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#fiduciary insurance
norwoodpierce61 · 1 month
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Body Corporate Insurance & Sectional Title Insurance
(2)     No such revocation or variation shall prejudice something lawfully carried out by a trustee in relation to a trust before the trustee receives discover of such revocation or variation. (1)     The terms of a trust But sometimes conflicts of pursuits are unavoidable, after which the trustee should just deal with these situations appropriately and the way to do it is – if a battle is unavoidable – to reveal the conflict and never take part in any choice from which a profit may be derived. In reality, all decisions by trustees should be taken on that foundation, that every one the trustees will have to have been positioned in a position the place they could participate in the choice, in any other case it's not a legitimate decision. Let’s think about a buying and selling trust has liabilities of $2 million, however solely belongings of $1 million. The trustee simply so occurs to produce other property which it owns in its own right (and not as trustee of the trust) and which are enough to make up the shortfall. “The court confirmed that even assuming that the debts weren't due and payable earlier than the default, and subsequently one means or the other not in fact liabilities, the argument was of no help to the trustee,” Mr Burgess said. trustee of another trust, if any transaction in relation to the primary talked about trust is to be entered into with the trustee of such different trust. (2)     Subject to this Law, a trustee shall carry out and administer the trust in accordance with its terms. Regardless of no matter powers and discretions the trust deed grants to trustees, the trustee might not take any action that shall be in breach of this basic fiduciary obligation. This overarching fiduciary obligation is to take care of the best pursuits of the beneficiaries of that trust, and that's the highest responsibility of the trustee; nothing else can trump that. Trust belongings are additionally, because of this, protected in opposition to the insolvency of the trustee, as a end result of the trustee in an possession trust does not own the trust belongings for their own benefit but for the benefit of the beneficiaries. fiduciary practitioners may also help you to resolve whether it could probably be simpler in carrying out its function by altering what it does. It’s important to take heed to the views and perspectives of members, beneficiaries and different our bodies with an interest in your charity. But all trustees, regardless of how they're appointed, should act solely within the interests of the charity; it’s not their position to behave on behalf of any explicit group. They should additionally manage conflicts of interest, together with conflicts of loyalty to their appointing body.
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lutztychsen21 · 1 month
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Property Insurance Owned By A Trust Or Llc Glen Rock, Nj
Trusts and limited liability corporations (LLCs) are becoming extra widespread as they’re a great possibility for those looking to transfer legal possession of their properties and higher manage their wealth as a whole. Properties held in a trust or LLC could be anything from a personal residence, rental property, or trip house. Irrevocable life insurance trusts are difficult legal entities and require expertise to arrange. You should work with each an skilled lawyer and a monetary advisor—and probably different professionals—to properly set up the trust. Even although the interim new rule does simplify the calculation of coverage for revocable trust accounts in many regards, figuring it all out can nonetheless be complicated. To help shoppers decide their protection, the FDIC web site has a device named "Edie the Estimator" that may calculate the protection you will receive on the individual, trust, and enterprise accounts held in FDIC-insured institutions. Personally, I see charity public liability insurance as a must have for most charities and I'd suggest together with cover for authorized costs. You could additionally be required to have public liability insurance, when you have contracts with the basic public sector. An irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) is a kind of trust that holds and manages life insurance policies. The trust is “irrevocable” in the sense that it can’t be modified or canceled after it’s been set up. We recommend a charity has trustee insurance in place to guard itself from liabilities ensuing from a breach of duties by a trustee or senior administration. It can be a good way to support trustees as individuals, by overlaying them from personally paying authorized claims made in opposition to them. Betterment is amongst the greatest banks for funding trust accounts because it caters to each revocable and irrevocable trusts with its private investing and money accounts. Betterment Cash Reserve accounts earn up to 5.50% APY after assembly exercise necessities for the three months for brand new customers, then earn 4.75% and are FDIC-insured. Colorado, South Dakota, Louisiana, and Texas additionally saw marked price increases as residents confronted losses from natural disasters combined with fewer insurance options. In California, insurance firms are pulling out, declining to not concern new house insurance insurance policies. It doesn’t matter whether the trust you handle owns commercial or residential real estate—the challenges are the same. The property’s location, worth, and development solely decide the extent of those challenges. In this text, we’ll evaluation the potential roadblocks a trustee of a trust-owned property may face and the means to handle them. Allegations of mismanagement by trustees can stir interest amongst the press and different media outlets. You will need to present a Certification of Trust when opening a trust account. Other written trust settlement paperwork are accepted if this isn't available. To apply for a trust checking, savings, cash market or certificates of deposit with Ally, you'll select the product you’re applying for and indicate that it’s for a trust. Trusts could also be used as a method of managing your monetary affairs as you method old age. As the settlor of a Trust, for example, you may select to switch the house you reside in to considered one of your kids as the beneficiary of the Trust. This may assist in avoiding selling your house to pay in your personal long-term care and instead permit you to pass your personal home on to your youngsters as their inheritance. Once you have your insurance cover, make sure to set a reminder to review it yearly. In some circumstances, a trustee may need to manage the trust for years till a beneficiary reaches authorized age (usually 18). Should the neighbor sue for damages, the owner of the kayak (the trustor) will be coated for litigation prices and possible settlement costs. But the trust will also be named within the lawsuit and until they’ve been correctly added to the policy, will be liable for their very own protection costs and possible damages. After all, each their actions and the actions of the organisation they characterize can replicate on them personally. This part of coverage will defend the individual belongings of directors and officers when there are prices that the business itself doesn't should pay, which might include defense costs. CDIC uses the latest information disclosed on the information of its member establishments to calculate deposit insurance protection for deposits held in trust. The new rules are necessary as a outcome of they have an result on how CDIC protects deposits held by trustees.
