided broader advice.

Conclusion South Carolina courts increasingly treat insurance agents as professionals with the expectation that agents provide more than mere sales services. Recognizing this trend, agents should take care to properly document requests and recommendations with respect to their customers’ insurance needs, obtain customer signatures on applications, provide copies of policies to customers with notations on coverage and exclusions and not promise coverage after a loss, usurping the carrier’s province. Agents should take care to communicate accurately and professionally, and should avoid “off-the-cuff” remarks or shorthand descriptions. In this new environment, care and attention to detail on the front end will mitigate the risk of facing an errors and omissions claim on the back end.

Summer 2016 • South Carolina Agent & Broker

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South Carolina Agent & Broker • Summer 2016

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[continued from page 31]

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South Carolina Agent & Broker • Summer 2016

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PROBLEMS Common E&O Risk Management

By Swiss Re Claims Team

To truly eliminate E&O exposure it’s necessary to understand the ROOT CAUSE of E&O losses and implement change at that level.

In general, E&O losses occur because of inadequate training and education, poor risk identification and analysis, lack of uniform practices and procedures, inappropriate organizational structure, lack of compliance with office practices and procedures, time constraints and/or chronic backlog.

CHRONIC BACKLOG Our industry is unique in that there is a specific “buying date” for most of our transactions. Policies renew and must be “purchased” on a certain date, new vehicles, equipment or buildings must be covered on the day the insured takes ownership, and claims must be reported by the agency to the carrier promptly after reported to the agency. Therefore, our ability to manage and prioritize our work is of utmost importance. Some tasks, like checking new policies when received, or processing some kinds of endorsements, may seem to be less urgent and get put aside. The truth is, all agencies can and should target to operate with reasonable turnaround for every transaction. When items are not processed in a timely manner, it leads to inefficiency and potential E&O claims.

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South Carolina Agent & Broker • Summer 2016

NOT HIRING THE RIGHT PEOPLE When an E&O claim occurs, you can sometimes isolate it to an individual or group of individuals who may have contributed to the loss. Keep in mind it probably was never the intent of these people to cause harm to the agency. Rather, it probably was the result of a lack of training or compliance with procedures. But how can an agency know if they have the right person in the right position?

INADEQUATE TRAINING Very few people intentionally do things wrong. Rather, they presume they are acting appropriately. Inadequate training can include a lack of understanding of the customer risk analysis process, inadequate product knowledge, and unfamiliarity with the agency management system. There are many reasons (excuses) put forth by agencies as to why their personnel may not be adequately trained, but the most common are lack of time, lack of resources or lack of motivation.

Imagine going to a doctor who has not completed the journey from student to intern to resident to practicing physician. The stakes are no less high in insurance and we want our customers to work with the best people available to meet their insurance needs.

LACK OF UNIFORM PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES Most people, in order to perform their job to the best of their ability, require some kind of structure or “roadmap.” In most agencies, however, there are no written practices and procedures. Without written guidelines, agency personnel are forced on an ad hoc basis to use their own best judgment in a variety of circumstances. While their judgment may be generally sound, problems occur when each person develops their own system of operation, some being better (or more dangerous) than others. Some agencies are actually an amalgamation of several smaller agencies, all operating under the same roof, and each of these mini-agencies may have its own way of doing business, which may or may not be appropriate. Consistency in practices and procedures regarding how business is done is a critical component in E&O claims prevention.

1976

LACK OF COMPLIANCE WITH OFFICE PROCEDURES Even if an agency has good practices and procedures in place, they are not helpful if agency personnel fail to adhere to them and this creates a real exposure to E&O claims. In some instances and depending on the issue and its relation to a potential claim, an agency may actually be better off having no procedures than having to admit, under oath, that there is no requirement that they be followed, or any consequence if they are not. Consistent practices and procedures should be applied to reduce the chances of errors and to provide the service intended to the agency’s customers.

