Great White Spotted off of Cape Cod

As the summer begins, the beaches are slowly filling with people of all ages looking forward to a relaxing day spent sun-bathing, swimming and hanging out with friends. For some, this peaceful day became a bit more stressful recently when on Sunday, June 9th an Orleans lifeguard on duty spotted a dorsal fin 150 yards off of the shoreline of Nauset Beach around 10:15am. Reportedly attached to this dorsal fin was a great white shark making its way towards Chatham. According to Orleans Harbormaster Dawson Farber, the shark is estimated to be between 12 and 13 feet long and the shape and color of the fin are indicative of a great white.

A great white shark spotted last summer off Monomoy

The sighting caused the waters to be evacuated for an hour until it was declared shark-free once again. This is not the first time a great white has been spotted on the Cape shores, nor even the first time for Nauset Beach, as just last July they had to close their beach for a few hours due to a shark sighting.


Experts say the reason for the increased shark activity is due to the ever growing seal population in the area. The seals, although a popular attraction, can pose an indirect threat as they begin moving closer to shore and inadvertently bring the sharks with them. The explosive growth is caused by increased regulations and protections for the gray seal population which successfully resulted in the regional number of seals growing from 10,000 to 300,000 in the last 50 years.

Seals basking off the coast of Chatham

So there we have it folks, the first shark of the summer. However, it hasn't seemed to deter or worry too many beach-goers. Gerry Emmert of Brewster noted that the water was too cold to swim in anyway and others have expressed more concern about riptides than sharks. The Department of Marine Fisheries has advised to simply stay smart while at the beach; avoid swimming at dusk or dawn, stay close to the shore and avoid areas where seals are known to congregate.

Out of the Ordinary Insurance

When I think of insurance, the four most basic policies come to mind: home, car, health, and life. For the average person, these might be the only policies you ever consider buying. What else could you possibly need?

There seem to be some people in this world with incredibly special assets, or at least a special sense of humor. 

Bankrate, a firm that compiles information allowing customers to compare anything from mortgage rates to CD deposit rates, published an article in June detailing the world's strangest insurance policies. It did not disappoint. 

Dutch winemaker and owner of Chateau de la Garde in France, Ilja Gort, has a very special asset indeed: his nose. Gort had his nose insured for $8 million through Lloyd's of London, a syndicate of members that insures special risks. Gort claims his nose can distinguish between millions of different scents, an impressive and invaluable skill for a winemaker and taster. Per his policy, Gort cannot participate in winter sports, boxing, or fire breathing for fear of losing his sense of smell. Even more valuable was Costa Coffee chief taster Gennario Pelliccia's tongue, valued at $14 million by Lloyd's. According to Bankrate's article, the average tongue has 10,000 taste buds thus his are valued at $1,400 apiece! 

Ilja Golt and his precious nose. He should insure 

that funky mustache too!

For professional athletes and models, insuring bod parts is a different story. Soccer superstar, David Beckham, has a $70 million dollar policy on his legs. Real Madrid insured their own soccer phenom, Cristiano Rinaldo, and his lower half for $153 million. That means if Cristiano Rinaldo were to never play again due to injury, Real Madrid would collect $153 million in lost income due to his absence. ESPN published a similar article in October of 2009, writing that Joba Chamberlain of the NY Yankees, whose income at the time was merely $432,575, had a $5 million policy on his right arm. If here were to get injured, even if he "walks outside and gets hit by a bus", in the words of his financial adviser, he would collect on his policy. Supermodel Heidi Klum's legs are insured at a cool $2.2 million.

Unfortunately for some athletes, insuring their "golden ticket" body part is very difficult. Back in 2009, it would have cost Brett Favre $22.8 million to insure his right arm for one year. At the time, he was turning forty, had torn his biceps tendon the previous year, and was making $19 million per year. Takeru Kobayashi, the competitive eater, was denied coverage on his stomach despite no preexisting conditions. Apparently, wolfing down hot dogs is not a good enough reason to insure one's stomach. 

These are only a few of the strange insurance policies is stumbled upon. Lloyd's also offers insurance for the financial burden of having twins. One Michigan couple, already with a set of twins, purchased a policy and within months had twins again. You can also purchase a policy for bodily injury as a result of falling space debris through Lloyd's. Rest assured that no matter what your needs are, there is a company out there that will have them covered!

