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ON THE MOVE BIOLOGIST AND ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIALIST JEFF BRAY JOINS DEWBERRY IN RANCHO CORDOVA, CALIFORNIA Dewberry , a privately held professional services firm, has announced that Jeff Bray has been hired to lead its environmental practice across California. Bray is based in the firm’s Rancho Cordova office. With more than 25 years of experience, Bray’s background includes biological resource and wetland projects for transportation, energy, and mining clients. Prior to joining the firm, he spent 27 years with LSA where he gained experience leading and growing an environmental group. Bray has been hired
by Dewberry to lead and continue growing its environmental practice across California, which includes offices in Rancho Cordova, Fresno, Modesto, Manteca, Pasadena, and Long Beach; and supporting clients in state/ local and commercial markets. “Jeff has served as a biologist and project manager for a variety of environmental projects with a primary focus on transportation, energy, and mining,” says Dewberry Senior Associate and Department Manager Leslie Haglan. “For much of his career, Jeff has prepared biological studies for public agency clients for projects that required CEQA and NEPA clearance. By welcoming him to our team, we’re excited to
be able to diversify and expand the services we provide to our existing clients.” Bray earned a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Humboldt State University. Dewberry is a market-facing firm with a proven history of providing professional services to a wide variety of public- and private-sector clients. Recognized for combiningunsurpassed commitment to client service with deep subject matter expertise, Dewberry is dedicated to solving clients’ most complex challenges and transforming their communities. Established in 1956, Dewberry is headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, with more than 50 locations and more than 2,000 professionals nationwide.
ROB HUGHES, from page 9
million in limit, given the changing market conditions, the starting point tends to be closer to $3,000 to $5,000. Meanwhile, some “wrinkles” to project limits are worth noting. Most underwriters are willing to offer the limit not just for a single project but for all projects done for the same client. Lastly, some underwriters can offer a “blanket” additional limit endorsement in which the extra limit can be shared by multiple projects among multiple clients/contracts. This is significantly less costly than having separate additional limits for individual projects or clients. LEVERAGING THE POWER OF SUBCONSULTANTS. Many clients stipulate not only your required types and limits of insurance, but also those of your subconsultants. Yet, they often fail to realize the ripple effects of these requirements. In fact, your subs by definition have a narrower scope of service – and requiring increased limits from each of them may be overkill. Even if higher limits for subs are available, the cost increases significantly as each sub seeks assurance that the client will pay these extra premium charges. As these potential costs add up your client may be persuaded to revisit the need for higher limits. Furthermore, it’s worth reminding clients, especially public entities, that many WBE/MBE firms will be left out of the project if they cannot meet the elevated insurance limit requirements. Another key consideration is the combined power of the collective insurance brought to the project across the design team. While it’s likely the client will bring a claim against the designer under contract, if the alleged professional negligence involves one or multiple subs’ discipline, then their limits are also at issue. Show the client what all that adds up to: i.e., Architect ($5 million limits) + Structural ($3 million) + MEP ($2 million) + Electrical ($2 million), and so on. Thus, a delay or cost overrun claim (often, the most severe E&O claim) may already have combined limits in place exceeding the client’s requirement of you as the prime. ROB HUGHES, senior vice president and partner, Ames & Gough. He can be reached at rhughes@amesgough.com.
and the goals of the owner, the following table reflects “rule of thumb” limits that may be expected:
Project Cost
PLI Limit Required
Under $5 million
$1 million to $2 million $2 million to $3 million $3 million to $5 million
$5 million to $25 million $25 million to $75 million
$75 million or more $5 million to $10 million or more BE PROACTIVE IN FINDING COVERAGE SOLUTIONS. If your firm works in the larger project arena but has traditionally “gotten by” with limits lower than $5 million per claim/aggregate, now is the time to check the pricing on raising your policy limits. The first option may be to increase your overall policy limit so that all your projects are eligible for the higher limit. This is best accomplished during your annual renewal when your broker may be engaging multiple underwriters competing for your coverage. While not ideal, to shave costs off the increased premium, consider restricting the increased limit to apply only to work done after the date of the limit increase. Thus, only those claims arising from work performed after that effective date are entitled to the full limit. The drawback is that only “new” work is covered under the full limit. A second option is a “split-limit.” Many owners realize that other claims could exhaust your coverage since in the U.S. the professional limit is subject to an aggregate cap (and is not an each and every claim limit). Explaining to your client that you carry (or can carry), for example, a $2 million per claim/$4 million aggregate “split-limit” may convince them to accept your current coverage amounts. A third alternative is to see if the underwriter can offer the limit on a project-specific basis. You may need to complete a project-specific application for your broker to secure accurate pricing details. While this may take a few days, it can also potentially be used to convince the client that the costs are too high to justify the higher limit. Although the costs could be as low as $2,000 per year for each extra $1
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THE ZWEIG LETTER SEPTEMBER 13, 2021, ISSUE 1408
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