PROBLEMS WITH ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE Many E&O claims are the result of miscommunications or incomplete transactions between agency staff members. The more people who must touch a transaction to complete it, the more likely something will not get done as it should. In an automated world, organizations should be flatter and look for ways for transactions to be handled start to finish by the same person. Whenever a transaction is passed from person to person, the potential is increased for someone to “drop the ball” and this is a point of E&O vulnerability.

TIME CONSTRAINTS When examining E&O claims that have been made, it is often stated by agency managers and staff members that the real reason something was not done or that it was done incorrectly is that the person or persons involved simply didn’t have enough time.

Most people feel that their agency is understaffed and that all problems would go away “if only we had more people.” Generally, insufficient staff is not the problem. Rather, it may be the ability of staff to manage the tasks that must be completed and use the tools available to free up time to complete all tasks required.

Big “I” Professional Liability Westport/Swiss Re policyholders have access to the EO Happens website (iiaba.net/eohappens) to access other risk-management articles like this as well as case studies, sample client letters and checklists and other tools and educational resources for E&O risk management.

100%

The year our longestserving associate began working at J.M. Wilson

Dedicated to the independent insurance agent

COMMITMENT UNDERWRITING SINCE 1920

68

The number of years we’ve been working with our longest-standing agency

BROKERAGE / PROFESSIONAL PERSONAL LINES PROPERTY & CASUALTY TRANSPORTATION SURETY

MGA and E&S Broker since 1920

(800) 666-5692 | JMWILSON.COM

Summer 2016 • South Carolina Agent & Broker

37

Calendar

View up-to-date calendar, course descriptions and register using our online Education & Event Calendar at www.iiabsc.com/education CLASSROOM COURSES WEBCAST/WEBINAR - no test required for CE Credit