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Uninsured/Under-insured Motorist Protection

It is estimated that 4% of Massachusetts drivers are uninsured, compared to a nationwide average of 1 in 7 drivers (14%). To put that figure into perspective, there are 4,645,705 licensed drivers in the state of Massachusetts, meaning there are approximately 186,000 uninsured drivers on the road. Uninsured and under-insured motorists represent a clear and present danger to drivers everywhere, placing the burden of medical bills and property damage on the drivers they strike. Fortunately, Massachusetts has mandated that drivers have uninsured motorist coverage. Underinsured motorist coverage is optional, but is very cost effective.

Uninsured motorist protection is Part III of compulsory insurance in a Massachusetts auto policy.  This section of an auto policy protects you from injury if a driver whose policy has unknowingly expired or who does not have auto insurance has struck you. The uninsured motorist section explicitly covers only bodily injury and not resulting property damage. Uninsured motorist also provides for hit and run accidents if the at fault driver cannot be identified. The compulsory limits for this coverage are $20,000 per person and $40,000 per accident.

Under-insured motorist protection is optional for Massachusetts drivers, but it is highly recommended that drivers purchase this additional coverage. Many motorists take the high route and purchase insurance with minimum liability limits to save money because they believe it is unlikely they will be at fault in an accident. They transfer the burden of the cost of insurance and damages to drivers who purchase adequate insurance by skimping on their coverage. A driver is considered underinsured if they inflict bodily damage on you in an accident and their liability limits do not cover the damages that result. For example, consider a driver who is hit by another and incurs $100,000 dollars in bodily injury damages. The at fault driver’s policy states that his or her bodily injury liability limit is $20,000 and the insured driver’s limit is $50,000. The underinsured driver’s policy will cover the first $20,000 in bodily injury and the insured driver’s policy will cover the difference between his or her $50,000 limit and uninsured driver limit, $30,000. The additional $50,000 can be covered by your health insurance company or can be recovered through a lawsuit and a lien on the under-insured party's future earnings, put in place by a judge. 

Uninsured motorist protection mandated by the state of Massachusetts is simply not enough. As common as accidents seem, people will purchase the bargain insurance with minimum limits to save of a few dollars because they think they will never be at fault in an accident. When this driver hits you, you might never recover the damages that result. You can purchase uninsured and under-insured motorist protection for nearly approximately $5 per month. That $5 per month is significantly less than the tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills that you can be subject to if you are not carrying this coverage and have been struck by another driver with inadequate coverage. 

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Cyber Security and Liability

            Over the last ten years, the world has undergone a significant change. The advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web has implemented a new age; the age of information. Anything you might ever want to know is at the tips of your fingers, including personal information.

                                               

Cyber security has been a hot topic for virtually any organization, no matter how large or small. The state of South Carolina suffered a considerable cyber breach in October of 2012 in which 3.6 million social security numbers and 387,000 credit and debit card numbers were compromised. Due to the breach, South Carolina was forced to pay out more than $20 million (a number that is still increasing) and provide a free credit monitoring system for all those affected.

 The incident sparked conversation around the country as states began examining how they could protect themselves from such a breach and how they could alleviate the financial blow-back. Oregon’s Chief Information Security Officer Theresa Masse has been a leading voice in the conversation, advocating for the purchase of cyber insurance. She argues that most states are self-insured, and as such, have a limited pool of money to draw on. Masse’s belief is that states should be at least partially insured through certain high risk payout aspects like credit monitoring.

Standard business liability insurance policies generally classify trade secrets and other types of intellectual property as “intangible” and as such, the property is rarely covered if stolen. Cyber-liability insurance however covers the costs incurred by the loss of intellectual property or trade secrets (first party claims) as well as covers the damages a company must pay if a customer sues for lost or compromised information (third party claims). Some cyber policies will even pay for the costs associated with breaches caused by employees including notifying all those affected and handling forensic and legal costs.

You may reason that these sorts of cyber breaches only occur in the larger companies, who have more information to be accessed, and so criminals have more to gain by targeting them. Unfortunately for small businesses everywhere, this assumption is incorrect. Nearly half of the 621 data-breaches recorded by Verizon in 2012 occurred at companies with less than 1000 employees and 193 of these occurred at businesses with less than 100 workers.

