Keep me logged in until I sign out. Underwriters offer specialized policies addressing the specific issues of various industries. Directors and officers of non-profit organizations or condominium associations require different protections than directors and officers of banking and financial institutions or health care systems. The terms and conditions in these policies reflect the specific needs of these insureds.
Lawsuits naming directors and officers along with other parties are common.
For some 30 years, insurers, insureds and other parties have routinely agreed upon how to divide up responsibility for defense costs and settlement between those whose losses are insured and those whose losses are not. Allocation is required where a policy does not provide entity coverage and a lawsuit often a securities or antitrust action is brought both against directors and officers and also against the corporate entity. Under such circumstances, a policy would cover the defense and settlement expenses attributable to the directors and officers, but not those attributable to the entity. Where allocation is indicated, the parties attempt to reach an agreement as early as possible. In 1995, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a 100 percent allocation of liability to the directors and officers for the settlement of an underlying 10b-5 securities action.