m m

July

38

August

05

Professional Ethics in the Insurance Industry, 3 hrs. Ethics

02

Professional Ethics in the Insurance Industry, 3 hrs. Ethics

05

Shake, Rattle & Roll with it: Earthquake Basics, 1 hr. P&C

04

Commercial Lines Claims that Cause Problems, 2 hrs. P&C

06

Certificates of Insurance Emerging Issues, 3hrs. P&C

04

NFIP Basic Course w/ 2016 Updates, 3 hrs. P&C

08

The E-world for Insurance Professionals, 3 hrs. P&C

04

The E-world for Insurance Professionals, 3 hrs. P&C

11

Surplus Lines License Review Course, 3 hrs. P&C

04-07

IIABSC Young Agents Conference, Myrtle Beach, 5 hrs. P&C

12

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part I,

08

Surplus Lines License Review Course, 3 hrs. P&C

3 hrs. P&C

09

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part I,

12

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part II,

3 hrs. P&C

3 hrs. Ethics

09

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part II,

14

Top 5 Life Insurance Uses, 2 hrs. L&H

3 hrs. Ethics

14

Insuring Condominium, 2 hrs. P&C

09

Agency Management Based E&O and Ethics, 3 hrs. Ethics

15

Agency Management Based E&O and Ethics, 3 hrs. Ethics

10

CISR Commercial Casualty II, Greenville, 7 hrs. P&C

15

Certificates of Insurance Emerging Issues, 3 hrs. P&C

10

Workers Compensation Beyond the Basics, 3 hrs. P&C

18

Employment Law & the Insurance Agent, 2 hrs. P&C

10

Business Income Beyond the Basics, 3 hrs. P&C

19

AIAM Day 1, Columbia, 7 hrs. P&C

11

Employment Law & the Insurance Agent, 2 hrs. P&C

19

Affordable Care Act, Update 2015 and Beyond, 3 hrs. L&H

11

Shake, Rattle & Roll with it: Earthquake Basics, 1 hr. P&C

19

Ethical Issues - Personal & Organizational, 3 hrs. Ethics

11

Retirement Planning & Annuities Update, 2 hrs. L&H

19

Business Auto Claims that Cause Problems, 2 hrs. P&C

11

CISR Commercial Property, Columbia, 7 hrs. P&C

19

NFIP Basic Course w/ 2016 Updates, 3 hrs. P&C

12

Long Term Care Insurance, 2 hrs. L&H

19

Dueling Additional Insured Endorsements, 1 hr. P&C

16

D&O Liability Insurance, 2 hrs. P&C

20

Data Privacy Insurance, 2 hrs. P&C

16

Insurance & BBQ, the Hidden Connection, 3 hrs. P&C

21

CISR Commercial Casualty I, Charleston, 7 hrs. P&C

16

E&O Mock Trial, 2 hrs. P&C

21

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part I,

16

Liability Issues to Worry About: Indemnity Agreements, Addl Insureds,

3 hrs. P&C

2 hrs. P&C

21

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part II,

17-19

CIC Agency Management, Columbia, 16 hrs. P&C or L&H/ 4 hrs. Ethics

3 hrs. Ethics

17

Those Kids and their Cars, 2 hrs. P&C

21

Personal Lines Claims that Cause Problems, 2 hrs. P&C

17

Rental Cars: More than Meets the Eye, 2 hrs. P&C

21

Commercial Property Endorsements that Can Make You Money,

17

Dueling Additional Insured Endorsements, 1 hr. P&C

2 hrs. P&C

18

Data Privacy Insurance, 2 hrs. P&C

21

Rental Cars: More than Meets the Eye, 2 hrs. P&C

18

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part I,

21

Insurance & BBQ, the Hidden Connection, 3 hrs. P&C

3 hrs. P&C

26

D&O Liability Insurance, 2 hrs. P&C

18

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part II,

26

Building Codes are Bad for Your Insureds, 2 hrs. P&C

3 hrs. Ethics

26

COPE: Property Underwriting & Effective Loss Control, 2 hrs. P&C

23

CISR Personal Lines Miscellaneous, Myrtle Beach, 7 hrs. P&C

28

Estate Planning Techniques, Options & Opportunities, 2 hrs. L&H

23

Home-based Business Exposures, 2 hrs. P&C

28

Hot Topics in Personal Lines, 2 hrs. P&C

South Carolina Agent & Broker • Summer 2016

there’s a big difference between

selling and

selling out. ready for the next chapter of your business? Consider Hilb Group. While other firms rely on pure acquisition to fuel growth, our strategy combines an aggressive acquisition model with a proven formula to drive growth internally. By combining the strength of your firm with the resources and expertise of ours, we’re able to help you reach not just the next chapter, but the next level.

Thinking of your next step? Talk with us today and learn how joining the Hilb Group makes you more than just a seller. You become a partner in our success.

contact bob hilb, President & ceo, at (804) 414 6505 or rhilb@hilbgroup.com

Hilb Group is a Top 100 US insurance agency focused on providing Property & Casualty insurance and Employee Benefits to small to mid-size businesses. Learn more at HilbGroup.com

“Thanks again for the best business decision I ever made” – R. Hockman, Hockman Insurance

“I wish I had done this 10 years ago” – H. Grubbs, B&H Insurance

“Having Hilb Group behind me has helped my agency set new records” – D. Contorno, Lake Norman Benefits