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huntguerrero55 · 1 month
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Understanding Fiduciary Liability Insurance & Erisa Brp
On high of this, insurers are having to navigate via extra challenges, together with the Biden administration’s initiatives involving cybersecurity and impression investing. A breach of this obligation might be so easy as making an investment determination for the plan that doesn’t work out nicely. There is a wide range of errors, omissions, or negligent actions that an HR division could make in administering benefits. For Employee Benefits Liability Insurance, the types of mistakes covered is dependent upon the that means of “administration.” What types of actions fall under the category of advantages administration? It is crucial for plan sponsors, directors, and trustees to focus on these rules and to take steps to comply with them, together with acquiring fiduciary insurance and in search of indemnification from the plan. For example, if a plan trustee engages in self-dealing and the plan loses money as a result, the trustee could also be personally liable for these losses. And vet your retirement financial savings supplier completely to avoid conflicts of curiosity. By obtaining appropriate protection and following correct risk administration practices, companies and fiduciaries can mitigate potential financial and authorized liabilities, offering peace of thoughts in an ever-evolving panorama of employee benefit plans. Employers who sponsor employee benefit plans, similar to retirement plans or medical insurance packages, should consider acquiring fiduciary liability insurance. Additionally, the scope of protection could be totally different between an ERISA bond and a fiduciary bond. Aon’s claims staff has dealt with over 500 fiduciary liability claims in the last five years, together with those involving extreme fees, employer stock drop and improper employee inventory possession plan valuation allegations. Employee advantages are the various offerings and packages offered by employers to their employees, such as retirement plans or medical well being insurance. Carefully evaluate the phrases and situations of the fiduciary liability insurance policy, paying shut consideration to coverage limits, exclusions, and any additional endorsements available. Breaches of fiduciary obligation can result in legal challenges, together with class-action lawsuits, introduced by plan participants, beneficiaries, or authorities companies. Fiduciaries are liable for the right administration of worker profit plans. For giant firms with access to substantial monetary assets and professional advisors, buying standalone insurance policies to guard towards the myriad of risks is simple and fairly common. But for smaller companies, investing in a massive number of individual policies could additionally be financially difficult, and albeit, pointless. Our claims authority, supported by a powerful bench of legal professionals with unparalleled authorized and claims experience within our outlined area of interest, and a service with a strong history of paying claims pretty and responsively, also set us aside in the trade. fiduciary practitioners have legal and fiduciary expertise with the authority to behave to resolve complex claims. With danger specialists and claims professionals operating in fifty four international locations around the world, we provide the service you need and might help you get back up and operating just about wherever you might be. In my opinion, it is sensible to include this when you have a company benefit plan. If the plan administrator miscalculates, mishandles, or practices improper plan care, staff will blame all parties involved, together with their employer. Fiduciary liability insurance is optionally available, not like an ERISA Fiduciary Bond, which is required by regulation. This coverage protects companies from authorized liability because it pertains to worker benefits plan sponsorship. Without fiduciary liability insurance, the fiduciaries liable for managing worker benefit plans could additionally be liable for any financial losses ensuing from claims of mismanagement.
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Why Trustee Insurance Is Crucial
Just to add a further cat among the many pigeons, we are actually additionally strongly recommending Professional Indemnity cowl for Managing Agents although this is nowhere stipulated as a requirement. The same case I mentioned‐such cover could actually have helped‐depends on consequence although. If it's found that accounting error causes a loss rather than dishonesty, professional indemnity policy somewhat than Fidelity cover is what ought to reply. If the funds are held in the physique corporates personal bank account and the trustees sign such cheques i.e. management their very own funds, then the physique company ought to or could have to buy additional fidelity cowl. Provides individuals financial safety from civil litigation and regulatory investigations, while acting of their capacity on behalf of the organisation. The insurance will shield in opposition to legal prices in defending allegations and damages. Mr Burgess mentioned in this instance the courtroom confirmed that on a proper reading of the trust deed, a trustee was not in a position to unilaterally retire. It continues that the particular person is liable individually and jointly with the corporation and anybody else who's liable beneath the subsection. “For instance, the duties to behave with due care and diligence and good religion and to make sure there is no improper use of position or information,” he stated. Scouting is considered by the majority of insurers to be a social, home and pleasure exercise, due to this fact transporting Scouts is judged to be no completely different from transporting your kid's associates residence from a party or related event. Read our regularly asked questions under to search out out more about what’s coated, and whether or not you want any cowl in place on your board of trustees, administrators or officers. We explain how these policies work and why it might be important for charities and neighborhood groups to be lined. We have 2 client handlers – Jamie and Lee who between them have over 30 years expertise working exclusively with Social Clubs, Sports Clubs and other membership organisations who could require trustee indemnity cowl. We can tailor a coverage to suit your wants so you’ve received the duvet you need and aren’t paying for cover that you don’t. Trustees, staff and sponsoring employers are coated for awards made by the Pensions Ombudsman and for authorized costs incurred in defending determinations and appealing his decisions. Before the charity ceased working, the trustee had indicated that employees would obtain an enhanced redundancy payment, which was in breach of his authority. Bank trustees keep the trust property in-house and oversee the investments. The advantages of having a bank trustee embody consistency, fund safety, and conflict of interest management. Any charity that owns or occupies land or buildings, or holds fundraising events, ought to consider buying public liability insurance, based on the federal government. Liability is a difficult space for so much of, especially those that are unfamiliar with insurance. In the future, liability cover might be an agenda item at AGMs so it is necessary that managing brokers and trustees perceive the intention of the cover. Where a trustee is paid for his or her providers, the trustee is seen by most insurers as an expert trustee and as such can buy professional indemnity somewhat than trustee indemnity cover. You may expertise some points with your browser, such as an alert box that a script is taking a very long time to run. The Whole Act without Schedules you've chosen contains over 200 provisions and may take some time to obtain. trustees liability insurance 've chosen contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download. The Trustee Board (formerly Executive Committee) is answerable for guaranteeing that there's sufficient insurance in place for people, property and equipment. We genuinely care about the organisations we're fortunate sufficient to call our purchasers, regardless of how massive or small. Throughout our historical past working within the business we’ve built our popularity on high quality recommendation, and offering the very best level of service. As chartered brokers, we abide by the very best requirements – time and time once more. Where a trustee permits a charity to proceed to trade/operate despite understanding that the charity is not viable, thus incurring money owed and different obligations which the trustee knows, or must know, the charity is unlikely to meet. Our lawyers provide legal experience to clients near and much from our places of work situated across the UK and in Brussels. Our Academies are designed for professionals working in particular sectors or specialisms. Upon the sale of land to a different company, the Trustee said that permission had been granted to develop the land for residential use. Upon completion of the sale, the purchasers found that planning permission had not been granted and that the land was subsequently useless to the developers. To achieve this, register, then login and use the Help Finder listing to search out pro bono assist. Plus, 100+downloadable funder lists, 40+ policies, eight on-line well being checks and the massive resource base. I also found Innovation Broking, Salt Insurance Services and Edwards charity overseas journey insurance using an internet search. Sitting in a queue to a call centre for hours is a simple way to lose the need to reside. Having a nominated person that you speak to about your insurance  wants and who will handle any declare from begin to finish could make life a great deal simpler. Some brokers may use solely a small number of insurance companies, whereas others will search the entire market so that you just can get one of the best deal. These are just some examples of how you can be left exposed with out the proper stage of trustees insurance cover. The neighbouring landowner to the trust claims that latest constructions carried out by the trust infringed on their property. The trust claims that documents present that the previous owner handed the land over to them, whereas the claimant declares that the land never legally belonged to the previous proprietor. Trustees shall be liable for damages and for restoring the land to its former situation. Trustees Indemnity claims are diversified, as there are a multitude of actions which could presumably be thought of to be ‘wrongful’. In a current declare a trustee implied that employees would receive an enhanced redundancy settlement.
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garnerbuur43 · 1 month
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What's Trustee Indemnity Insurance?
