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INDUSTRY INSIDERInsolvency claims against directors,officers to surge - expertSOURCE: insurancebusinessmag.com, Jan. 2021 Reprinted with sincere thanks by Lyle AdrianoWhile many have celebrated the start of the New Yearfilled with hope, one expert believes that 2021 will bedifficult for directors, officers, and their advisers due to aprojected increase in insolvency claims against them.“The view from specialists across our network is that whilelegislative measures have offered some protection todirectors of companies facing financial difficulties,insolvency claims will be a strong driver of D&O risk in2021,” said Simon Konsta, partner at Clyde & Co. London.Konsta also noted in a statement that as the number ofCOVID-19-related insolvencies rises, the next 12-18 monthswill likely see more claims against solicitors, accountants, auditors and property professionals.Aside from anticipating a surge in insolvency claims, Konstaalso compared current conditions to the last global financialcrisis of 2008. According to the expert, current companiesand the professionals that advise them are “definitely betterrun” now than in 2008 thanks to tougher regulator regimes.But at the same time, businesses now face raisedexpectations – and the public will not hesitate to find someone to blame if those expectations are not met.“Fuelling stakeholder expectations that ‘someone’ mustbe made to pay for corporate failure are the litigationfunders who are increasingly ‘baked in’ to the claimslawyers’ business model and therefore much morelikely to be a driver of liquidator and third-party claimsagainst professionals in 2021,” added Konsta.Konsta said that litigation funding cannot be called a“game changer” at this point, especially when manycases are anticipated. However, the Clyde & Co.partner expects that a higher volume of funded insolvency claims will have “important practical andstrategic implications for businesses, their advisers andultimately their insurers.”READ MORE: https://bit.ly/3ogmax5T H E T O R C H F E B R U A RY 20218

INDUSTRY INSIDERApplied Systems to Acquire EZLynx, Comparative Rating,Agency Management VendorSOURCE: insurancejournal.com, Jan. 2021 Reprinted with sincere thanksInsurance technology firm Applied Systems has agreed to acquireEZLynx, an agency management system vendor and pioneer inreal-time comparative rating .Applied said the acquisition is complementary and will expandits portfolio of agency management and rating technologies foragencies of all sizes.Terms were not disclosed.“Start-up and fast-growing independent insurance agencies are onthe rise, creating a growing segment of the marketplace lookingfor automation and technology choice,” said Taylor Rhodes, CEOat Applied Systems.In addition to offering and supporting EZLynx products, Appliedsaid it will integrate EZLynx’s real-time comparative personal linesrating technology with Applied’s portfolio of products, includingApplied Epic. This integration will allow agencies to maintaina single view of customers and prospects while eliminating timespent managing multiple data points across disparate systems,according to the announcement.Nag Rao, CEO and co-founder of EZLynx, said the deal will provide its customers and employees with “access to new innovationand resources, allowing us to grow EZLynx’s capabilities moreeffectively.”Texas-based EZLynx was founded in 2003 and released its firstreal-time rating system the following year and added EZLynxConnect vendor integration capabilities in 2019. It began offeringadditional agency management products in 2011.EZLynx is listed as the most used comparative rater for personallines in the Future One Agency Universe Study by IndependentInsurance Agents and Brokers of America. According to its website, more than 20,000 agents use it.This acquisition comes a little more than a year after AppliedSystems acquired digital insurance technology startup Indio Technologies. That move enabled Applied Systems to offer Indio’sdigitized commercial insurance application and renewal processintegrate Indio into its popular agency management system Epic.Private equity firm Hellman & Friedman has been Applied’smajority shareholder since 2014, alongside minority shareholdersStone Point Capital, JMI Equity, and CapitalG. Nomura Securitieshas provided financing to support the acquisition.READ MORE: https://bit.ly/3ogmax5T H E T O R C H F E B R U A RY 20219