Summer 2016 • South Carolina Agent & Broker

39

40

23

Ethical Issues - Personal & Organizational, 3 hrs. Ethics

October

24

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change, Charleston,

04

The E-world for Insurance Professionals, 3 hrs. P&C

3 hrs. P&C/ 3 hrs. Ethics

05

CISR Elements of Risk Management, Hilton Head, 7 hrs. P&C

25

Insuring Condominiums, 2 hrs. P&C

06

Professional Ethics in the Insurance Industry, 3 hrs. Ethics

26

Hot Topics in Personal Lines, 2 hrs. P&C

06

Shake, Rattle & Roll with it: Earthquake Basics, 1 hr. P&C

30

Insurance and the Property Lease, 2 hrs. P&C

06

Workers Compensation Beyond the Basics, 3 hrs. P&C

30

Certificates of Insurance Emerging Issues, 3 hrs. P&C

06

Business Income Beyond the Basics, 3 hrs. P&C

10

Surplus Lines License Review Course, 3 hrs. P&C

September

11

Graduate Executive Leadership Seminar Day 2, Columbia

07

Shake, Rattle & Roll with it: Earthquake Basics, 1 hr. P&C

11

Employment Law & the Insurance Agent, 2 hrs. P&C

07

Insuring Condominium, 2 hrs. P&C

11

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part I,

08

Top 5 Life Insurance Uses, 2 hrs. L&H

3 hrs. P&C

08

Professional Ethics in the Insurance Industry, 3 hrs. Ethics

11

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part II,

09

The E-world for Insurance Professionals, 3 hrs. P&C

3 hrs. Ethics

12

Surplus Lines License Review Course, 3 hrs. P&C

11

E&O Mock Trial, 2 hrs. P&C

13

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part I,

11

Liability Issues to Worry About: Indemnity Agreements, Addl Insureds,

3 hrs. P&C

2 hrs. P&C

13

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part II,

12

Ethical Issues - Personal & Organizational, 3 hrs. Ethics

3 hrs. Ethics

12

CISR Personal Lines Miscellaneous, Greenville, 7 hrs. P&C

13

Ethical Issues - Personal & Organizational, 3 hrs. Ethics

12

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change, Columbia,

13

Graduate Executive Leadership Seminar Day 1, Columbia

3 hrs. P&C/ 3 hrs. Ethics

14

AIAM Day 2, Columbia, 6 hrs. P&C

13

Insurance and the Property Lease, 2 hrs. P&C

14

Building Codes are Bad for Your Insureds, 2 hrs. P&C

13

NFIP Basic Course w/ 2016 Update, 3 hrs. P&C

14

COPE: Property Underwriting & Effective Loss Control, 2 hrs. P&C

18

Agency Management Based E&O and Ethics, 3 hrs. Ethics

14

Certificates of Insurance Emerging Issues, 3 hrs. P&C

18

Insurance & BBQ, the Hidden Connection, 3 hrs. P&C

15

CISR Residential Property, Rock Hill, 7 hrs. P&C

19

AIAM Day 3, Charleston, 6 hrs. P&C

15

Estate Planning Techniques, Options & Opportunities, 2 hrs. L&H

20

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part I,

19

Personal Lines Claims that Cause Problems, 2 hrs. P&C

3 hrs. P&C

20

CISR Commercial Casualty I, Florence, 7 hrs. P&C

20

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part II,

20

Affordable Care Act, Update 2015 and Beyond, 3 hrs. L&H

3 hrs. Ethics

20

Insurance & BBQ, the Hidden Connection, 3 hrs. P&C

20

Hot Topics in Personal Lines, 2 hrs. P&C

21-23

CIC Personal Lines Institute, Myrtle Beach, 20 hrs. P&C

20

Commercial Lines Claims that Cause Problems, 2 hrs. P&C

21

Agency Management Based E&O and Ethics, 3 hrs. Ethics

20

Rental Cars: More than Meets the Eye, 2 hrs. P&C

22

Employment Law & the Insurance Agent, 2 hrs. P&C

21

Certificates of Insurance Emerging Issues, 3 hrs. P&C

22

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part I,

21

Dueling Additional Insured Endorsements, 1 hr. P&C

3 hrs. P&C

24

Those Kids and their Cars, 2 hrs. P&C

22

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part II,

25

Data Privacy Insurance, 2 hrs. P&C

3 hrs. Ethics

26

D&O Liability Insurance, 2 hrs. P&C

22

D&O Liability Insurance, 2 hrs. P&C

27

Retirement Planning & Annuities Update, 2 hrs. L&H

22

Dueling Additional Insured Endorsements, 1 hr. P&C

27

Long Term Care Insurance, 2 hrs. L&H

22

Commercial Property Endorsements that Can Make You Money,

27

Home-based Business Exposures, 2 hrs. P&C

2 hrs. P&C

28

Insuring Condominiums, 2 hrs. P&C

22

Rental Cars: More than Meets the Eye, 2 hrs. P&C

30-31

IIABSC Annual Convention, Asheville, NC, to be filed

22

NFIP Basic Course w/ 2016 Updates, 3 hrs. P&C

27

Data Privacy Insurance, 2 hrs. P&C

November

27

Hot Topics in Personal Lines, 2 hrs. P&C

2-4

CIC Commercial Property Institute, Hilton Head, 20 hrs. P&C

28

Business Auto Claims that Cause Problems, 2 hrs. P&C

03

The E-world for Insurance Professionals, 3 hrs. P&C

28

AIAM Day 5, Hilton Head, 6 hrs. P&C

03

Agency Management Based E&O and Ethics, 3 hrs. Ethics

29

CISR Elements of Risk Management, Charleston, 7 hrs. P&C

04

Professional Ethics in the Insurance Industry, 3 hrs. Ethics

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Summer 2016 • South Carolina Agent & Broker

