Do you carry E & O insurance? What limits? What company?

[Alice Clark]

I'm just curious how many reporters carry their own E & O and what limits they choose to carry and which companies they use.  I had it come up for the first time with a company I may take some work for, and their contract requires a $500,000 policy. 

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

I'm with Marsh and I have 500,000 coverage for $850 a year.  Have to be a member of NCRA to join, though. 

[Kerry F]

Well, I'm a bit of a rebel here.........don't believe in it.  35 years of reporting and never had an issue, don't plan to.

I do carry with Marsh equipment insurance, covers laptop or writer being stolen, too.

I actually had a lawyer knock a glass of water over onto my laptop...........his water, not mine.  If fried it.

But I got the hard drive out right away.  Had all my stuff backed up anyway.  But insurance repaced it.
And it was an expensive $1,600 Fujitsu.

There's just some insurances I won't buy.

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

Well, some agencies won't use you unless you have the insurance.  Never bought it till last year.  Gotta keep working.

[Kerry F]

That's true.....have run into that in the past.  I just don't even like putting it out into the universe that I'm ever going to need something like that. 

[Alice Clark]

You can join DRA in California for $135 and they have a policy through Chicago Insurance underwritten by Fireman's Fund.  If you are a freelance reporter and make $90,000 - $100,000 you would pay $346 for a $500,000 policy.  If you make $40,000 to $50,000 you pay $166.  There is no deductible.  (There is a scale for annual gross in between those amounts.)  This is the least expensive coverage I have found so far.  Private companies who are not used to dealing with the court reporting profession charge far more because I don't think they are able to assess their exposure as well.  I, like Kerry, have felt comfortable working without insurance, but there is some peace of mind with having it I suppose.  And since some firms require it to work their jobs, it may pay for itself.

[Deborah M.]

Interesting.  I've never had an agency ask me for it, and I've worked for A LOT of agencies, although I try to stay away from the really huge ones; so maybe that's why I haven't run into it.

I found out with the Marsh insurance that you have to be a member of NCRA to GET the insurance, but once you have it, you can keep it even if you are no longer an NCRA member.  I found this out when I was trying to replace my equipment insurance policy with them.