Directors’ and Officers’ Insurance Always Written on a Claims Made Basis: A Market Practice or the Direct Consequence of the Legal Nature of This Type of Policies?

44 Pages Posted: 25 Jun 2020

See all articles by Málory Zafra Sierra

Málory Zafra Sierra

King's College London - The Dickson Poon School of Law, LLM Graduate

Date Written: June 15, 2020

Abstract

This dissertation aims to understand how the Directors’ and Officers’ (D&O) insurance operates in the common law countries. The main objective of this research is to determine the legal nature of these policies, that is, whether they are an indemnity or liability insurance and in light of this, to determine whether the coverage basis of D&O insurance – claims made- is a market practice decision or is the direct consequence of the legal nature of the policies.

In attention to the above, this dissertation will first study the structure of D&O policies. It will then focus on the nature of this insurance, addressing on what basis D&O policies can be regarded as an indemnity or liability insurance but taking, at the end, a final position with regards the real nature of these policies. Finally, based on the above determination, this dissertation will develop the core aspects of the claims made coverage basis, focusing on the different ways in which the assured can trigger the policy. Without any doubt, all these fundamentals will provide tools to answer to the question of whether the basis of coverage of D&O policies comes from a market practice or is directly linked with the nature of this type of insurance.

Hence, after a deep analysis of the research, made this dissertation will argue that there is a strong relationship between the nature of the D&O insurance and the type of coverage in which it is written (Claims made), without leaving aside the relationship that the above has with the triggers of this insurance.

Suggested Citation

Sierra, Málory Zafra, Directors’ and Officers’ Insurance Always Written on a Claims Made Basis: A Market Practice or the Direct Consequence of the Legal Nature of This Type of Policies? (June 15, 2020). King's College London Law School Graduate Student Research Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3627519 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3627519

Málory Zafra Sierra (Contact Author)

King's College London - The Dickson Poon School of Law, LLM Graduate

Somerset House East Wing
Strand
London, WC2R 2LS
United Kingdom

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