(b)has impact regardless of any provision prohibiting the charity trustees or trustees for the charity receiving any personal profit out of the funds of the charity. Our trusted supplier Zurich Insurance can present many various sorts of insurance cover, and provide threat management support. The threat administration process entails identifying, registering and assessing threat, contingency planning and developing a strong business plan, buying acceptable charity insurance and frequently reviewing risk at board degree. You can read a sequence of danger guides by Zurich Insurance or NCVO’s managing risk page. Following publication of an article, the charity trustees had been sued for defamation by another charity with related objectives. fiduciary practitioners stated that certain statements made within the article were unfaithful and gave a false illustration of the charity. The scope of trustees’ private liability in circumstances during which a charity is deemed to be insolvent hinge (once again) on the charity’s company status. The consequences of a cyber security breach for a pension scheme and its members could possibly be vital. Pension trustees should familiarise themselves with the regulators steering and guarantee they meet the regulators expectations. By Mike Addison Recently, the question of fidelity cover has arisen on the STO website and others. Here follows kind of what our pondering is by means of insuring the physique company I terms of PMR 29(2)(b). In a nutshell, trustees are supposed to see to it that the physique corporate has constancy cover, a sum, if any, to be decided by the body company at a common meeting. In different words, it should be determined at an AGM how much cover is needed for Fidelity. This important FAIS laws, coupled with the clear requirements of the CSOS and STSM Acts, rules and prescribed rules, places the burden of duty on the monetary advisor and trustees. The penalties might be devastating to you and people who rely upon the work your organisation carries out.Specialist charity insurance helps be certain that your volunteers, fundraisers, supporters and the general public are properly protected. As to the price for trustee liability insurance, our minimum premium is round $5,000, and that's just for the smallest of trusts. Usually, a $1 million limit carries a $10,000 retention, and pricing falls between $7,000 and $10,000. When the property go as high as $75 million to $100 million, premiums may rise above $10,000. However, regardless of the asset levels are, if a grantor creates a number of trusts, say for kids and grandchildren, and appoints only one trustee, a single policy will suffice. The Scouts’ Trustees Indemnity policy covers the non-public liability of Scout trustees who, having acted responsibly and honestly, discover themselves being held to account for their group’s losses. Our specialist team of underwriters are available to talk through any particular dangers or questions you would possibly have. Thanks to more and more high requirements of wiring and installation, electrical systems are actually typically safer than ever. However, the use of electricity in church buildings nonetheless has the potential to cause appreciable damage to property and critical personal damage. So having trustee insurance in place is a straightforward method to make sure your trustees are both financially protected and given the assist and steerage they need to be able to take care of the fallout from a reputational crisis. The greatest form of trustee insurance is one which is tailored to an individual’s particular capability as a trustee and has been designed for them to protect themselves from liabilities. One thing trusts all have in common, is that trustees may be held legally accountable for any selections that they make and for any services provided. Where the sponsoring employer is required to indemnify a trustee or worker, the Policy reimburses the employer for the indemnity, thus providing useful balance sheet safety. Trustee indemnity insurance can present cowl for the legal bills and the damages awarded to the sufferer. To cowl a broad range of non-profit risks, from animal shelters to charitable trusts. To provide charity and not-for-profit fundraisers with a further revenue stream for his or her organisations. Trustee indemnity policies can present cover, but it isn't all the time automated. Cover is unlikely to be granted the place one trustee makes a clam towards another. Trustee indemnity Insurance is unlikely to cover losses suffered by the charity itself. ‍The world during which professionals function is certainly one of ever-increasing strain and regulatory necessities, with calls for for fast solutions and cost-effective options. This pressure can result in errors and omissions by the professional which might and do give rise to claims. In a society the place shoppers are increasingly aware of their rights, the necessity for PI insurance is further underscored.‍Circumstances which give rise to professional liability claims are seldom clear cut. Even in instances where the professional is blameless, he or she might however be drawn into lengthy disputes which could be each financially and emotionally draining. In brief, even with a extremely professional trustee, error or omission lawsuits can and do happen. What trustee liability insurance does is shield the trustee, and anybody who assisted the trustee, within the event of litigation. We're here to be sure to have the best pension trustee liability insurance in place to guard you. At get indemnity™ pension trustee liability insurance starts at £750 per million of canopy. Below we clarify how pension trustee liability works and how it can protect in opposition to particular liabilities. Trustees, administrators, officers, committee members and governors of such bodies can all be held liable for the decisions and actions made on behalf of their organisation. They may be sued or prosecuted for any mistakes and their consequences through the efficiency of their duties. Even if your title or job description doesn't contain the word trustee, know that you could be nonetheless be thought-about one based mostly in your duties and actions. Before changing into a trustee, you should study all you possibly can in regards to the charity and what is to be anticipated of you. This includes studying the governing doc, annual reports, insurance policies and accounts and knowing what type of legal construction the charity is.
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colvaservices-1 · 2 months
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Colva Your Fiduciary Life Insurance Partner
Fiduciary life insurance advisors uphold a distinctive standard, legally obligated to prioritize the best interests of their clients. This commitment ensures High Net Worth (HNW) clients receive unbiased guidance, devoid of conflicts and biases. In contrast to traditional agents, fiduciary advisors prioritize client objectives above the interests of insurance companies.
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blankenshipdrew68 · 9 months
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Claimants Authorized Practitioners Indemnity Insurance Fund Npc Lpiif
Let Marsh organize your cowl – and get your certificate of forex in minutes. With our capacity to leverage the Marsh McLennan community across the Pacific and globally, you get to enjoy access to unparalleled insight, service, tools and capabilities across the total spectrum of danger. After B realized he was a sufferer to a fraud, he sued attorney A for his money. The excessive quantity and worth of claims arising out of the prescription of Road Accident Fund (RAF) related claims stays a severe trigger for concern. The Prescription Alert service provided by the LPIIF is an efficient software to track the looming prescription date. The effectiveness of that service is evident in the low quantity (less than 10%) of claims registered on that system, which prescribe and finally end in PI claims towards the practitioners concerned. All time-barred matters (not solely RAF matters) may be registered on that system. If you’re an organization or self-employed one that provides professional services, suggestions or advice, and might be unable to deal with the expense of defending a costly claim, professional indemnity insurance could probably be an extremely necessary funding. Professionals and companies that provide providers to prospects should get an expert liability coverage. Professional indemnity insurance policies cover your corporation against claims arising from (actual or alleged) negligent acts or omissions you may make in offering professional services and recommendation. Indemnity insurance protects in opposition to claims arising from attainable negligence or failure to carry out that end in a client’s monetary loss or legal entanglement. In response, the professional’s indemnity insurance can pay litigation costs as well as any damages awarded by the court. If that’s the case with your business, biBerk might be the ideal insurer for you. There has been a general uptick in the frequency of declare notifications since the finish of 2020 commensurate to the easing of the lockdown laws and as authorized practices revert to their full working capacity. Currently, the LPIIF is funded by the use of a single annual premium paid by the LPFF for and on behalf of all practising practitioners. fiduciary practitioners The Hartford’s devoted and extremely experienced small enterprise team is on the market to assist company house owners discover their enterprise legal responsibility and other business insurance choices. If you resolve to buy insurance from The Hartford, you'll have the ability to relaxation assured figuring out you’re entrusting your corporation to a strong, secure, knowledgeable, and ethical supplier. No matter how professional or skilled your corporation is, there’s at all times the danger that one thing can go incorrect. You may give the mistaken professional advice to a client, which leads them into trouble, or an worker might make a mistake of their service that negatively impacts a customer. Where needed, acceptable instructions have to be taken from shoppers before correspondence is responded to. Should you need time to both take instructions or get recommendation from counsel or a colleague, advise the author of the correspondence accordingly. You can simply request knowledgeable indemnity quote and protection by way of our user-friendly online platform. We’ll get again to you with options tailored to your requirements as shortly as we will, so that you won’t have to spend too much time away from your business. Handling an insurance declare can rapidly turn into overwhelming, not least when your time is stretched to the restrict preserving your small business going in the backdrop.
