Should architects be discussing green and sustainable issues with their lawyers and insurance carriers?
Absolutely. Owners want to make sure there’s insurance coverage behind their design professionals. You need to have the conversation with your insurance carrier as to what it will and won’t cover. Insurance covers you up to the prevailing standard of care. If you hold yourself out at a higher standard, you’ve assumed liability the law doesn’t protect. Most professional liability policies will exclude assumptions beyond the prevailing standard. When the standard of care is shifting and nobody knows precisely where it is, that’s the danger. If somebody hasn’t kept up with the industry and the standard of care has increased, have they been negligent just by participating on a project? We’re not going to know until there are claims. When might insurance start to cover these issues? Anecdotally, if you are providing LEED certification services, your liability policy would probably cover a claim that arose out of a breach. The thornier question is if there’s language in your agreement that g
