Whats the difference between Claims Made and Occurrence Policies?
There are two primary forms of liability insurance policies – claims-made and occurrence policies. Most professional liability insurance, including directors and officers and employment practices liability insurance, is written on a claims-made basis. An occurrence policy obligates the insurance company to pay for claims arising out of occurrences during the policy period regardless of when the claim is reported. The policyholder is covered for any incident that occurs during the term of the policy regardless of when the claim arising from the incident is reported to the company. In some situations the claim might be made many years after the incident occurred. This leads to uncertainty for both the insured and the insurer. A claims-made policy protects an insured against claims or incidents that are reported while the policy is in force. Normally, a claims made policy provides coverage for acts occurring prior to the claims-made policy period. Coverage for acts occurring prior to the
