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About SV Insure
The purpose of this site is:
- To translate insurance into english
- To provide risk management advice on entrepreneurial risk
- To provide risk management advice on personal risks
- To provide strategic, and not just tactical, advice about insurance and risk
What constitutes “Remuneration” for Workers’ Comp Premium Calculation?
This information comes directly from the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau website, www.wcirb.com. The link is below, followed by the ...
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SB 1159 California Workers’ Compensation COVID19 Legislation
This information is provided by Heidi Gomozias, President of CompWise Consulting. There are new changes to California Workers Compensation laws ...
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Governor Newsom’s Executive Order on COVID and Workers’ Comp Claims
Heidi Gomozias is a Workers’ Compensation consultant for Archway Insurance who has over 25+ years of experience in workers’ compensation ...
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The High Cost of a Political Hijacking of Insurance Companies to Pay COVID Business Interruption Claims
It is well-known among insurance professionals, that until a loss occurs, most business owners care more about price than coverage ...
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Does your Business Interruption Insurance cover loss during COVID lockdown?
We have had many conversations with insureds who wish to know if their commercial insurance policy that includes business interruption ...
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Premium Refunds for various lines of insurance, most notably auto insurance and Workers’ Compensation insurance
Richard Lara, the California Insurance Commissioner issued Bulletin 2020-3 on April 13, 2020. The subject is Premium Refunds for various ...
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Coronavirus & Workers’ Comp: What you need to know
One of our Workers’ Comp carrier partners has provided this information to our clients. It describes coverage that applies and ...
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Insurance 101: Frequency Leads to Severity
“Frequency leads to severity” is one of the first axioms taught in the property and casualty insurance industry. Underwriters review ...
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AB 5 and how it might affect you
As much as app-based gig-work companies have disrupted the world of commerce, California’s AB5 has disrupted the very definition of ...
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Get Your Towing Service from California State Auto Association
As most business owners know, their loss history is important information for any insurance company that wishes to provide a ...
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/ Auto
Insurance Coverage at a Mini Storage Location
Mini Storage company wants proof of insurance. Do they have insurance from their Homeowner's policy? Key question: Are we talking ...
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WCIRB 1/1/2020 Proposed Pure Rates
The Governing Committee of the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) voted to authorize the WCIRB to submit the proposed ...
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The Peril of Potholes
A client was in rush hour traffic on El Camino in Los Altos, bumper to bumper in all three lanes. ...
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/ Personal
Annual OSHA Log 300
The OSHA Log annual posting requirement has been with us for decades now, and the process hasn’t changed. Every employer ...
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Experience Rating in California
The WCIRB develops advisory pure premium rates for workers' compensation insurance, and rules and regulations with respect to the California ...
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Risk Management for Building Owners with Vacant Buildings
The most common property form in use for commercial buildings is the ISO form, CP 00 10 04 02. The ...
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Workers Comp Class Code Changes After Policy is Issued
A new client, has asked me to review their recent final audit, and reclassification by the Workers' Comp carrier. The policy period ...
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Liabiilty Considerations of the JOBS Act
Chubb Insurance Company has recently produced a great piece entitled, "What Is the JOBS Act? And Will Your Company Face ...
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The ABCs of D&O Insurance Clauses, Peter R. Taffae
This article from the 2009 issue of Property & Casualty 360 is excellent explanation of the current state of D&O ...
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Hopkins & Carley Advisory
Hopkins & Carley is a premiere regional law firm headquartered in the heart of Silicon Valley. Dan Pyne chairs the Employment ...
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/ HR
Alcohol inducement doesn’t support accidental conduct
From IRMI Personal Lines Pilot, Case of the Month, "Insurer Not Liable for Alcohol-Fueled Family Injury" As the year ends, ...
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Exempt vs. Non-Exempt
Extracted from a recent message by Dan Pyne, of Hopkins and Carly, a San Jose based law firm, "Beware of the Payroll Implications ...
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Can the Wife of the Owner be Excluded from Workers’ Comp?
The owners of a privately held closed corporation employ their wives in the company. Since the owners can elect to ...
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The Workers’ Comp Audit
A request for information is received by my client from their Workers' Comp carrier, a few weeks after the expiration date ...
