Last 27th of May, the webinar on Professional Liability was organised by Jesús Vélez, the managing partner of Azsure.
The event was attended by a very interesting group of guests, all of them experts in claims management, representing major insurers in Spain and the aim of the event was to provide the participants with guidelines and recommendations, based on Azsure’s extensive experience in the field, in order to achieve a more efficient and coordinated handling of professional liability claims.
The participants were also informed about the formation of the international association of insurance law firms, INSULAW International, which has been set up at the initiative of Azsure Abogados. Currently this association is represented in 25 jurisdictions in North and South America and Europe.
The firm’s partners Jesús Vélez, José María Arauz de Robles and Javier Goizueta, as speakers, presented the legal and technical elements of this type of claims management. They dealt with topics such as the difference between ´claims made´ and ´occurrence policies´, international insurance programmes and in particular financial interest clauses, as well as some very relevant case studies on professional liability, such as those of engineers and architects.
Jaime Mascareñas, Senior Associate of the firm, presented the Supreme Court ruling of 20th of October 2020, which confirms that claims made clauses are limitation clauses and they are subject to compliance with the formalities set out in art. 3 of the LCS. However, in the case of large risks insurance, a ´claims made clause´ does not need to be expressly accepted by the insured, nor does it need to comply with the aforementioned formalities.
After the presentations, there was time for debate and discussion, as well as for questions and sharing of experiences. The quality of the participants’ interventions made the session very dynamic, enriching and interesting for all the guests.
