May/June 2005

London Office Assembles Distinguished Panel on Topic of Business Interruption

A two-day forum hosted by Matson, Driscoll & Damico’s partners in the United Kingdom brought together a who’s who of insurance professionals March 9 and 10 at the venerable old library at Lloyd’s of London.

Attendees listened to and participated in lectures, discussions and debates on the many current and controversial business-interruption issues faced by insurance claims professionals in Europe and elsewhere.

“People told us after the event that they appreciated the discussions we had, and that several of the topics presented were really new to them or that they now thought about them in different ways,” said Markus Heiss, Partner of MD&D’s London office.

“The overall goal was for a bit of education and providing a forum for discussion” Heiss said. “We feel that a panel discussion of this type hadn’t been done before, especially to this extent or level, here in London, and the format worked out very well.”

Heiss organized the inaugural insurance forum along with Flemming Jensen, Managing Partner of MD&D’s London office. About 100 people attended the first day of the event, and another 80 attended on the second.

Most forum guests were insurance professionals, including claims handlers, lawyers, independent adjustors, brokers and accountants. MD&D Managing Partner Jack Damico moderated the two-day event, and panelists represented several distinguished UK firms – including Willis, Kennedys, Axis Loss Adjusters, Beachcroft Wansbroughs, MatthewsDaniels and Integra Technical Services, Heath Lambert, Cunningham Lindsey, Crawford, Clausen Miller, CTC and Clyde & Co.

Among the many topics discussed were liquidated damages, advanced loss of profits, depreciation, outage allowances and waiting periods.

“The panelists explained the ins and outs of their topic and then took a specific position on the issue. We then had a question-and-answer discussion about the issue, usually for about 30 minutes,” Heiss said.

“Some of the topics were probably more controversial than others, which led to great discussion sessions. We deliberately chose subjects where we thought there was no real consensus on a perfect solution,” he said.

During the first day of the forum, the concurrency of insured and uninsured events and a session on overlapping losses generated a great deal of discussion and interest.

“Both topics were led by some of our legal panel members, and the strict legal view that has been presented was slightly surprising to some,” Heiss said. “I think people realized that many of these were pressing issues, but many didn’t realize how much of a financial impact some of them might have, depending on how you tackle them.”

Heiss said the London office will host a similar forum early next year, due to the positive responses of attendees.

“It’s beneficial to discuss these topics in an open forum, and it gives everyone a chance for some great face-to-face interactions with their industry colleagues,” he said.