41

07

Estate Planning Techniques, Options & Opportunities, 2 hrs. L&H

13

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part I,

08

Affordable Care Act, Update 2015 and Beyond, 3 hrs. L&H

3 hrs. P&C

08

Certificates of Insurance Emerging Issues, 3 hrs. P&C

13

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part II,

08

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part I,

3 hrs. Ethics

3 hrs. P&C

13

D&O Liability Insurance, 2 hrs. P&C

08

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part II,

13

Those Kids and their Cars, 2 hrs. P&C

3 hrs. Ethics

13

Home-based Business Exposures, 2 hrs. P&C

08

Personal Lines Claims that Cause Problems, 2 hrs. P&C

13

NFIP Basic Course w/ 2016 Updates, 3 hrs. P&C

08

Commercial Property Endorsements that Can Make You Money,

14

CISR Residential Property, Charleston, 7 hrs. P&C

2 hrs. P&C

14

Data Privacy Insurance, 2 hrs. P&C

09

CISR Dynamics of Service, Columbia, 7 hrs. P&C or L&H

14

Employment Law & the Insurance Agent, 2 hrs. P&C

10

CISR Commercial Casualty II, Myrtle Beach, 7 hrs. P&C

14

Commercial Lines Claims that Cause Problems, 2 hrs. P&C

10

Graduate Executive Leadership Seminar Day 3, Columbia

15

Hot Topics in Personal Lines, 2 hrs. P&C

10

Insuring Condominium, 2 hrs. P&C

15

Insuring Condominiums, 2 hrs. P&C

10

Shake, Rattle & Roll with it: Earthquake Basics, 1 hr. P&C

15

Retirement Planning & Annuities Update, 2 hrs. L&H

10

Business Auto Claims that Cause Problems, 2 hrs. P&C

16

Agency Management Based E&O and Ethics, 3 hrs. Ethics

10

NFIP Basic Course w/ 2016 Updates, 3 hrs. P&C

19

Certificates of Insurance Emerging Issues, 3 hrs. P&C

11

Employment Law & the Insurance Agent, 2 hrs. P&C

20

Ethical Issues - Personal & Organizational, 3 hrs. Ethics

14

Surplus Lines License Review Course, 3 hrs. P&C

21

Dueling Additional Insured Endorsements, 1 hr. P&C

14

Dueling Additional Insured Endorsements, 1 hr. P&C

22

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part I,

15

CISR William T Hold Seminar, Charleston, 3 hrs. P&C, 4 hrs. Ethics

3 hrs. P&C

15

Insurance & BBQ, the Hidden Connection, 3 hrs. P&C

22

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part II,

16

D&O Liability Insurance, 2 hrs. P&C

3 hrs. Ethics

16

Hot Topics in Personal Lines, 2 hrs. P&C

22

16

Building Codes are Bad for Your Insureds, 2 hrs. P&C

22

16

COPE: Property Underwriting & Effective Loss Control, 2 hrs. P&C

17

Top 5 Life Insurance Uses, 2 hrs. L&H

17

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part I,

