Ask Tim

​Nearly eight years after New York’s certificates of insurance law​ took effect, there appears to still be some misunderstanding of what the law allows and prohibits. Big I New York members regularly call or email us about whether it’s permissible to use certain forms, certain wording, show certificate holders in a certain way, what limits to display, and so on. Other members will receive a certificate form from a client’s subcontractor or vendor and wonder if the form is legal.The fact of the matter is that most of these questions way over-complicate what the law says. When it comes to an insurance agency or brokerage…

​We get frequent questions (that is, six or more in the last two weeks) about cancellation, non-renewal and conditional renewal letters from insurers. A lot of members refer to these as "220 letters," so called because the law that requires them for many types of commercial lines policies (Section 3426 of the New York Insurance Law) was enacted as Chapter 220 of the Laws of 1986. Here in one place are links to some of our posts and answers to member questions about what insurers are and are not required to do. This list will likely grow with time, but here is some information to help…

​The following is a rerun of a blog post that was originally posted on ​February 7, 2011.  It has been revised only to update some of the wording. Unfortunately, it is still timely.​​Question from a Big I NY ​member: Our insured has a license to carry a gun.  When being confronted by an attempted robbery, he uses the gun but the shot hits a bystander.  I do not see where an exclusion would apply in this case as it was not expected or intended.  Do you agree that his liability insurance would defend him in this situation?  Even if the shot hits the robber, I would think coverage…