Analysts at Ernst went on to say that oil prices are anticipated to grow with increased demand as the economy continues to recover.  The challenge may be higher prices negatively affecting economic development.  While natural gas long term prospects for pricing and demand are strong, current prices and demand remain generally weak on continued production growth largely from unconventional gas plays.  Not surprisingly, oilfield service company bottom lines have benefited from the strong uptick in drilling assets and the growth in unconventional gas and associated boom in horizontal drilling.   Meanwhile refining margins have finally showed some strengthening though capacity remains shut in at pre 2008 levels.   Deal flow is up and deal size is growing on loosening capital markets and consolidation in oilfield services.

And in the insurance world, a quiet hurricane season and significant new capacity both upstream and downstream is stabilizing and in some cases softening pricing.  Absent more events such as the tragic loss and developing environmental problem accompanying the fire and total loss of TransOcean’s Deepwater Horizon this week, the challenge for energy accounts is to differentiate themselves within this market to take advantage of the opportunities.  But conversely with increasing capacity, insurers are feeling the pressure to differentiate as well to show their market leadership.  What is still unclear early in this process is how far this trend will go to impact retentions and other terms and conditions.  No significant changes are expected in terms and conditions but pressure could be applied on retentions in an effort to pressure competitors in an environment of improved capacity over the past 18 months.

If you have questions about the impact on your business, let us know.

Meridian is a highly dynamic specialized insurance consulting group and broker with offices in Boston, MA, Newport, RI and Brookfield, CT. We specialize in risk management and risk transfer for traditional and alternative energy companies. We are members of the International Energy Credit Association and the Connecticut Maritime Association. Our Mission is simple.  We seek to help our clients make the best risk and risk transfer decisions possible.

MERIDIAN – YOUR RISK RETHOUGHT

Meridian is a highly dynamic specialized insurance consulting group and broker with offices in Boston, MA, Newport, RI and Brookfield, CT.  We are a hard-driving group with an entrepreneurial spirit who will work tirelessly for clients. We specialize in risk management and risk transfer for sustainable businesses. We personally promote sustainable practices and are members of the Sustainable Business Network and Slow Money.

Our Mission is simple.  We seek to help our clients make the best risk and risk transfer decisions possible. To that end we bring  market-leading service to the most creative solutions in the risk management field to ensure that each Meridian client achieves their risk objectives.

MERIDIAN- YOUR RISK RETHOUGHT

Peter Young -London –

Meridian Consulting Group LLC

Peter joined Meridian in 2010 to represent them in the London market.  He has over 40 years experience in the Insurance industry with an extremely diversified background. Having worked as a Head Office underwriter with a major UK Insurer his sense of adventure led him into the broking sector and a move to Africa where he spent 10 years managing local offices in West & Southern African for the Minet Group.

On his return to London he specialized in the management of the Global programmes for UK based multi nationals. This experience developed into working on a similar project for a major US Oil company which led to his transfer into the Energy sector, ultimately becoming the Managing Director of the Onshore Energy division of Minet. During this time he worked with a number of major Oil companies as well as the development of business in the Middle East.

He moved to Marsh in 1995 and was soon made Managing Director responsible for their Energy business in Asia/Pacific. Initially based in London he later lived in Singapore for 2 years and during this time he worked with the Risk Management departments of all the worlds’ major Oil companies as well as the national Oil companies throughout Asia.

More recently he has worked as a Consultant with the London and Asian offices of a major International law firm and on behalf of a newly established Lloyds syndicate, based in Singapore as head of Business Development.

David J. Webster-Meridian Consulting Group LLC

David brings to Meridian a lengthy professional career which began with the Northern Assurance Group in Glasgow, but which soon led him into risk management because of his interests.  David qualified by examination as an Associate of the Charter Insurance Institute early in his professional career. As a Risk Manager he has worked for major companies such as Boskalis Westminster Dredging, Viking Offshore Pipelines, British Petroleum and Shell Exploration and Production.

As a Senior Risk Manager with British Petroleum in the UK and US, David handled some of the largest exposures in the worldwide insurance markets.  In that capacity he adopted and used the latest risk management techniques available to transfer and offset risk including the use of Captive Insurance. He also negotiated the most favorable terms and conditions for major construction and operational and charter contracts on behalf of his employer.

