US companies with foreign exposures tend to buy a foreign package policy that usually contains coverages for: foreign general liability, foreign contingent business auto, foreign voluntary workers compensation, foreign property, kidnap and extortion, accidental death and dismemberment and emergency travel services but generally do not address the more specific exposures.
Under WTW’s life sciences home foreign policy we can provide cover for:
- Public liability
- Products liability
- Liability for human clinical trials
- No fault compensation for clinical trials
- Errors and omissions
- Product financial loss
- Product contamination
- Government instructed product withdrawal
- Barcode coverage
- Manufacturers errors and omissions (E&O)
- Medical malpractice liability
- UK employers’ liability
- Costs in addition outside US
- Foreign voluntary workers compensation
Several extensions can also be offered under this policy including:
- Overseas personal liability
- Residual employers’ liability
- Excess employers’ liability
- Corporate manslaughter defence costs
- Excess motor
- Additional insured and waiver of subrogation
- Legal expenses pollution clean-up costs
- Motor contingent liability
- Vendors’ coverage
- Additional insured and waiver of subrogation
- Manslaughter defence costs (ethics committee, trials)
- Breach of confidentiality
- Dishonesty of person(s) employed
- Libel and slander
- Intellectual property rights
- Loss of documents
- Payment of withheld fees
- UK employers’ liability
- Advertising liability
- Reputational Injury
- Loss mitigation costs
- Cyber liability (liability for loss of data)
- Legionella
Potential cost savings
After determining whether your policy has the appropriate insurance to protect against foreign liability exposures, costs would be the next key consideration.
Premiums may be lower for foreign exposures with an overseas master policy in a less litigious environment and there are good reasons to have your claims dealt with overseas:
- The cost of defending and settling liability claims is usually higher in US courts than overseas as the US has liberal discovery rules.
- Law firms bury defendants with discovery materials and the cost for a defendant to comply is typically higher in comparison with most foreign jurisdictions.
- Punitive damages, foreign liability litigants may have the right to venue shop.
Any US life sciences company that has international operations should review their existing coverage. What is usual is that a company has either too little coverage or overlapping coverage.
Please contact our home foreign team for more information and to help review your existing policy.
It is a regulatory requirement for us to consider our local licensing requirements prior to establishing any contractual agreement with our clients.