So, how can you protect yourself and your business? First and foremost, utilizing a risk manager and investing in the security infrastructure of your business will work to prevent the severity and frequency of cyber attacks. Purchasing insurance is one of the more costly ways to mitigate risk but it is a necessary step, particularly for small businesses in which the consequences of a breach can be crippling.

 

Article prepared with reference to:

Business Insurance Magazine- May 20, 2013. “States Take on Cyber Security”

AT&T Drive-Mode - Anti-Texting and Driving Technology

AT&T continues to lead the charge against texting and driving and is now developing a phone application that blocks driver’s phone from receiving texts, calls, picture messages, emails, etc. AT&T is at the forefront of corporate social responsibility, taking the initiative to put an end to a habit that has claimed thousands of young drivers’ lives. The more I read about it, the more passionate I grow. My younger brother recently got his license and I have strongly urged him not to text and drive. Kids don’t realize the horrors that can arise from taking your eyes off the road.

I recently found this video from ABC News of pedestrians walking and texting.

As hilarious as it is, considering there are no real consequences to these pedestrians’ accidents, it puts the issue to texting and driving in perspective. If you can’t text and walk, what makes you think you can text and drive? If you walk into a wall with your phone in your head, what’s stopping you from slamming into the median at 65 miles per hour? Running a stop sign and driving through a storefront? Nothing.

Fortunately, companies like AT&T, Arbella, and the OTTERApp team are leading the way in putting a stop to texting and driving. It is inspiring to see AT&T’s Chairman and CEO, Randall Stephenson, stand up against texting and driving. It speaks to the company’s dedication, a culture that begins at the top. AT&T is currently developing a cell-phone application that can disable drivers’ phones to prevent them from fielding calls, text-messages, emails, and pictures. AT&T has already developed an application that, while on, sends auto-reply text-messages whenever a driver gets an incoming text. Technologies like these will mitigate the accidents, injuries, and deaths from texting and driving. 



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The Devastation in Oklahoma and the Start of the Hurricane Season

Over the past couple weeks the Midwest has been devastated by tornadoes and storms. From May 18 to May 20, an estimated 76 tornadoes struck across 10 different states. The damage caused by these storms was both physical and psychological. These tornadoes caused the death of 24 people and approximately $2-5 billion in insured losses, coming in as the second worst ever in terms of monetary damage behind only the tornadoes that occurred in late April of 2011. The replacement value of some 13,000 properties damaged by one EF-5 tornado that struck Moore, Oklahoma came in at more than $2 billion.

An image of the EF-5 tornado that tore through Moore, OK

Although these numbers are certainly staggering, the effects of the storms resonate in more ways than just financial. As we move our way into the official beginning of the hurricane season, the peace of mind of many is compromised as they look at the damage done by natural disasters in Oklahoma and wonder what’s next.

This week, May 26th-June 1, is National Hurricane Preparedness Week and if the severity of the natural disasters ravaging the Midwest are any indication of the type of storms the Northeast may see, it’s time to seriously analyze your hurricane and flood protection. The hurricane season begins June 1st and unfortunately for the Atlantic coast, experts at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration estimate a 70% chance of 13 to 20 named storms throughout the season. A named storm is anything classified above wind speeds of 39 mph. Of these 13 to 20 named storms, 7 to 11 are predicted to be hurricanes (wind speeds of 74 mph and above) including 3 to 6 major hurricanes (winds of 111 mph and above). 

To put this in perspective, the seasonal average is 12 named storms, 6 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes and this season we expect a bare minimum of 13 named storms, 7 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes. The season, which spans over the next 6 months and reaches a peak in mid-August to late October, certainly seems as if it may be one of the more active to date.

The dangers to life and property that are inherent with hurricanes include storm surges, heavy rainfall, flooding, high winds and rip currents. Storm surges, the abnormal rise of sea water, are among the more hazardous consequences of a hurricane and often lead to damaging floods that can ruin property.

There are a few important steps to take that can alleviate potential damages done by hurricanes and other severe storms. An emergency plan and disaster kit are the first things recommended by FEMA. A sample emergency plan can be downloaded straight from the FEMA website here and the suggested components of this disaster kit can also be found on the FEMA website here.

As we jump into the official beginning of what is predicted to be a rigorous and stressful hurricane season be sure to stay safe and if you are unsure about any of your coverage, feel free to call either of our offices in Bourne or Falmouth at 800.800.8990.