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bzalma · 1 year
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Michigan’s Common Law Considers an Independent Insurance Agent is an Agent of the InsuredIndependent Agent Represents his Principal, the Insured
Barry Zalma
Read the full article at https://lnkd.in/gYxmCUk4 and see the full video at https://lnkd.in/gQhEqA9r and at https://lnkd.in/grhRBKPd and at https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 4400 posts.
When an independent-insurance agent (called a “broker” in most states) is ordinarily an agent of the insured, not the insurer, the Court of Appeals was asked to decide whether the Legislature abrogated this principle of Michigan’s common law when it amended the Insurance Code, MCL 500.100 et seq., in 2018.
In Ahmed Al-Hajjaj v. Hartford Accident And Indemnity Company, and Ahmed Odah Salem Alderawi, Safeco Insurance Company Of Illinois, Sam Saeidi, Golden Insurance Agency, LLC, And GOLDEN INSURANCE AGENCY OF OHIO, LLC, and PRime Transportation Service, LLC, and Batol Alyunisi, No. 359291, Court of Appeals of Michigan (January 26, 2023). The key question in the interlocutory appeal is whether our Legislature abrogated the principle of Michigan’s common law when it amended the Insurance Code, MCL 500.100 et seq., in 2018.
BACKGROUND
Ahmed Al-Hajjaj is the co-owner of Prime Transportation Service, LLC, and he sought insurance coverage for Prime’s vehicles from Golden Insurance Agency, LLC. Al-Hajjaj talked with Sam Saeidi, a principal and insurance agent of Golden. Golden is an independent-insurance agency that places policies for over ten different insurers, including Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company. Saeidi recommended that Al-Hajjaj purchase a policy for his company through Hartford, and Al-Hajjaj agreed to do so.
The policy application that Saeidi filled out with Al-Hajjaj listed “Prime LLC” as the company, as opposed to the full name, “Prime Transportation Service, LLC.” More critically, the application incorrectly indicated that the company was a physical-therapy office that did not transport patients, when in fact the company provided medical-transportation services for patients. Based on the application it received from Golden, Hartford issued an insurance policy to “Prime LLC.”
Al-Hajjaj was subsequently injured in a vehicle collision, and he sought personal injury protection benefits from Hartford. As part of its coverage investigation, Hartford discovered the errors in the application. The insurance company rescinded the policy based on what it characterized as material misrepresentations in the application, and Al-Hajjaj sued Hartford, Golden, and others.
Plaintiff argued that Golden, the insurance agent, was a contractual agent of Hartford, the insurer. Golden had a contract with Hartford that only gave the agency the authority to “solicit, quote and bind insurance” for certain lines of insurance offered by Hartford. The insurer could cancel any policy that Golden placed with the insurance company. As a limitation on the relationship, the agreement provided:
  "2.2 Limitations. You [Golden] have the authority and power to act as our agent only to the extent expressly granted in this Agreement and no further authority or power is implied. You are an independent contractor and not an employee of ours for any purpose, and your right to represent other companies is not restricted by this Agreement. Any authority granted hereunder to solicit, quote or bind insurance products on our behalf is non-exclusive, unless we agree otherwise in writing."
Al-Hajjaj also argued that the Legislature abrogated Michigan’s common-law principle that an independent-insurance agent was an agent of the insured, not the insurer, for purposes of applying for and placing insurance policies. The trial court denied Hartford’s motion for summary disposition, concluding that the contractual relationship between Hartford and Golden meant that the latter was the agent of the former.
ANALYSIS
With respect to statutory interpretation the Court is required to give effect to the Legislature’s intent. The Legislature is presumed to intend the meaning clearly expressed, and this Court must give effect to the plain, ordinary, or generally accepted meaning of the Legislature’s terms.
There were two issues before the Court of Appeal:
1    whether the Legislature abrogated the common-law principle regarding independent-insurance agents; and, if not,
2    whether the contract between Hartford and Golden made the latter the agent of the former for purposes of any errors in the application.
ABROGATION OF THE COMMON LAW
The record confirmed that Golden is an independent-insurance agency, not a captive one. It offers to place policies from at least ten different insurance companies. It has long been the common law of Michigan that, when an insurance policy is facilitated by an independent insurance agent or broker, the independent insurance agent or broker is considered an agent of the insured rather than an agent of the insurer.
This principle makes sense in the context of an independent-insurance agent, who can offer a single customer an array of options from any of the insurers with which the agent has contracted. A customer can approach an independent-insurance agent and expect to comparison shop between all the available insurers, unlike when a customer goes to a captive-insurance agent, who has but one insurer to offer.
An independent-insurance agent who had to balance fiduciary duties of loyalty between competing insurers would effectively be frozen into inaction by a web of crossing and conflicting duties and interests. Instead, in recognition of the materially different circumstances faced by a customer who deals with an independent-insurance agent versus a captive-insurance agent, courts have concluded that an independent-insurance agent owes its primary fiduciary of loyalty to the customer.
Al-Hajjaj argues that this principle of common law was abrogated by our Legislature.
Prior to enactment of the new public act, MCL 500.1201(a) defined “agent” as “an insurance producer,” and, in turn, subdivision (e) defined “insurance producer” as “a person required to be licensed under the laws of this state to sell, solicit or negotiate insurance.”
Where Al-Hajjaj sought an insurance policy through Golden, an independent-insurance agent, and not through an agent-to-agent transaction, the independent agent only represents the insured.
THE HARTFORD/GOLDEN CONTRACT
Hartford and Golden entered into an agency agreement, which covered Saeidi as a principal of Golden. By all accounts, this was a standard contract between an insurance company and an independent-insurance agent. The contract authorized Golden to “solicit, quote and bind insurance” on behalf of Hartford, but the contract also materially limited Golden’s authority. Moreover, the contract recognized that Golden was an independent-insurance agent that had the right to select and place insurance policies with other insurers.
The Hartford/Golden contract established that the independent insurance agent or broker is considered an agent of the insured rather than an agent of the insurer. Here Golden owed its primary fiduciary duty of loyalty to Al-Hajjaj as its customer, rather than to Hartford as one of the ten insurers for which it placed policies.