While with Shell as an Insurance Consultant, David played two leading roles on behalf of the Oil Industry in helping to introduce the first standard forms of contract for the offshore industry, known as the CRINE contracts and also in attempting to reach an agreement between the UK Government and the Oil Industry in relation to security aspects relating to the future abandonment of North Sea Oil related structures.

While with British Petroleum in Cleveland at the time of the takeover of the Standard Oil Company of Ohio (SOHIO) part of David’s responsibilities were, the management of a large number of personal injury related lawsuits (excluding Workers Compensation) in all geographic areas of the USA where BP/SOHIO operated.

David has traveled extensively for his past employers and is enthusiastic and passionate about both the oil and insurance industries and is prepared to travel on behalf of Meridian clients, as their needs require.

Born and raised in Scotland, David’s interests are DIY, golf and rugby. In his earlier years he played on a leading Scottish Rugby Club team and was on the team that won the Scottish Rugby Championship.

Meridian is a highly dynamic specialized insurance consulting group and broker with offices in Boston, MA, Newport, RI and Brookfield, CT. We specialize in risk management and risk transfer for traditional and alternative energy companies. We are members of the International Energy Credit Association and the Connecticut Maritime Association. Our Mission is simple.  We seek to help our clients make the best risk and risk transfer decisions possible.

We bring market-leading service to the most creative solutions in the risk management field to ensure that each Meridian client achieves their risk objectives. MERIDIAN -YOUR RISK RETHOUGHT.

Meridian is a highly dynamic specialized insurance consulting group and broker with offices in Boston, MA, Newport, RI and Brookfield, CT. We specialize in risk management and risk transfer for companies interested in sustainable practice. We also promote sustainable practices and are members of the Sustainable Business Network and Slow Money Alliance. Our Mission is simple.  We seek to help our clients make the best risk and risk transfer decisions possible.

We bring market-leading service to the most creative solutions in the risk management field to ensure that each Meridian client achieves their risk objectives.

“It is with great pleasure that we invite you to join us on June 9-11 for our Second National Gathering at Shelburne Farms, Vermont   http://www.slowmoneyalliance.org/national-gathering.html

one of the premier historic and sustainable agriculture sites in the country. This 1400-acre site originally owned by Lila Vanderbilt Webb is located on the shore of Lake Champlain and is the site of three barns, each one of which is more memorable than the last (if you don’t think a barn can be memorable, you will have your mind changed…).

We’re expecting a strong turn-out, so we suggest you secure your housing as soon as possible. Link here

http://www.slowmoneyalliance.org/hotels.html

for our list of recommended hotels. NOTE: the unique agricultural nature of the site means you will be staying a few miles away at one of these hotels.

Slow Money… It’s not an ISM (as in capitalism, socialism, consumerism, market fundamentalism…).  But it is a new way of connecting investors to local food systems, catalyzing new forms of social investing and philanthropy for the 21st century.  Join the emerging network of investors, donors, entrepreneurs, farmers, and activists who are giving birth to the nurture capital industry.”

See you there,

Woody Tasch

Chairman, Slow Money

Program details will be announced shortly but you can be sure that they will include healthy doses of discussions, collaboration, spirit of inquiry, shared learning, music, and food.

For more information and to register use this link.  http://www.slowmoneyalliance.org/national-gathering.html

Meridian is a highly dynamic specialized insurance consulting group and broker with offices in Boston, MA, Newport, RI and Brookfield, CT. We specialize in risk management and risk transfer for companies interested in sustainable practice. We also promote sustainable practices and are members of the Sustainable Business Network and Slow Money Alliance. Our Mission is simple.  We seek to help our clients make the best risk and risk transfer decisions possible.

We bring market-leading service to the most creative solutions in the risk management field to ensure that each Meridian client achieves their risk objectives.

View more photos here

For registration info paste the link:   http://www.asmeconferences.org/ES2010/

Meridian is a highly dynamic specialized insurance consulting group and broker with offices in Boston, MA, Newport, RI and Brookfield, CT. We specialize in risk management and risk transfer for companies interested in sustainable practice. We also promote sustainable practices and are members of the Sustainable Business Network and Slow Money Alliance. Our Mission is simple.  We seek to help our clients make the best risk and risk transfer decisions possible.

