Public Liability Insurance and retirement

YPYM

Hi
Some basic information: A talking therapy business running for over 10 years, sole trader.

Retired earlier this year and the Towergate PL insurance has come up for renewal.

Calling them to cancel the renewal they said that there would a be 3 year 'run off' free of charge in case any claims arose.
Reading the documentation it says that and legal expenses related to a claim would be excluded - that could be a significant cost, and a concern.

Has anybody had to deal with this? If so what did you do please.

One thought we had would be to find a cheaper alternative PL insurance to run for a few years. But what would happen to claims that arise from the period covered by the Towergate insurance?

Hope someone can give some reassurance/advice on this issue please.

Thank you
R

Sandtree

Are you sure it is Public Liability and not Professional Indemnity?

PL is written on a date of loss basis, ie if someone tripped over your briefcase in May 2019 they have 3 years to make a claim against you but the claim is covered by the insurer at the time of accident.

PI on the other hand is written on a claims made basis so if you give bad advice in May 2019 they have 6 years (or 3 for injury) to make a claim against you but the claim is covered by the insurer on the date you receive the claim. This is why both retroactive cover is important and why there is a need for cover after you've stopped the business.

YPYM

Update:

After a morning on the phone I eventually found the Towergate run off cover expert...

There is a distinction between Legal defence costs and Legal expenses.

Defence costs are part of any claim and is covered by the run off.

Legal expenses are the likes of tax investigations etc, so we don't need that anyway.

Feeling happier now