Given the standard language used in the contract between the independent-insurance agent and insurer here, the trial court erred in concluding that the independent-insurance agent was the agent of the insurer in this instance and denying summary disposition on that basis. The Court of Appeals reversed and remanded for further proceedings consistent with its opinion.
Independent-insurance agents continue to owe their primary fiduciary duty of loyalty to their customers, i.e., the insureds, rather than the insurance companies whose policies they place. This common-law principle survived the Legislature’s amendments to the Insurance Code in 2018 PA 449. The trial court erred when it concluded that the contract between Hartford and Golden altered this principle.
ZALMA OPINION
An “independent insurance agent” in Michigan is similar to a “broker” in California who is defined as a person who transacts insurance with but not on behalf of an insurer and is, therefore, only concerned with its duty to the insured. A minor statutory change in definition did nothing to change the fact that the independent insurance agent’s obligation, in Michigan, is to the insured. The case will go to trial to determine who was responsible for the misrepresentation on the application that allowed the insurer to rescind.
(c) 2023 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.
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Barry Zalma, Esq., CFE, now limits his practice to service as an insurance consultant specializing in insurance coverage, insurance claims handling, insurance bad faith and insurance fraud almost equally for insurers and policyholders. He practiced law in California for more than 44 years as an insurance coverage and claims handling lawyer and more than 54 years in the insurance business. He is available at http://www.zalma.com and [email protected]
Write to Mr. Zalma at [email protected]; http://www.zalma.com; http://zalma.com/blog; daily articles are published at https://zalma.substack.com. Go to the podcast Zalma On Insurance at https://anchor.fm/barry-zalma; Follow Mr. Zalma on Twitter at https://twitter.com/bzalma; Go to Barry Zalma videos at Rumble.com at https://rumble.com/c/c-262921; Go to Barry Zalma on YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCysiZklEtxZsSF9DfC0Expg; Go to the Insurance Claims Library – https://zalma.com/blog/insurance-claims-library
Subscribe and receive videos limited to subscribers of Excellence in Claims Handling at locals.com https://lnkd.in/gfFKUaTf.
Go to substack at https://lnkd.in/gEEnV7Dd Consider subscribing to my publications at substack at https://lnkd.in/gEEnV7Dd
Barry Zalma, Esq., CFE is available at http://www.zalma.com and [email protected]; Go to videos at Rumble.com at https://rumble.com/c/c-262921; Go to Barry Zalma on YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCysiZklEtxZsSF9DfC0Expg; Go to the Insurance Claims Library – https://lnkd.in/gWVSBde
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corsairesix · 2 months
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Fallout TV show thoughts
Spoilers ahead because I'm like, talking about the show and what happens in it.
The first two episodes are the strongest definitely. The vault dwellers being culty trad weirdos and the brotherhood being technofascists is a great return to form. But after that, the aspects of both of those tend to get subsumed into "Lucy and Max are naive"
Lucy and Max kinda stop having ideologies pretty quick. It's easier to accept with Max because he's shown from the beginning to be less interested into the technocult aspects of the Brotherhood but Lucy has fully drunk the vault kool-aid and that kinda becomes secondary to "she's from a vault so she's used to good people"
The central tension of "if it's life or death, you'll abandon your morals" vs "but we have to keep being better anyway" is a really popular one for post-apocalypse stories to tell, but it's kind of a boring Fallout story for me.
The early Brotherhood stuff really hits the sweet spot between the creepy ritualistic aspects and the fact that a lot of them are just shitty bullies. Titus going from the helmet voice to his normal voice was a really good scene.
Tangentially, I don't particularly care for Ghoulgins. I thought the pre-war plot with Walton Goggins was great, but with Ghoulgins it felt like every scene he was in he walks up to someone, snarls a bit, kills everyone present, and walks away with no variation.
The best part of episode 3 onwards was all of the stuff with young Steve Buscemi solving mysteries
I laughed at the fact that they did Kid in a Fridge 2, but after the fifth time or so that they played that clip it was increasingly obvious that it was the only backstory that Maximus had. We know exactly five-ish seconds of his life outside the story. And sure, part of that was that he's like, raised in a high-control cult, but so is Lucy and we learn a half-dozen hobbies that she has in the first minute.
Also is it just me or did they put one black guy in every scene where Max was getting his ass beat? So like, invoking a certain imagery for sure but not textually saying anything about racism, which seems like the worst of both worlds
There's a running textual and subtextual dichotomy between "innocence/naivete/ignorance" and "willingness to do violence" but it's undercut a little by how often characters screw up by doing violence because they were ignorant or naive
Lee Moldaver call me
(side note, I'm not a "wouldve been way better if at the end the Black Panther turned to the camera & said "i am communist now" & then specified hes the exact kind of communist i am" person, but honestly Fallout is allergic to ever depicting American communists. McCarthyism can only be bad if it's aimed at the wrong target.)
I just realized Sarita Choudhury was in Gawain and the Green Knight and she was really hot there too
I *really* liked the plot device of "Vault-Tec has a fiduciary responsibility to the end of the world" but I thought every company we know the name of sitting around a table and going "we're going to do the end of the world" was corny. I'm surprised Slocum Joe wasn't there to pitch an iced regulah and strawberry frahsted vault.
Slight tweak that could be more compelling--vault tec wants things to be bad/drive up paranoia to sell reservations, but they don't actually want the world to end. It's like an insurance company that wants you to be scared of disasters, but doesn't actually want to pay out. That's the exact type of corporate hubris I could see them trying to thread. And it still works with stuff like suppressing Moldaver's cold fusion.
Wait why was the cold fusion in that guy's head? They injected a similar thing into the dog, so I assumed at first he could like, psychically communicate with the dog and that's why the dog could track his head. But the dog was injected before the guy so like, did the dog just have general cold-fusion tracking software injected? Like I know it was an excuse to have Dogmeat IV, but I genuinely want to know if anyone knows the deal with that.
A good amount of stuff that turns me off of the show is that I genuinely find the post-post-apocalypse of some Fallout games more interesting than just post-apoc.
This show seemed less built up than even Fallout 4. All the locations seemed kinda disconnected from any sense of space. I cackled when the snake oil guy showed up to treat the guy's foot. He's not anywhere near the other two places we've seen him. Is this even his building?
"The Governmint" being two guys and their boss who looks like every wasteland mayor ever was really good. Good enough to wipe out Shady Sands? Jury's still out.
I'm not particularly mad about "they destroyed the NCR!" but I wish they did something interesting. I do like how Moldaver flies NCR flags. That was probably the most interesting element of it
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Is it true that an undead doesn't have to pay taxes?
The short answer is yeah, they probably have to pay taxes. The long answer is it depends on that person’s status and life choices/circumstances.