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Ponemon Institute: Managing Cyber Security as a Business Risk
Sponsored by Experian Data Breach Resolution Independently conducted by Ponemon Institute LLC Publication Date: August 2013 "Managing Cyber Security as ...
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Lexology: California Expands Data Breach Notification Requirements
From Lexology, October 1 2013, Sam Zun of Paul Hastings, LLP, "California Expands Data Breach Notification Requirements." The Updated Data Breach ...
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Santa Clara public health unit reports data breach
From Government Health IT, October 2, 2013, Erin McCann, "Santa Clara Public Health Unit Reports Data Breach" In the latest, ...
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A New York State of Workers’ Comp Mind
We stumbled on this requirement of the New York State Workers' Comp Law, from September of 2007, the following Out-of-State ...
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California Employer Cited for Having No Workers’ Comp Insurance, Gregory Grinberg
A Salinas transmission shop owner was operating without Workers' Comp coverage, which drew the attention of the California Workers' Comp Fraud ...
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Workplace Death, Jail time for CEO
From Greg Grinberg in his blog, WCDefenseCA. Insurance is not absolution, nor is it a substitute for good business practices ...
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A Tree Fell, and Later Was the Noise
Remember the inane musing about when a tree falls in the forest—does it make a noise if no one is ...
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Terrorism and Insurance in Boston
An interesting article on insurance ramifications of the Marathon bombings in Boston, appeared in the Wall Street Journal, April 25, 2013. Property insurance ...
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The Annual Ritual of the Workers’ Comp Audit
A client recently remarked to me about how much the annual Workers' Comp audit request sounds like an IRS demand ...
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Clinical Trials in India–Start early
We are beginning to see India considered for clinical trials by US companies. They require a locally admitted insurer, which ...
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A Sandy Claim Reaches a California Policy
My client is a nationally recognized speaker on sales and marketing issues, and speaks frequently to Business Owner groups all ...
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I quit! You can’t quit, you’re fired!, and the Whopper of a Worker’s Comp Claim
Recently reported by Greg Grinberg in his blog post, the case of Maria de Jesus Flores v. Carl's Jr., involves an ...
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Special Access Trials in Canada
We are seeing increased interest among device companies to use the Special Access Trial process in Canada. One such 15 ...
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California Supreme Court Taking Up the Valdez Case
Latest from Greg Grinberg blog, October 22, 2012. At issue is whether doctor reports generated by docs outside of the ...
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Clothes Dryer Fires Cost $35M a Year
From Insurance Journal article, key points... "Failure to clean" was the leading factor causing ignition of clothes in residential fires ...
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NFL and Insurers Clash Over Head Injuries
This AP article discusses what is likely to be just the tip of the iceberg in what will be a ...
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Repetitive Stress From Daily Living
RSI (Repetitive Stress Injury) is not only a working environment phenomenon. This article raises awareness of the sources of RSI ...
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Bay Area Burglary Spike
From San Jose Mercury News article, Aug 7, 2012. Good advice to prevent burglaries, Lock doors and windows. Call police ...
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Index of Posts
Wed, 13 Jun 2012 10:09:02, whiteflash, [] . California Workers' Compensation Defense [cat category="11" excerpt="false" ] Corrie's Cogitations [cat category="4" ...
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Test Index of Posts
Corrie's Cogitations [cat category="4" excerpt="false" ] Current Issues [cat category="3" excerpt="false" ] Medical Device [cat category="9" excerpt="false" ] Reference Library ...
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Calif Insurance Commissioner Approves Mid-Year Workers’ Comp Rate Increases
For the first time since July 2007, the insurance commissioner has approved a mid-year increase in the pure premium advisory ...
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Can An Employment Relationship Emerge from a Termination Agreement?
A client recently structured a termination agreement with a departing executive to include severance pay, COBRA reimbursement, and a 12 week "consulting agreement." "Severance ...
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Business Basics: Incorporate First and Insure Second
After working with Silicon Valley start-up companies for 30 + years, it may seem axiomatic, but bears repeating. Incorporate first, ...
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When Can Executive Officers Be Excluded from Workers’ Comp?
To be excluded from the Workers' Comp policy, The employee must be an Executive Officer of the corporation The employee ...
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Medical Device Distributors and Liability
This article is a great primer on why medical device distributors should be carrying their own liability insurance, and are ...