We bring market-leading service to the most creative solutions in the risk management field to ensure that each Meridian client achieves their risk objectives.

Meridian is a highly dynamic specialized insurance consulting group and broker with offices in Boston, MA, Newport, RI and Brookfield, CT.  We are a hard-driving group with an entrepreneurial spirit who will work tirelessly for clients.  We specialize in risk management and risk transfer issues for clients in the private criminal justice operations arena.  We hold associate membership in the American Correctional Association.

Our Mission is simple.   We seek to help our clients make the best risk and risk transfer decisions possible.  We bring market-leading service to the most creative solutions in the risk management field to ensure that each Meridian client achieves their risk objectives.

444 U.S. 277

100 S.Ct. 553

62 L.Ed.2d 481

George MARTINEZ et al., Appellants,
v.
STATE OF CALIFORNIA et al.

No. 78-1268.

Argued Nov. 5, 1979.

Decided Jan. 15, 1980.

Rehearing Denied March 3, 1980.

See 445 U.S. 920, 100 S.Ct. 1285.

Syllabus

Appellants’ decedent, a 15-year-old girl, was murdered by a parolee five months after he was released from prison despite his history as a sex offender. Appellants brought an action in a California court under state law and 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming that appellee state officials, by their action in releasing the parolee, subjected the decedent to a deprivation of her life without due process of law and were therefore liable in damages for the harm caused by the parolee. The trial court sustained a demurrer to the complaint. The California Court of Appeal affirmed, holding that a California statute granting public employees absolute immunity from liability for any injury resulting from parole-release determinations provided appellees with a complete defense to appellants’ state-law claims, and that appellees enjoyed quasi-judicial immunity from liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

Held :

1. The California immunity statute is not unconstitutional when applied to defeat a tort claim arising under state law. Pp. 280-283.

(a) The statute, which merely provides a defense to potential state tort-law liability, did not deprive appellants’ decedent of her life without due process of law because it condoned a parole decision that led indirectly to her death. A legislative decision that has an incremental impact on the probability that death will result in any given situation cannot be characterized as state action depriving a person of life just because it may set in motion a chain of events that ultimately leads to the random death of an innocent bystander. P. 281.

(b) Even if the statute can be characterized as a deprivation of property, the State’s interest in fashioning its own rules of tort law is paramount to any discernible federal interest, except perhaps an interest in protecting the individual citizen from wholly arbitrary or irrational state action. The statute is not irrational because the California Legislature could reasonably conclude that judicial review of parole decisions “would inevitably inhibit the exercise of discretion” and that this inhibiting effect could impair the State’s ability to implement a parole program designed to promote rehabilitation of inmates as well as security within prisons by holding out a promise of potential rewards. Pp. 281-283.

2. Appellants did not allege a claim for relief under federal law. Pp. 283-285.

(a) The Fourteenth Amendment protected appellants’ decedent only from deprivation by the State of life without due process of law, and although the decision to release the parolee from prison was action by the State, the parolee’s action five months later cannot be fairly characterized as state action. Pp. 284-285.

(b) Regardless of whether, as a matter of state tort law, the parole board either had a “duty” to avoid harm to the parolee’s victim or proximately caused her death, appellees did not “deprive” appellants’ decedent of life within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. P. 285.

(c) Under the particular circumstances where the parolee was in no sense an agent of the parole board, and the board was not aware that appellants’ decedent, as distinguished from the public at large, faced any special danger, appellants’ decedent’s death was too remote a consequence of appellees’ action to hold them responsible under § 1983. P. 285.

85 Cal.App.3d 430, 149 Cal.Rptr. 519, affirmed.

Donald McGrath, II, San Diego, Cal., for appellants.

Jeffrey T. Miller, San Diego, Cal., for appellees.

Mr. Justice STEVENS delivered the opinion of the Court.

1

The two federal questions that appellants ask us to decide are (1) whether the Fourteenth Amendment invalidates a California statute granting absolute immunity to public employees who make parole-release determinations, and (2) whether such officials are absolutely immune from liability in an action brought under the federal Civil Rights Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. § 1983.¹ We agree with the California Court of Appeal that the state statute is valid when applied to claims arising under state law, and we conclude that appellants have not alleged a claim for relief under federal law.