If, say, a vampire wants to simply live more or less as they were before their turn, they’re going to be able to live more or less the same - taxes included. They may have a few ancillary changes and might opt for something like an Unliving Will or Death Insurance, of course, which may or may not have a impact come tax time, depending on several financial factors that the folks in the Office’s Thanato-Fiduciary and Tariffs Committee go wild explaining.
Now on the other hand, if someone crawls out of a grave and is perfectly happy mummifying in a crypt all to themselves, they probably won’t have to, beyond certain payments for LEP status and other minor fees. If they decided they wanted to get a job someplace friendly to the differently-alive, they’d have to be a part of the system.
Y’know what they say - death and taxes and all that.
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lutztychsen21 · 1 month
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Body Corporate Insurance & Sectional Title Insurance
(2)     No such revocation or variation shall prejudice something lawfully carried out by a trustee in relation to a trust before the trustee receives discover of such revocation or variation. (1)     The terms of a trust But sometimes conflicts of pursuits are unavoidable, after which the trustee should just deal with these situations appropriately and the way to do it is – if a battle is unavoidable – to reveal the conflict and never take part in any choice from which a profit may be derived. In reality, all decisions by trustees should be taken on that foundation, that every one the trustees will have to have been positioned in a position the place they could participate in the choice, in any other case it's not a legitimate decision. Let’s think about a buying and selling trust has liabilities of $2 million, however solely belongings of $1 million. The trustee simply so occurs to produce other property which it owns in its own right (and not as trustee of the trust) and which are enough to make up the shortfall. “The court confirmed that even assuming that the debts weren't due and payable earlier than the default, and subsequently one means or the other not in fact liabilities, the argument was of no help to the trustee,” Mr Burgess said. trustee of another trust, if any transaction in relation to the primary talked about trust is to be entered into with the trustee of such different trust. (2)     Subject to this Law, a trustee shall carry out and administer the trust in accordance with its terms. Regardless of no matter powers and discretions the trust deed grants to trustees, the trustee might not take any action that shall be in breach of this basic fiduciary obligation. This overarching fiduciary obligation is to take care of the best pursuits of the beneficiaries of that trust, and that's the highest responsibility of the trustee; nothing else can trump that. Trust belongings are additionally, because of this, protected in opposition to the insolvency of the trustee, as a end result of the trustee in an possession trust does not own the trust belongings for their own benefit but for the benefit of the beneficiaries. It may also help you to resolve whether it could probably be simpler in carrying out its function by altering what it does. trustees liability insurance to take heed to the views and perspectives of members, beneficiaries and different our bodies with an interest in your charity. But all trustees, regardless of how they're appointed, should act solely within the interests of the charity; it’s not their position to behave on behalf of any explicit group. They should additionally manage conflicts of interest, together with conflicts of loyalty to their appointing body.
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hollandweinreich24 · 1 month
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Errors And Omissions E&o Insurance For Foundations And Different Nonprofits
I'd very much welcome feedback from anybody who has used any of these insurance brokers. I even have listed under some brokers that present charity and community group insurance, with links to their internet sites. An NGO can have a trustee and generally, the registered NGOs in India have trustees, according to their documents. Thomas J Catalano is a CFP and Registered Investment Adviser with the state of South Carolina, the place he launched his own financial advisory agency in 2018. Thomas' expertise offers him expertise in a wide selection of areas together with investments, retirement, insurance, and monetary planning. Suppose when the fireplace breaks out in your house, your nanny, Anne, is trapped and sustains main injuries in consequence. Her household sues you, personally, in addition to the proprietor of the defective circuit -- which is the trust -- for damages. A revocable trust, for example, may add any variety of new exposures to an insurer’s threat pool so you have to know whether or not this affects you as a policyholder. A Joint Account is a deposit owned by two or extra folks with no beneficiaries. FDIC insurance covers joint accounts owned in any method conforming to relevant state regulation, such as joint tenants with right of survivorship, tenants by the whole thing, and tenants in common. Another case involving personal liability of the executor of an property is Evans v. Johnson, 347 N.W.second 198 (Mich. App. 1984). A bar patron was injured in a slip and fall case by which she alleged improper maintenance of a step close to the ladies's bathroom. The case was despatched back to the jury to determine whether or not the executor had been working the bar long enough to have turn out to be conscious of the problem with the step in order that the query of his liability might be resolved. Therefore, HI taxable payroll is about 25 percent larger than OASDI payroll. • Income from Medicare premiums—Premiums paid by enrolled beneficiaries accounted for roughly 25 p.c of SMI whole earnings and 1 p.c of HI complete earnings. • Income from income tax on Social Security benefits—Income tax on Social Security benefits accounted for four % of OASI revenue, 1 percent of DI earnings, and 8 p.c of HI revenue. Directors and officers insurance protects the people who function administrators and officers of an organization if they’re sued by employees, prospects, vendors or others. It can cowl defense prices, a settlement and other bills that come up out of the lawsuit. A trustee should maintain impeccable data of all of the happenings associated to their duties and obligations. Good record maintaining ought to embrace preserving an in depth record of all belongings acquired and spent, as well as receipts and documentation of all trust bills. Even if a trustee decides with the best intentions in the interest of the beneficiaries, it might still be referred to as into query. And, that call may even result in litigation if not correctly documented. As always, verify the wording of the coverage to see exactly what you're lined for, as phrases can generally differ between insurers. Combine the worth of legal defence fees, expenses and possible payouts, and you can soon find your financial institution stability appears fairly barren. The problem is that many of these people in all probability won't realise what that actually means. For more data on Trustee disclosure guidelines and the obligations of trustee depositors visit For Trustees and refer to What you want to know – Trustees (PDF, 83 KB). The lack of follow-through displayed by fiduciaries isn't one thing that must be taken lightly. Purchase and renew coverage, create and login to your account, earn continuing education credits, entry very important professional assets, and more. I additionally found Innovation Broking, Salt Insurance Services and Edwards charity overseas travel insurance utilizing an online search. I have no idea and have not used these insurance suppliers but they have been really helpful by charities on the SIDCN Facebook group. Some brokers may use only a small variety of insurance firms, whereas others will search the entire market for you to get the best deal. There are trustees indemnity of charity insurance that could be relevant, relying in your organisation’s measurement, complexity and activities. If you have any accessibility necessities, please let our pleasant Unity team know and we will fortunately help you. Whether you are bringing or leaving your valuables - make sure they're covered with Valuable Article Coverage. Your responsibilities include not solely financial administration and property oversight but in addition the obligation to supply steerage and assist to different board members. Effective management is crucial to fulfilling your duties and responsibilities successfully. If you die inside three years of making an ILIT, the trust’s life insurance policy may be included in your property. If the life insurance payout is included in your property, it could find yourself being subject to estate taxes alongside with your different belongings. Insurance cover costs cash, is just too usually overlooked by charities and often isn't well understood by small charity and non revenue groups. This traditional rule has undergone a lot revision, significantly in circumstances where the fiduciary is obligated to hold on a business enterprise or if the property indirectly benefited from the tort. The trendy rule is that a enterprise enterprise usually bears the burden of losses caused by its operations. Some states have modified the normal rule to allow direct actions by injured third events towards trust belongings when the trustee is sued in his representative capability, as lengthy as the tort is incidental to the operation of the business. This includes managing the church’s finances responsibly, safeguarding property, and guaranteeing appropriate insurance coverage. Trustees should act in the best interests of the church and make selections that protect its property for the benefit of the congregation.
