Expertise

The service of the broker in arranging insurance for a client requires a professional level of standard of care. The standard is governed by either the agent’s or broker’s offer of services, the client’s request for services, or the pattern of services performed by the agent or broker over a period of time. A thorough analysis of the parties’ working relationship, including knowledge of the range of services and what can reasonably be expected in the particular situation, will determine the standard of care.

Brian Gagan has 40 years experience in insurance underwriting, marketing, brokerage and consulting in personal and commercial insurance for individuals, corporations and government. He has arranged coverage for complex and demanding accounts, including pharmaceutical manufacturing, electric generating facilities, oil and gas extraction, municipal water systems, electronic component fabrication, and asbestos abatement contracting.

Property and casualty insurance is a $150 billion industry in the United States. The industry includes hundreds of commercial insurers, thousands of agents and brokers, and millions of insureds. ‘Custom and practice’ results from the volume of repetitive insurance transactions, with similar characteristics, over many decades. The underlying principle is that the insurance business will be conducted according to universally understood and accepted rules and terminology. Agents and brokers learn custom and practice from being involved with insurance transactions for a period of time.

Lenders involved in non-resourse financing of industrial facilities, communication systems or power projects need an insurance expert to provide due diligence on the insurable risks and necessary insurance coverages. The expert must have familiarity with construction agreements (EPC contracts), power purchase agreements, insurance provisions of lenders’ credit agreements and the insurance coverages applicable to the project, including course of construction (COC) insurance. Brian Gagan has extensive experience in this specialized aspect of project finance. He has consulted with numerous lenders and their legal counsel since the mid-1980’s.

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