2

The case arises out of the murder of a 15-year-old girl by a parolee. Her survivors brought this action in a California court claiming that the state officials responsible for the parole-release decision are liable in damages for the harm caused by the parolee.

3

The complaint alleged that the parolee, one Thomas, was convicted of attempted rape in December 1969. He was first committed to a state mental hospital as a “Mentally Disordered Sex Offender not amenable to treatment” and thereafter sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 1 to 20 years, with a recommendation that he not be paroled. Nevertheless, five years later, appellees decided to parole Thomas to the care of his mother. They were fully informed about his history, his propensities, and the likelihood that he would commit another violent crime. Moreover, in making their release determination they failed to observe certain “requisite formalities.” Five months after his release Thomas tortured and killed appellants’ decedent. We assume, as the complaint alleges, that appellees knew, or should have known, that the release of Thomas created a clear and present danger that such an incident would occur. Their action is characterized not only as negligent, but also as reckless, willful, wanton and malicious.² Appellants prayed for actual and punitive damages of $2 million.

4

The trial judge sustained a demurrer to the complaint and his order was upheld on appeal. 85 Cal.App.3d 430, 149 Cal.Rptr. 519 (1978). After the California Supreme Court denied appellants’ petition for a hearing, we noted probable jurisdiction. 441 U.S. 960, 99 S.Ct. 2403, 60 L.Ed.2d 1064.

5

* Section 845.8(a) of the Cal. Gov’t Code Ann. (West Supp. (1979)) provides:

6

“Neither a public entity nor a public employee is liable for:

7

(a) Any injury resulting from determining whether to parole or release a prisoner or from determining the terms and conditions of his parole or release or from determining whether to revoke his parole or release.”

8

The California courts held that this statute provided appellees with a complete defense to appellants’ state-law claims.³ They considered and rejected the contention that the immunity statute as so construed violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution.⁴

9

Like the California courts, we cannot accept the contention that this statute deprived Thomas’ victim of her life without due process of law because it condoned a parole decision that led indirectly to her death. The statute neither authorized nor immunized the deliberate killing of any human being. It is not the equivalent of a death penalty statute which expressly authorizes state agents to take a person’s life after prescribed procedures have been observed. This statute merely provides a defense to potential state tort-law liability. At most, the availability of such a defense may have encouraged members of the parole board to take somewhat greater risks of recidivism in exercising their authority to release prisoners than they otherwise might. But the basic risk that repeat offenses may occur is always present in any parole system. A legislative decision that has an incremental impact on the probability that death will result in any given situation—such as setting the speed limit at 55-miles-per-hour instead of 45—cannot be characterized as state action depriving a person of life just because it may set in motion a chain of events that ultimately leads to the random death of an innocent bystander.

10

Nor can the statute be characterized as an invalid deprivation of property. Arguably, the cause of action for wrongful death that the State has created is a species of “property” protected by the Due Process Clause. On that hypothesis, the immunity statute could be viewed as depriving the plaintiffs of that property interest insofar as they seek to assert a claim against parole officials.⁵ But even if one characterizes the immunity defense as a statutory deprivation, it would remain true that the State’s interest in fashioning its own rules of tort law is paramount to any discernible federal interest, except perhaps an interest in protecting the individual citizen from state action that is wholly arbitrary or irrational.

11

We have no difficulty in accepting California’s conclusion that there “is a rational relationship between the state’s purposes and the statute.”⁶ In fashioning state policy in a “practical and troublesome area” like this, see McGinnis v. Royster, 410 U.S. 263, 270, 93 S.Ct. 1055, 1059, 35 L.Ed.2d 282, the California Legislature could reasonably conclude that judicial review of a parole officer’s decisions “would inevitably inhibit the exercise of discretion,” United States ex rel. Miller v. Twomey, 479 F.2d 701, 721 (CA7 1973), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 1146, 94 S.Ct. 900, 39 L.Ed.2d 102. That inhibiting effect could impair the State’s ability to implement a parole program designed to promote rehabilitation of inmates as well as security within prison walls by holding out a promise of potential rewards. Whether one agrees or disagrees with California’s decision to provide absolute immunity for parole officials in a case of this kind, one cannot deny that it rationally furthers a policy that reasonable lawmakers may favor. As federal judges, we have no authority to pass judgment on the wisdom of the underlying policy determination. We therefore find no merit in the contention that the State’s immunity statute is unconstitutional when applied to defeat a tort claim arising under state law.