3 hrs. P&C

17

E&O Risk Management, Meeting the Challenge of Change Part II,

3 hrs. Ethics

18

Data Privacy Insurance, 2 hrs. P&C

21

Rental Cars: More than Meets the Eye, 2 hrs. P&C

22

Ethical Issues - Personal & Organizational, 3 hrs. Ethics

December

42

01

AIAM Day 6, Columbia, 2 hrs. P&C/ 3 hrs. Ethics

06

Professional Ethics in the Insurance Industry, 3 hrs. Ethics

06

E&O Mock Trial, 2 hrs. P&C

06

Liability Issues to Worry About: Indemnity Agreements, Addl Insureds,

2 hrs. P&C

06

The E-world for Insurance Professionals, 3 hrs. P&C

07

CISR Dynamics of Service, Greenville, 7 hrs. P&C or L&H

07

Shake, Rattle & Roll with it: Earthquake Basics, 1 hr. P&C

08

Insurance and the Property Lease, 2 hrs. P&C

08

Workers Compensation Beyond the Basics, 3 hrs. P&C

08

Business Income Beyond the Basics, 3 hrs. P&C

12

Surplus Lines License Review Course, 3 hrs. P&C

12

Long Term Care Insurance, 2 hrs. L&H

13

Graduate Executive Leadership Seminar Day 4, Columbia

South Carolina Agent & Broker • Summer 2016

Insurance & BBQ, the Hidden Connection, 3 hrs. P&C

A&M Assoc Ad SC PRINT.pdf

1

10/20/15

12:38 PM

Rental Cars: More than Meets the Eye, 2 hrs. P&C

®

There can be no doubt that all our knowledge begins with experience. – Immanuel Kant

www.summitholdings.com

Policies are underwritten by Bridgefield Casualty Insurance Company and Bridgefield Employers Insurance Company, authorized insurers in AL, AR, FL, IN, KY, GA, MS, LA, NC, SC, TN and TX; BusinessFirst Insurance Company, authorized in FL, GA, KY, NC, SC and TN. ©2016 Summit Consulting LLC | 2310 Commerce Point Drive, Lakeland, FL 33801

Chris Dunlap Local Sales Representative 440-910-3422

Christina Glass Local Sales Representative 864-293-0939

Summer 2016 • South Carolina Agent & Broker

43

Member News WELCOME NEW AGENCY MEMBERS Benefit Insurance Services, Inc., Myrtle Beach, SC The Carter Insurance Group, LLC, Lexington, SC Grimm Insurance Agency, Inc., Camden, SC Klosterman Insurance Agency, LLC, Columbia, SC Newton Insurance Solutions, LLC,Greenville, SC Southern Coast Insurance Group, North Myrtle Beach, SC Triest Agency, Charleston, SC

WELCOME NEW ASSOCIATE MEMBERS Jimcor Agency Inc., Johns Creek, Ga.

44

South Carolina Agent & Broker • Summer 2016

LONG-TIME MEMBER AGENCY HONORED BY STATE LEGISLATURE ON THEIR 90TH YEAR Member agency Dan L. Tillman & Sons Insurance was recognized by the SC House of Representatives on the motion of Rep. Richard Yow commending them on their 90th year in business.