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davidaugust · 7 months
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From Writer Nick Pappas:
Hi, all. I write jokes for TV, but not long ago I was a financial analyst. I had my Series 7.
For those who say Fran Drescher or any SAG-AFTRA member should stop whining and appreciate what they have, let me give you a lesson in capitalism.
The WGA and SAG-AFTRA are dealing mainly with publicly traded companies, companies that have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders. Netflix, for example, has 88.21% of their shares held by institutional investors - banks, hedge funds, insurance companies, etc.
This morning, Netflix stock hit a 52-week high. They made institutional investors alone $106+ billion dollars this year.
$106 BILLION.
Fran Drescher, for her entire life, is worth $25 million.
It's easy to get mad at Ted Sarandos or David Zaslav or Bob Iger, but they get paid so much because their only job is to make rich people richer.
The WGA and SAG-AFTRA aren't fighting against rich CEOs. They're fighting against an entire system incentivized to exploit workers.
A-list actors get paid so much because they're worth it. Someone has done the math. You don't have a poster of Bob Iger hanging up in your room. You don't binge watch a show with David Zaslav. You don't go to Comic Con to meet faceless billionaires.
You pay to see stars.
Not to mention that, in reality, 87% of SAG-AFTRA union members don't qualify for health insurance.
How much do they have to make to qualify? $26,000 a year.
These are working class people, just like you.
The wealthiest 1% hold 53% of ALL stocks. The top 10% hold 88.6% of ALL stocks. Every dollar these media companies don't give to a writer or actor, they hand to millionaires and billionaires.
When you say actors and writers are spoiled, you're on the wrong side of history.
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dempseychung16 · 1 month
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Fiduciary Archives
A director would have already covered that aspect of his/her duty toward the corporate by purchasing the insurance coverage. An analysis of the market has shown that claims for Fiduciary Practitioner who assists with property and can planning, will drafting, deceased estate administration and trust administration are on the rise. Includes past, present and future directors, officers, employees appearing in management or supervisory capacity, shadow directors, exterior entity administrators, spouses, directors and executors of insured’s estates. Trust Administration focuses on the laws that governs the administration of trusts as properly as the sensible implementation thereof. Students will be ready to explain the practical purposes of a trust for varied legal and industrial functions. Students will be in a position to advise shoppers on the use of trusts for various estate-planning functions. applicant, however claims to have procured the main points of these individuals using the telephone directory. She submits that it's not The FSR Act and other financial sector laws also give the PA full access to statutory returns and all relevant data from the regulated entities, their controlling companies and subsidiaries. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of all data submitted by the regulated monetary establishments are carried out by way of the off-site and on-site supervisory instruments. Similarly, an utility and every document lodged when it comes to that application ought to be signed by the chairperson or the chief executive officer of the institution. A mutual financial institution is a juristic person and is, in essence, owned by its depositors who qualify as members by advantage of them being shareholders in that juristic individual and who are entitled to participate in the train of control in a general assembly of that mutual bank. Mutual banks get hold of their legal persona from the Mutual Banks Act and usually are not required to be included as an organization beneath the Companies Act. instance was offered to the applicant by Motorsure CC itself (as opposed to the respondent) such an implied term falls to be enforced in opposition to the respondent as if she had been the actual seller, seemingly in perpetuity. not co-incidentally treatment this shortcoming. The applicant co-incidentally hooked up to its founding affidavit as an If you own a business you're greater than doubtless interacting with members of the basic public on a daily basis. It’s why we work with brokers who make it their business to know your small business. Managing the property of individuals that have legally been declared incapable of managing their very own affairs.
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thessalian · 5 months
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Thess vs Annual Salaries
So, like ... I get the whole "fiduciary duty to shareholders" thing. At least partially because that's the whole deal my mother always talks about when I mention the absurdity of the whole ... you know... *gestures vagely at late stage capitalism*. I mean, at least she flags up things like how many people's pensions are tied up in the whole shares thing. I still think they take it way too far in terms of fiduciary duty to shareholders, but I understand it. Sort of. Ish. Intellectually. YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.
But there's one thing you're never going to convince me is okay, and that is the fact that the CEOs of these companies - you know, the ones who lay off hundreds of people to make the profit margins look bigger because fiduciary duty to shareholders - take home seven- or eight-figure salaries. For all the bullshit people talk about how most of these people's worth is on paper rather than liquid, we're talking annual salary here. This particular fact? All it leaves me with is questions. Like:
We're talking 7-8 figures annually, so what the fuck are you doing to spend tens of millions of dollars per year?!? How do you spend that much money? What could you possibly spend that much money on that you need more tens of millions the following year? How is that possible?
What exactly do they do to earn that much money? If the worker is worth the hire, what exactly are they doing that's worth tens of millions annually? Now, you could say "ensuring their fiduciary duty to shareholders is met", but they're not even the ones who are figuring out the best ways to reduce the fiduciary duty to shareholders; they have middle management to do most of the figuring out, and those guys only (heh; 'only') make six figures annually, while the CEO makes tens of millions by ... picking one. They're giving themselves that much money per year for the equivalent of ordering at the McDonalds drive-through.
I swear to the gods, it's like the money really is nothing more than a way of keeping score. The profits thing is sickening, but understandable if you grit your teeth and accept, for now, that companies are legally required to screw over employees and customers alike in the name of "fiduciary duty to shareholders", or else they are literally seen as stealing from the shareholders. But ... the annual salaries. I mean. Come on. Tens of millions per year. And by the Vimes "Boots" Theory of Socio-Economic Unfairness, they shouldn't have to spend that much. They can afford a house, and probably have one (hell, they probably have several at this point), so no rent. Then can afford the good insurance, so no being financially wiped out in the event of illness or injury. Hell, they can afford the healthy food that so many people can't, and to heat their homes properly, and so probably aren't getting as sick in the first place. They have probably never really met a financially crippling car repair bill, either because they can afford to replace stuff before it falls apart completely or because they just replace the whole damn car whenever they feel like. They're not beholden on "fast fashion" (read - stuff put together in sweatshops in countries with few to no labour laws and sold for a halfway affordable price at Target or Primark or wherever), so their clothes and shoes aren't falling apart after a couple of months of wear. And none of that - none of the things that so many of us feel fortunate if we happen to have it, and so few of us actually do - even makes a dent in their yearly take-home pay.
They're fucking dragons. That's all there is to it. So many of us love the idea of dragons on hoards other than money, but we have dragons, and they're ... just ... asshole humans with way too much fucking money.
