Rough Notes

No recovery for injured party

INSURANCE-RELATED COURT CASESDigested from case reports published onlineCOURT DECISIONS No recovery for injured party In August 2019, James Cooper was injured in an accident while riding as a passenger in a car owned by Rick Huffman. Both Cooper and...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

Can ATV injury qualify for recovery?

INSURANCE-RELATED COURT CASESDigested from case reports published onlineCOURT DECISIONS Can ATV injury qualify for recovery? Jacey Lee Orlando was a passenger in an ATV when it overturned in California’s Imperial Sand Dunes, seriously injuring her le...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

State code question debated

INSURANCE-RELATED COURT CASESDigested from case reports published onlineCOURT DECISIONS State code question debated Casey Cotton was involved in a car collision with Caleb and Adriane Crabtree, resulting in severe injuries to Caleb. The Crabtrees fil...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

NOT ALL QUOTES ARE CREATED EQUAL

A lesson in insurance quote comparisons Whether it’s to catch mistakes, find oversights, or discover carrier limitations, it’s critical that new producers learn to check quotes … .   By Marc McNulty, CIC, CRM Many years ago, when I first entered the...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

ENHANCING, FURTHERING, AND STRENGTHENING

A little nonsense, now and then, is relished by the wisest men ” [The NAIC says its] “priorities aim to foster an innovative, competitive, and secure insurance marketplace, enhance access to insurance … and strengthen coordination between the federal...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

I’VE BEEN WHERE YOU ARE

  Empathy is essential in your leadership toolkit [I]t might be helpful to think of empathy as sympathy’s street-smart, cooler cousin. She’s been through stuff, so to speak, and she knows things. By Meg McKeen, CIC Earlier this spring, my partner and...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

BUILDINGS AND WORKSPACES

A misused and overlooked asset for creating positive customer experiences “The physical spaces we inhabit influence us in various ways, not only affecting our mood and comfort but also impacting our productivity and social interactions.”  —Yi-Chun Li...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

FOR A LESSON IN LEADERSHIP, LOOK TO THE SKIES

For two airlines, each with a different thrust, quality reigns supreme  [T]rain and educate your people as if someone’s life depended on it. By Cheryl Koch, CPCU, ARM, AAI, ACSR, AFIS, and Mary Belka, CPCU, ARM, ARe, RPLU, CIC Most road warriors, suc...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

OVERLOOKED AND UNDERINSURED

Navigating gaps between faulty workmanship and contractors professional liability  By Natalie Sherod, CPCU, CRM, CIC Faulty workmanship and contractors professional liability (CPrL) exposures continue to challenge construction firms and insurance adv...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

ADVOCATING FOR THE AG COMMUNITY

The Heritage Insurance Agency team This Chico, California, agency loves and protects the people who grow and raise our food “[W]e truly understand the market that we serve; we speak their language. But to maintain this advantage, we have to continual...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

WOMEN IN INSURANCE: CLOSING THE LEADERSHIP GAP

Despite comprising a majority of the workforce in the insurance sector, finding women who have advanced to the C-suite is difficult By Lori Widmer On its surface, the news is exciting: According to figures shared by the Insurance Information Institut...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

DECISIONS, DECiSIONS

Gaining the clarity and wisdom needed to run an independent insurance agency By Carey Wallace The average adult is estimated to make 35,000 decisions in each day. It is tough to think about how many decisions we each make in a year. As our world is c...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

THE WINDS OF CHANGE

A young woman embraces her authenticity and overcomes barriers to carve out her place in the industry’s nonprofit sector By Elisabeth Boone, CPCU “I was in a math class in college and the student sitting next to me asked if I’d heard of actuarial sci...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

EVOLVING EXPOSURES FOR REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS

Significant developments in the market have led to emerging risks By Jude Sedliak During the last few years, significant developments in the real estate market have led to emerging risks and an increasingly challenging professional liability insuranc...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

THE INTELLIGENT AGENT

Two industry thought leaders develop AI product specifically trained on insurance knowledge By Christopher W. Cook As someone who had never worked in the insurance industry prior to being hired onto the editorial team for Rough Notes magazine, on my...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

Building Stronger Teams In A Remote And Hybrid Workplace

Strategies for creating an “environment” for employees who rarely connect in person By Lindsey Jordan As remote and hybrid work models continue to reshape the modern workplace, team dynamics are evolving in profound ways. These flexible arrangements...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

Start Measuring: Accountability That Drives Producer Success

What do you do when your producers aren’t producing?  Metrics, activity tracking, and scorecards don’t just hold producers accountable—they give them a blueprint for success. By Carolyn Smith, APR, TRA What do you do when your producers aren’t produc...

Posted: Jun 30, 2025

REWRITING THE MOD PLAYBOOK

Stop chasing quotes and start controlling risk   Mod analysis tools allow you to instantly generate a visual analysis of an employer’s mod history—highlighting costly mistakes, trends, and opportunities they’ve never seen. By Randall Boss, CRM, CIC,...

Posted: Jun 30, 2025

WHY A CAREER IN INSURANCE?

Eight advantages to seeking a career in insurance As a result of the burgeoning need to rebuild their bench strength, independent insurance agencies offer above-average job growth. This makes it a prime time for new employees to embark on an insuranc...

Posted: Jun 30, 2025

QUALITY MATTERS

Buyers are more discerning, capital is more expensive, and growth expectations are higher Opportunities abound for smaller firms to acquire local agencies that no longer fit the investment thesis of larger brokers. By James Graham, CVA Market timing...

Posted: Jun 27, 2025

Top 5 Critical Areas For Experienced Agents To Pay Attention

To Right Now Amid the changes in our business, it’s more important than ever to focus on being a good client partner Office culture, in many respects, has been lost. With all the changes, providing clients with the service they demand feels like it h...

Posted: Jun 25, 2025

Top 5 Critical Areas For Agents To Pay Attention To Right Now

Amid the changes in our business, it’s more important than ever to focus on being a good client partner Office culture, in many respects, has been lost. With all the changes, providing clients with the service they demand feels like it has become mor...

Posted: Jun 25, 2025

 NOTHING SECONDARY ABOUT THESE PERILS

Don’t let the language of analysis create confusion over coverage The primary concern to policyholders is which perils— causes of loss—are insured or excluded under the policy. How they arise and relate to other perils and conditions is secondary, if...

Posted: Jun 19, 2025

Lender-placed hazard policy benefit was expressly provided

INSURANCE-RELATED COURT CASESDigested from case reports published onlineCOURT DECISIONS Lender-placed hazard policy benefit was expressly provided Ellen Williams purchased a residential property in Houma, Louisiana, which was mortgaged by Flagstar Ba...

Posted: Jun 02, 2025

Coverage denied for driver who transported marijuana

INSURANCE-RELATED COURT CASESDigested from case reports published online Coverage denied for driver who transported marijuana Starting in about February 2022, Andrew Murphy was employed as a full-time delivery driver for GE United Technologies, LLC,...

Posted: Jun 02, 2025