E&O – Architects and Engineers

Architect drawing blueprints and design

In today’s business world, architects and engineers are increasingly susceptible to escalating claims expenses, judgments and awards as a result of a wrongful act. Liberty’s Architects and Engineers (A&E) E&O coverage is the optimal tool in protecting your clients against third-party legal action, whether or not the claim may be founded. Our combined 50 years of underwriting expertise lends us the ability to understand each risk and custom-tailor our product to suit the unique needs of small to large companies, partnerships or practice groups.

Target classes

  • Canadian-domiciled, general or specialty architectural and engineering firms that are actively licensed from a recognized provincial and/or national A&E professional practicing association or society
  • Can consider a variety of standard to complex project types
  • Target A&E firms with comprehensive risk management practices, including in-house quality control/quality assurance procedures and protocols

What we’ve been writing

  • A&E E&O insurance for a major Canadian architectural firm with $25M in annual revenues and diverse portfolio of designs and masterplans, including world-class athletic/event centres, LRT stations and university campuses
  • A&E Professional Liability insurance for large, multi-disciplinary engineering firm with annual billings of $8B+ and international presence, spanning across 150 countries
  • Project-specific Professional Insurance provided to a large multi-discipline architecture firm leading the design of a 50 storey LEED Gold Certified Toronto office tower

Non-target classes

  • Critical transportation equipment/component design
  • Geotechnical engineering firms
  • Industries:
    • Amusement parks
    • Dams/offshore drilling
    • Marine piers and ports
    • Mining (including tailings work and shaft mining)
    • Oil and gas pipelines (including non-destructive testing)
    • Product design for mass production
    • Residential condos
    • Tunneling

Policy highlights

  • Multi-year option with annual reinstatement of limits
  • Pollution incident coverage—BI/PD arising from the performance of professional services
  • BI/PD coverage in addition to third-party financial loss – arising from the performance of professional services
  • Supplemental payments extensions (no applicable deductible)
    • Pre-claims assistance
    • Reimbursement expenses: actual loss of earnings and reasonable expenses when attending hearings, depositions and trials
    • Disciplinary proceedings: reimbursement of reasonable lawyer’s fees
    • ODA, NHA or OHSA expense reimbursement
    • Loss of document(s)
  • Broad definition of professional services including practice as an architect, engineer, scientist, construction manager, environmental consultant and LEED AP
  • Mediation deductible credit of 50% (to a maximum reduction of $25,000) for claims resolved through mediation
  • Coverage for insured’s participation in a joint venture
  • Worldwide territory coverage

Capacity

  • Limit(s) of liability available up to $25 million CAD/USD

The Liberty difference

  • Project-specific and practice policies available (primary or excess)
  • Dedicated and bilingual A&E underwriting and claims professionals
  • In-house claims handling expertise with local authority and specialization in architects, engineers, and contractors’ professional liability
  • Compatible Commercial Package available
  • International capabilities with more than thirty offices worldwide

Why Liberty?

  • • A.M. Best Financial Strength Rating ‘A’ (Excellent); S&P rating of ‘A’ (Strong)
  • • Efficient cross-border capabilities
  • • Established Canadian market presence for over 25 years
  • • Access to Liberty Mutual’s extensive international network
  • • Local underwriting authority
  • • Local risk engineering and risk control experts
  • • In-house claims service team