II

12

We turn then to appellants’ § 1983 claim that appellees, by their action in releasing Thomas, subjected appellants’ decedent to a deprivation of her life without due process of law.⁷ It is clear that the California immunity statute does not control this claim even though the federal cause of action is being asserted in the state courts.⁸ We also conclude that it is not necessary for us to decide any question concerning the immunity of state parole officials as a matter of federal law because, as we recently held in Baker v. McCollan, 443 U.S. 137, 99 S.Ct. 2689, 61 L.Ed.2d 433, “[t]he first inquiry in any § 1983 suit . . . is whether the plaintiff has been deprived of a right ’secured by the Constitution and laws’ ” of the United States.⁹ The answer to that inquiry disposes of this case.

13

Appellants contend that the decedent’s right to life is protected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. But the Fourteenth Amendment protected her only from deprivation by the “State . . . of life . . . without due process of law.” Although the decision to release Thomas from prison was action by the State, the action of Thomas five months later cannot be fairly characterized as state action. Regardless of whether, as a matter of state tort law, the parole board could be said either to have had a “duty” to avoid harm to his victim or to have proximately caused her death, see Grimm v. Arizona Bd. of Pardons and Paroles, 115 Ariz. 260, 564 P.2d 1227 (1977); Palsgraf v. Long Island R. Co., 248 N.Y. 339, 162 N.E. 99 (1928), we hold that, taking these particular allegations as true, appellees did not “deprive” appellants’ decedent of life within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment.

14

Her life was taken by the parolee five months after his release.¹⁰ He was in no sense an agent of the parole board. Cf. Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90. Further, the parole board was not aware that appellants’ decedent, as distinguished from the public at large, faced any special danger. We need not and do not decide that a parole officer could never be deemed to “deprive” someone of life by action taken in connection with the release of a prisoner on parole.¹¹ But we do hold that at least under the particular circumstances of this parole decision, appellants’ decedent’s death is too remote a consequence of the parole officers’ action to hold them responsible under the federal civil rights law. Although a § 1983 claim has been described as “a species of tort liability,” Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409, 417, 96 S.Ct. 984, 988, 47 L.Ed.2d 128, it is perfectly clear that not every injury in which a state official has played some part is actionable under that statute.

15

The judgment is affirmed.

16

So ordered.

¹

“Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress.”

²

Although the complaint refers to the failure to supervise Thomas after his release, a failure to warn females in the area of potential danger, and a failure to revoke the original parole decision, the litigation has focused entirely on the original decision. The individual appellees are not alleged to have responsibility for postrelease supervision of Thomas.

³

The dismissal of appellants’ cause of action charging negligent failure to warn females in the area of danger was predicated on appellants’ concession that there was no “continuing relationship between the state and the victim,” 85 Cal.App.3d 430, 435, 149 Cal.Rptr. 519, 523 (1978), a requirement of state law.

⁴

“. . . No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” U.S.Const., Amdt. 14, § 1.

Although the question presented in the jurisdictional statement posits an Equal Protection Clause challenge to the statute, that point was not actually briefed in this Court. It was also neither raised in nor treated by the courts below. We therefore make no further reference to that challenge.

⁵

It is arguable, however, that the immunity defense, like an element of the tort claim itself, is merely one aspect of the State’s definition of that property interest. Recently, in considering a lawyer’s claim of immunity in a state malpractice action, we noted that

“when state law creates a cause of action, the State is free to define the defenses to that claim, including the defense of immunity, unless, of course, the state rule is in conflict with federal law.” Ferri v. Ackerman, 444 U.S. 193, 198, 100 S.Ct. 402, 406, 62 L.Ed.2d 355.