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Waiver of Subrogation on Workers’ Comp
Often in contracts between General Contractors and Subs, is a requirement for Waiver of Subrogation in favor of the General ...
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Employment Practices Liability–First sign of a hard market?
California employers have enjoyed a rather extended soft market for insurance rates, pretty much across all lines of insurance for ...
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First Aid Kits in the Workplace
Recent query from a client: I can’t remember where I heard this, may have even been at an OHSA seminar ...
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Whether to Buy Earthquake Insurance…
I'm often asked for a recommendation about when one should consider buying earthquake insurance on a home or office/industrial building. ...
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Stress Claims in California Workers’ Comp
When does "You can take this job and shove it!" rise to a successful Workers' Comp stress claim? Since the ...
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What About Volunteers?
Often overlooked is risk associated with having volunteers working in the company. A parent volunteer is injured while breaking up ...
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Why Silicon Valley Is Running Scared From Health Care
This article by Allan May in the September Atlantic illuminates some fundamental problems in the medtech investment environment, which has ...
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Learned Intermediary Doctrine
This article from Sara Dyson, Esq. discusses the "Learned Intermediary Doctrine" and to what extent it protects prescription drug and ...
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Coinsurance for Building and Business Property
Basic to business property policies is the Coinsurance Clause. This clause requires that you maintain insurance limits to a minimum ...
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Do Distributors Require Professional Liability Insurance?
This article by Francis Stockwell, Sr VP of Underwriting at Medmarc is a great reference for answering the question posed ...
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Lease Gap Can Be An “Abyss”
My client was rather proud of his new BMW 750i--the business is doing well, and frankly, it's a great ride! ...
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Representations & Warranties Insurance for a Business Purchase Agreement
A client is selling his business after 20 years of hard work, and is in the final negotiations with a ...
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When Natural Beauty Meets Fire Hazard Reality
A client has a beautiful home in the Santa Cruz Mountains, just above Silicon Valley in California. A direct writer ...
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Contact Me
Corrie Foos is a 30 year veteran of business insurance in Silicon Valley, first licensed in 1975. He considers himself ...
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Vacancy–an Insurance Pitfall
With the current economic downturn, many property owners have experienced vacancies in their commercial building portfolios. Beware of the Vacancy ...
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Building Ordinance or Law, Gaps in Full Insurance Recovery
I could hear frustration in the property manager's voice. He is responsible to a client that owns 5 commercial properties ...
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California Workers’ Comp–What Are These Assessments About?
Anyone who has tried to compare Workers' Comp rate quotes among competitive carriers has encountered these "assessment" charges added to ...
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EBL, EPL, Fiduciary Exposures Under a PEO Agreement
Gray areas of employment law. Your employees are technically not your employees, and you have a contract with the PEO ...
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Admitted v. Non-Admitted–What’s It All Mean?
Any client who has been asked to sign the "California D1 Form" wonders why they are being shouted at--it's a ...
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What if? Disaster Planning Before Business Interruption Insurance
One of the most difficult areas of insurance planning involves business interruption insurance. Decisions involving the insurance of property are ...
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Analyzing Your Workers’ Comp Quotes
What's the best way to compare Workers' Comp quotes? Is it the bottom line figure? Is it the "rate."? If ...
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Foreign Clinical Trials, Changing Requirements
One of the challenges of providing insurance for clients that are going into foreign venues for their device trials, is ...
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Liability after the music stops! Where’s your chair?
A manufacturing company decides to sell its business. A typical manner of sale is for the acquiring company to purchase ...
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Time for the Annual Posting of the OSHA Log 300
February 1 is the day for posting last year's Summary OSHA Form 300A, which logs work-related injuries and illnesses. An ...
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Not Owning an Auto Doesn’t Mean You Don’t Have Any Auto Liability
Most business people have learned from their insurance advisers that auto liability exposure extends beyond simply owning a vehicle. The ...
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Systemic Problems: The Perspective of a Leading California-based Workers’ Comp Carrier
The overall picture for future rates and premiums for California Workers Comp is not pretty. For the past five years, ...
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Insurance Broker: Learned Intermediary or Useful Idiot?
As insurance brokers, we all strive to be – in our client’s eyes – trusted advisers and learned intermediaries. In ...
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