So I know why they don't take a salary cut instead of tanking the lives of hundreds of people by laying them off (and making the lives of the remaining people worse as they're forced to pick up the slack or join their friends in the unemployment queue). But it fucking disgusts me, all the same. Money exists to be used, not to be sat on by rich assholes. I mean, so many people work their asses off and barely earn enough to stay alive in this economy, and these guys get paid more than anyone could reasonably spend sitting on their asses, harrassing and abusing their workers, and listening to advice on who to fire to make their profit numbers look better.
I know there are some lovely things about the world, and some lovely people in it. But dear gods, the rot is so very visible.
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mariacallous · 1 year
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At first glance, the Silicon Valley Bank debacle seems to be a cut-and-dried financial caper. The executives running the 16th-largest bank in the US made the wrong choices in handling what seemed a fortuitous situation—a roster of clients, flush with venture capital funding, handing over billions of dollars of cash for storage in the institution's coffers. But the bank’s leaders misjudged the risks of higher interest rates and inflation. Pair that with a mini tech downturn, and the bank’s spreadsheets began turning colors. When word of its perilous situation got out, panicky depositors pulled their money. After a government takeover, everyone’s money was safe. 
But although no depositor lost money, the saga looks like a traumatic event whose consequences will linger for months, or even years. Things happened that we can’t unsee. The SVB saga reminds me of what my wife, a true-crime reporter, says when people ask why she finds murder stories so interesting. A killing, she’d say, reveals the previously private, shrouded actions that define the way people live. In the course of investigating the crime, lives that looked ideal from the outside are exposed as unmade beds of secrets and lies. 
Start with the bank. As has been widely reported—only now with a critical eye—Silicon Valley Bank was not only the bank of choice among Silicon Valley companies, but an ingratiating cheerleader for startup culture. The VCs and angels funding new companies would routinely send entrepreneurs to the bank, which often handled both company accounts and the personal finances of founders and executives. SVB would party with tech people—and vintners, another sector they were deep into. Some bankers had wine fridges in their offices. Salud!
Normally, you’d have to hold my family hostage before I became a banker—I picture the buttoned-up prig who hired Mary Poppins. But I might think differently if banking were a world of parties, high-end Cabernets, and elbow-rubbing with universe-denting geniuses who keep millions in the bank and take out mega-mortgages. By all accounts, SVB shared and perhaps amplified the freewheeling vibe of the swashbucklers it served. This is not what you necessarily want from a fiduciary. And as we learned this week, SVB’s CEO reportedly indulged in one of the worst things a founder can do—selling off stock when trouble lies ahead. 
 When that trouble arrived, we also learned a lot about the investment lords of the Valley who give founders the millions they need to move fast and make things. As word began to leak of SVB’s weaknesses, VCs who style themselves as tech’s smartest people had a choice: help bolster the financial partner holding the industry’s assets or pull funds immediately. The latter course would trigger a panic that would assure disaster for the startup ecosystem—but not you, because you were first in line. 
Despite years of talk about how companies in the tech world are united in a beneficial joint mission, some of the biggest players went into self-preservation mode, essentially firing the starting pistol for a bank run. One notable bailout leader was Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, which got an early sense of SVB’s troubles and advised all its companies to get out ASAP. As word spread, a classic bank run took shape, with other VC firms urging pullouts, until it was impossible to connect online with SVB to move funds. By the time a group of VCs came together to pledge support for SVB, its virtual doors were shut. In the mad rush to the lifeboats, hundreds of companies were stranded on deck. When the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) took over Silicon Valley Bank last Friday, with all activity frozen, those whose holdings in the bank far exceeded the $250,000 limit on insured accounts truly faced the abyss.
I get it—saving one’s own skin is human nature. But in the future, let’s go easy on hyping the camaraderie of tech. 
And what did the Valley’s rugged individuals do when oblivion loomed? They begged for a government rescue, of course. It’s hard not to empathize with some of the rank and file tech workers, many of them far from California, who wouldn’t be able to meet their bills. And indeed, there were some acts of generosity, as investors extended loans to their portfolio companies. But the loudest voices urging bailouts didn’t seem to be those most in jeopardy, but super-rich investors and speculators likeself-described angel investor Jason Calacanis, PayPal mafia billionaire David Sacks, and Machiavellian hedge fund magnate Bill Ackman, bombing Twitter with over-the-top pleas to rescue depositors.
Their case was that if depositors didn’t have immediate access to their funds, SVB’s woes might be “contagious,” setting off a wider bank panic. A reasonable concern. But it’s unlikely these pundits would have made the same arguments if the institution in question were some regional bank of similar size in the Midwest. Some people arguing for a federal bailout had previously opined that the government should keep its tentacles away from the innovative geniuses of the Valley.
The spectacle is particularly ironic because a huge part of startup lore is not just accepting risk but embracing it. We hear endlessly of the bravery of entrepreneurs who step into the breach and put millions of dollars in jeopardy, hoping to buck the dismal odds of creating a difference-making company that, by the way, makes its founders ludicrously wealthy. It’s part of the game to lose your investor’s money and a couple of years of your life because you felt that a $400 juice machine would be the next iPhone. 
Now those noble risk-takers were demanding retroactive protection—because tech-company money was unavailable due to a totally avoidable risk. Any idiot knows that FDIC covers only $250,000. So why did so many firms store all their assets in uninsured accounts in a single bank? You might give a pass to naive founders who blindly accepted the recommendation of their funders to use Silicon Valley Bank. (Though maybe not to big companies like Roku, which had $487 million on deposit in SVB.) But what’s the excuse of those who did the recommending? Did they notice that SVB executives actively lobbied to avoid stringent regulation? Or that for eight months, SVB failed to replace its retired chief risk officer? Did they understand that an entire startup monoculture patronizing one bank made a huge industry dependent on a single point of failure?
Meanwhile, less verbose investors and VCs quietly worked behind the scenes on convincing the FDIC to guarantee all deposits. One of the Valley’s top seed investors, Ron Conway, reportedly even got Vice President Kamala Harris on the phone to hear his plea for a depositor bailout. The case they made for protecting funds from a maximum $250,000 to, well, infinity, was a more refined version of what the Twitter panics-spreaders were saying: It would stem a collapse in the tech sector and calm people all over the country who were suddenly worried about their own banks’ stability. (It would also mean that from this point forward, holding to the limit is indefensible.) It’s not clear whether the lobbying affected the actual decision. But the attempts were unseemly, an unattractive display of the power of this massive industry. 
So what has been uncovered in the week since we learned that Silicon Valley Bank was no more trustworthy than a crypto spam text? A startup culture once considered the gem of the economy has been exposed as careless with its money, clueless in its judgment of character, hypocritical in its ideology, and ruthless in exercising its political clout as a powerful special interest. Meanwhile, the financial world is still jittery, with other banks failing and just about everyone wondering what comes next. And from here on, the concept of a cap on FDIC insurance is at risk. But at least the SVB credit cards are working again. And VCs can take a victory lap as they brag about how they saved the day.
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