IN THE NEWSFlorida Court Upholds Policyholder Right toAssign BenefitsSOURCE: insurancejournal.com, Jan. 2021 Reprinted with sincere thanks by Jim SamsFAn appellate court in Florida has upheld the rightof policyholders to assign their right to collectbenefits from an insurance claim to contractors,reversing trial court rulings in favor of insurers.The Florida 3rd District Court of Appeals ruled lastmonth that an insurer cannot get around a centuryof case law by placing the assignment of benefitsprohibition in the application for insurance insteadof the policy. The appellate panel held that theapplication is part of the policy under Florida law,and courts have held since 1917 that an insurancecontract cannot take away a policyholder’s right toassign benefits after a loss.Samuel Alexander, who represented ExtremeEmergency Fire & Water Restoration againstLloyd’s of London on appeal in the Florida case,said it was the latest attempt by the insurance industry “to get around established case law.”“They tried to get the 3rd DCA, basically, tooverrule the Florida Supreme Court,” he saidduring a telephone interview after the ruling.Alexander, who owns the Alexander AppellateLaw practice in the Orlando suburb of DeLand,said insurers may be emboldened because ofnumerous conservative appointments to the statesupreme court in the past few years. He said thehigh court, however, has strict rules that willprevent it from hearing any appeal that wouldallow it to overturn past precedent withoutconflicting rulings from the appellate districts.In Extreme Emergency’s case, Lloyd’s argued thatit negotiated the language that bars assignmentsof benefit, which is why the language was placedin the application for insurance. The policyholderreceived a lower rate by agreeing to accept therestriction, the carrier said.“This is pure freedom of contract case,” Appellateattorney Clinton D. Flagg told the 3rd DCA duringoral arguments.READ MORE: https://bit.ly/2y3ZIDyT H E T O R C H F E B R U A RY 202110

IN THE NEWSCommentary: Florida Adoption of FederalJudgment Standard a Win for InsurersSOURCE: insurancejournal.com, Jan. 2021 Reprinted with sincere thanks by By Kimberly K. Berman and Eric L. ReichenbergerThe way liability claims are litigated in Florida willdramatically change, possibly shifting the balanceof power in pre-trial negotiations closer to favoring defendants and their insurance companiesafter the Florida Supreme Court opted to adoptthe federal summary judgment standard, effectiveMay 1, 2021.The trial court held the video refuted the plaintiff’sposition and demonstrated the defendants werenot negligent. On appeal, the Fifth District reversedthe trial court’s decision to grant summary judgment finding the trial court improperly weighedcompeting evidence on material facts.The impending rule change ordered by six of theseven justices in a Dec. 31, 2020 motion wasprompted by a request for the court to answer acertified question from the Fifth District Court ofAppeal in the case Wilsonart, LLC v. Lopez.On review by the Florida Supreme Court, theparties were asked to file briefs on the issue ofwhether Florida should adopt the federal summaryjudgment standard. Businesses and others filedamicus briefs on the issue as well.At issue in the Wilsonart v. Lopez case was whether a trial court can grant a party’s motion forsummary judgment based on video evidence thatcontradicts conflicting evidence from the nonmoving party. If not, a court must let a jury decideby weighing the video against other evidence,such as eyewitness testimony.Federal Summary Judgment StandardWilsonart involved a fatal motor vehicle accidentafter which the decedent’s estate sued the front cardriver and the driver’s employer. The trial courtgranted summary judgment for the defendants inreliance on video evidence from the front car’sdashboard camera.The Celotex case involved a widow who hadargued that her late husband had been injured byexposure to a company’s products.The current federal summary judgment standarddates back to a trilogy of United States SupremeCourt cases from 1986 – Celotex Corp. v. Catrett,Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., and MatsushitaElectric Industrial Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp.READ MORE: https://bit.ly/2y3ZIDyT H E T O R C H F E B R U A RY 202111

THE INFORMED AGENTBombing in Nashville spurs insurancecoverage worriesSOURCE: propertycasualty360.com, Jan. 2021 Reprinted with sincere thanks by By Lalita Mohabir and Carolyn ReiterDebris remains on the sidewalks in front ofbuildings damaged in a Christmas Day explosionTuesday, Dec. 29, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn.Officials have named 63-year-old Anthony QuinnWarner as the man behind the bombing in whichhe was killed, but the motive has remainedelusive. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)At least 45 businesses were da maged in the Christmas Daybombing in Nashville, Tenn., that decimated a block ofdowntown buildings. Local police and the Federal Bureauof Investigation (FBI) are still investigating why a 63-year-oldNashville area information technology consultant set off theexplosion in his RV, killing himself and causing widespreaddestruction.The bomb was detonated near an AT&T telecommunicationshub, temporarily freezing mobile and internet systems in fivestates. As affected business owners assess the damage totheir properties, they are also questioning whether their insurance policies will cover the repairs. Law enforcement hasnot yet determined whether the bo

A special thank you to Ascendant Insurance Solutions , AmTrust Financial Services, Inc , and LAAIA for their donations to createThe Latin American Association of Insurance Agencies Scholarship . ### About The Latin American Association of Insurance Agencies (LAAIA) The LAAIA was founded in 1969 as “th