⁶

“Martinez says the statute, Government Code section 845.8, subdivision (a), is unconstitutional because it permits the deprivation of life, a fundamental right, without due process. He suggests the statute, if it confers absolute immunity, encouraged the actions resulting in Mary Ellen’s death and, thus, requires a compelling state interest. However, the Legislature has broad powers to control governmental tort liability limited only by the rule it not act arbitrarily (Reed v. City & County of San Francisco, 237 Cal.App.2d 23, 24, 46 Cal.Rptr. 543). The California Tort Claims Act as a whole (Gov.Code § 810 et seq.) has been found constitutional (Datil v. City of Los Angeles, 263 Cal.App.2d 655, 660-661, 69 Cal.Rptr. 788). The stated purpose of section 845.8, subdivision (a), is to allow correctional personnel to make determinations of release or parole unfettered by any fear of tort liability (Law Revision Com. com.). To impose tort liability would have a chilling effect on the decision-making process, impede implementation of trial release programs and prolong incarceration unjustifiably for many prisoners. There is a rational relationship between the state’s purposes and the statute.” 85 Cal.App.3d, at 437, 149 Cal.Rptr., at 524.

The opinion of the California Court of Appeal does not expressly mention the Federal Constitution. But it is clear from appellants’ response to the demurrer that they were relying on “a federally protected right to life under the Constitution of the United States.” Record 59.

⁷

We note that the California courts accepted jurisdiction of this federal claim. That exercise of jurisdiction appears to be consistent with the general rule that where

” ‘an act of Congress gives a penalty to a party aggrieved, without specifying a remedy for its enforcement, there is no reason why it should not be enforced, if not provided otherwise by some act of Congress, by a proper action in a state court.’ “ Testa v. Katt, 330 U.S. 386, 391, 67 S.Ct. 810, 813, 91 L.Ed. 967, quoting Claflin v. Houseman, 93 U.S. 130, 137, 23 L.Ed. 833.

See also Aldinger v. Howard, 427 U.S. 1, 36, n. 17, 96 S.Ct. 2413, 2430, n. 17, 49 L.Ed.2d 276 (BRENNAN, J., dissenting);Grubb v. Public Utilities Comm’n, 281 U.S. 470, 476, 50 S.Ct. 374, 377, 74 L.Ed. 972. We have never considered, however, the question whether a State must entertain a claim under § 1983. We note that where the same type of claim, if arising under state law, would be enforced in the state courts, the state courts are generally not free to refuse enforcement of the federal claim. Testa v. Katt, 330 U.S., at 394, 67 S.Ct., at 814. But see Chamberlain v. Brown, 223 Tenn. 25, 442 S.W.2d 248 (1969).

⁸

“Conduct by persons acting under color of state law which is wrongful under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 or § 1985(3) cannot be immunized by state law. A construction of the federal statute which permitted a state immunity defense to have controlling effect would transmute a basic guarantee into an illusory promise; and the supremacy clause of the Constitution insures that the proper construction may be enforced. See McLaughlin v. Tilendis, 398 F.2d 287, 290 (7th Cir. 1968). The immunity claim raises a question of federal law.” Hampton v. Chicago, 484 F.2d 602, 607 (CA7 1973), cert. denied, 415 U.S. 917, 94 S.Ct. 1413, 39 L.Ed.2d 471.

⁹

Baker v. McCollan, 443 U.S., at 140, 99 S.Ct., at 2692. Although there was a dissent in that case, the issue that divided the Court was, assuming the plaintiff had been deprived of constitutionally protected liberty, what process was due. There was no disagreement with the majority’s methodology of isolating the particular constitutional infringement complained of. Since we decide here that the State did not “deprive” appellants’ decedent of a constitutionally protected right, we need not reach the question whether a lack of “due process” was adequately alleged by the reference to a failure to observe “requisite formalities.” It must be remembered that even if a state decision does deprive an individual of life or property, and even if that decision is erroneous, it does not necessarily follow that the decision violated that individual’s right to due process.

¹⁰

Compare the facts in Screws v. United States, 325 U.S. 91, 65 S.Ct. 1031, 89 L.Ed. 1495, where local law enforcement officials themselves beat a citizen to death.

¹¹

We reserve the question of what immunity, if any, a state parole officer has in a § 1983 action where a constitutional violation is made out by the allegations.

In theory, the primary purpose of this exclusion is to acknowledge the specialized errors and omissions that can occur in this professional environment  and which, therefore, can be “better covered elsewhere.”  In practical terms this is because these errors or omissions rarely involve either third party bodily injury or 3rd party property damage (which is the primary loss coverage in a CGL policy)  but rather usually involve “wrongful acts” involving some form of quantifiable financial loss.

