SDV’s robust Risk Transfer practice group concentrates on comprehensive insurance policy and contract language reviews for individual and broker clients. By reviewing insurance policies alongside contracts and subcontracts, we ensure that appropriate risk transfer is in place and works as intended, whether the client is a project owner, a general contractor or a subcontractor.
SDV also conducts comprehensive policy reviews for clients engaged in a wide variety of industries. A thorough policy review can save a client thousands – or even millions – of dollars in coverage gaps, uninsured liabilities or other exposures. Our reviews are tailored to a client’s particular need, with the goal of highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of specific policy language and providing guidance on potential gaps between different lines of coverage.
Our contractual review process focuses on indemnity provisions and insurance requirements. We provide clients with guidance on the most up-to-date commercially available insurance coverage, and constantly improve indemnity provisions to be in line with developments in state law. We also work with clients to ensure that realistic insurance requirements are included in contracts, so that all parties can be clear about what to expect when starting a construction project.
A subset of SDV’s Risk Transfer practice group involves our work with the LaborGuard program, a project-specific insurance program for construction project owners engaged in building in New York. Our attorneys review the insurance policies of each prime subcontractor on a project site to ensure that program requirements are met. We analyze each subcontract for proper indemnity language, and carefully review the scope of work to ensure that the insurance policies do not exclude coverage for any work that a particular subcontractor may perform. Although no two reviews are the same, each review is guaranteed meticulous attention to detail and prompt turnaround time.
SDV’s experience with the LaborGuard program, and similar work for independent clients, has allowed us to assemble a wealth of information concerning subcontractor insurance policies, including what solutions various insurers have offered to correct problematic policy language. SDV can bring to bear this vast institutional knowledge to help each of its clients in unique ways, offering dynamic, cutting-edge solutions for risk transfer problems.
Our services include:
- Review of contracts for indemnity provisions and insurance requirements to ensure enforceability, clarity and robust risk transfer.
- Full review of downstream insurance policies for problematic provisions frustrating risk transfer.
- For downstream parties, review of their insurance coverage to ensure that it adequately meets contractual requirements and upstream party expectations.