The text of the motion is as follows: Recognizing Dan. L. Tillman & Sons Insurance and Real Estate upon celebrating ninety years of business in Cheraw, South Carolina; Tillman Insurance and Real Estate has been a staple in the community and is committed to providing excellent customer service; they are commended for their kind and giving spirit and their dedication to the community and to the state of south Carolina; We, the members of the House of Representatives, are proud to recognize them for a job well done and we wish them many years of continued success in all their future endeavors.

800-226-3224 www.fcci-group.com

INDUSTRY EXPERTISE. PERSONAL SERVICE.

“I have a sincere passion for helping FCCI policyholders manage risk and prevent loss.

The best phone call I’ve gotten started with the words, ‘Brad, you saved my life.’ ” Brad Ross, ARM, AIS Loss Control Manager FCCI Southeast Region Duluth, Georgia Now, let’s talk about your business.

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IASC16_Ross_7.675x4.9.indd 1

10:39 AM45 Summer 2016 • South Carolina Agent2/16/16 & Broker

2016 Board of Directors Executive Committee

Directors

Chairman R. Scott Moseley Irmo Insurance Agency Irmo, SC scott@irmoins.com

National Director Jules Anderson, AAI Anderson Insurance Associates Charleston, SC janderson@aiasc.com

Angus M. Brabham, IV, CIC (Gus) Regions Insurance Columbia, SC gus.brabham@regions.com

Andrew E. Muller, CIC, AAI, CWCC, PRIS Mappus Insurance Agency Inc. Charleston, SC andrew@mappusinsurance.com

Chairman Elect/ Treasurer Tom Bates, Jr. Herlong Bates Burnett Greenville, SC tom@hbbins.com

Immediate Past Chairman Kenneth A. “Ken” Finch, CPCU, CIC, CRM, AAI Adams Eaddy & Associates kfinch@adamseaddy.com

William C. Carter, CIC (Cooper) Pinckney-Carter Company Charleston, SC cooper@pinckneycarter.com

Robert E. Nalley (Robbie) Creech Roddey Watson Ins Sumter, SC rnalley@crwins.com

James B. Galloway (Ben) Peoples First Insurance Rock Hill, SC bengalloway@peoplesfirstinsurance.com

Tonya S. Thomason, CIC David A. Crotts & Associates Greenwood, SC tonya.thomason@dcrotts.com

Robert W. Hammett, AIP (Rob) CWS Insurance Agency Inc. Spartanburg, SC rob@cwsinsurance.com

Teresa C. Yount, CPCU, CIC, CRM, AINS, CPIW Correll Insurance Group Spartanburg, SC tyount@correllinsurance.com

Secretary James G. Taylor, Jr., CIC (Jay) Kinghorn Ins Agency of Beaufort Beaufort, SC jtaylor@insurancebeaufort.com

Carrie Johnson, ChFC, CLU, AAI Carrie Johnson Insurance Murrells Inlet, SC cj_ins@sccoast.net

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South Carolina Agent & Broker • Summer 2016

Summer 2016 • South Carolina Agent & Broker

47

In the movies, it’s thrilling when the little guy finds a way to win big.

In the ISU Network…it happens every day.

Okay, as a member of the ISU Insurance Agency Network, you aren’t exactly a little guy. You don’t have a downtown skyscraper, but you can compete with those that do. 

You maintain complete independence, yet are part of an organization of 160 established and successful independent agencies with combined premiums over $2 billion.



You have access to over 350 carriers, meaning broader coverages for existing clients and multiple avenues for new business development.



You are part of a coast-to-coast community that shares proven ideas and provides solutions to difficult challenges.

And to make victory even sweeter, you receive performance incentive income that averaged $57,400 last year and is trending upward by about 25% annually.

INSURANCE AGENCY NETWORK Helping Independent Agents Stay Independent for Over 35 Years

Let’s talk about ISU member victories, competing locally, regionally and nationally. www.JoinISU.com

In 2016, ISU will add new carriers and new qualified agents in the Carolinas. For an exploratory discussion of the ISU model...

Call Jack O’Connell Regional Vice President (704) 771-9597