Perhaps not surprisingly a big element in such claims is the defense and costs involved.  But of course the issue goes very deep and you should be aware not all policy provisions are identical.  Just a few of the areas you need to be aware include:  the extent to which the insurer is required to defend you, what triggers the defense by your insurer depending on the type of proceedings defined as trigger events, what deductibles or self insured retentions are involved, who selects counsel, and what say you have in settlement.  Professional liability is a very specialized cover and if you need help wading through how to proceed with changes in your needs in this area please ask Meridian for assistance.

Meridian is a highly dynamic specialized insurance consulting group and broker with offices in Boston, MA, Newport, RI and Brookfield, CT. We specialize in risk management and risk transfer for companies interested in traditional and renewable energy, sustainable practice and private criminal justice. We are members of the Sustainable Business Network, Slow Money Alliance, International Energy Credit Association, Connecticut Maritime Association and American Correctional Association. Our Mission is simple.  We seek to help our clients make the best risk and risk transfer decisions possible.

We bring market-leading service to the most creative solutions in the risk management field to ensure that each Meridian client achieves their risk objectives.

And if you have questions about risk management for your sustainable business  contact us.

Meridian is a highly dynamic specialized insurance consulting group and broker with offices in Boston, MA, Newport, RI and Brookfield, CT. We specialize in risk management and risk transfer for companies interested in sustainable practice. We also promote sustainable practices and are members of the Sustainable Business Network and Slow Money Alliance. Our Mission is simple.  We seek to help our clients make the best risk and risk transfer decisions possible.

We bring market-leading service to the most creative solutions in the risk management field to ensure that each Meridian client achieves their risk objectives.

February 16, 2010, 7:00-9:00 pm
Film Screening & Panel: Food Fight and discussion about Slow Money Alliance
Where: Science Center Lecture Hall A, Cambridge campus 1 Oxford Street Cambridge, MA

Does the term “foodie” inspire, irritate, or intrigue you? Do you wonder what the big deal is about food that is locally grown, organic, or “sustainable”? Do you wonder whether your food choices really matter? Join the Harvard University Dining Services Food Literacy Project for a screening of the award-winning documentary Food Fight and a discussion with filmmaker Chris Taylor and Woody Tasch, the founder of Slow Money Alliance.  Food Fight explores the political and social changes that shaped 20th century American agricultural policy and food culture and the changing relationship between consumers and big agribusiness.  Slow Money Alliance is a new nonprofit that combines principles of philanthropy and investing to “bring money back down to earth” by encouraging investment in small food enterprises, local food systems, and local economies.  Questions?  Contact theresa_mcculla@harvard.edu for information. The event is free and open to the public.

Meridian is a highly dynamic specialized insurance consulting group and broker with offices in Boston, MA, Newport, RI and Brookfield, CT. We specialize in risk management and risk transfer for companies interested in energy, sustainable practice and private criminal justice. We are members of the Sustainable Business Network, Slow Money Alliance, International Energy Credit Association, Connecticut Maritime Association and American Correctional Association. Our Mission is simple.  We seek to help our clients make the best risk and risk transfer decisions possible.

We bring market-leading service to the most creative solutions in the risk management field to ensure that each Meridian client achieves their risk objectives.

“A company’s directors are sometimes held personally liable for misconduct even when the firm carries directors’ and officer’s liability insurance. In 2006 and 2007 five outside directors of bankrupt shoe retailer  paid $41.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by a court-appointed trustee charged with recovering money for creditors. A 2001 Alabama lawsuit had charged the directors with conflict of interest and breach of fiduciary duty. Although directors’ and officers’ insurance generally provides coverage for these types of judgments, the firm’s officers had pleaded guilty and subsequently consumed nearly all the firm’s liability insurance coverage in settling an earlier class action lawsuit filed by shareholders. Only $100,000 in coverage remained for the outside directors. It was unclear whether a third-party source, such as an employer, covered the settlement by the outside directors. For example, companies can purchase special liability insurance designed to protect and benefit individuals as opposed to the business entity. Coverage would have been more likely if the directors’ employers had encouraged them to serve on the board.”  Case study excerpted from The American Heritage Dictionary of Business Terms 2009 edition