Everything You Need To Know About The Voluntary Excess Program Renewal

By customer request, CLIA’s Voluntary Excess Program (VEP) now offers the flexibility of additional coverage limits, extending up to $35 million per claim, with an annual aggregate limit of $35 million. Coverage options under the VEP include limits of $1 million, $2 million, $3 million, $4 million, $6.5 million, $9 million, $14 million, $19 million, $24 million, $29 million, and $34 million, in excess of a $1 million base.

The (VEP) renewal/new applications is also now open. This is a month earlier than previous years due to feedback received from our customers.

As a lawyer in a CLIA Subscribing jurisdiction, you have:

• Mandatory Errors and Omissions (E & O) insurance with a limit of $1M per claim and a $2M annual aggregate limit; and

• Mandatory Cyber insurance ranging from $100K to $250K for various common cyber claims. See our Cyber Insurance Overview information to better understand your mandatory coverage.

CLIA’s Voluntary Excess Program (VEP) provides the option of additional coverage limits of up to $19M per claim, with a $19M annual aggregate. See our Excess Insurance page for an overview of the program and for information to help you determine if you need excess coverage.

In addition, CLIA continues to offer a stand-alone cyber insurance product with higher limits than the cyber coverage we offer with the mandatory insurance. The stand-alone cyber insurance can be purchased in conjunction with the excess liability coverage or on its own. See Cyber Insurance Overview materials for more information.

Common questions:

What does annual aggregate mean?

The aggregate limit is the total maximum amount of coverage available under the policy for the policy year. The CLIA Mandatory Policy has a $1M occurrence limit and a $2M aggregate limit. For example, if there is a single covered incident that results in a claim of $800,000, the policy will cover the full amount because it's within the $1M occurrence limit. However, if there are multiple covered incidents during the policy year, and the total claims exceed $2,000,000, the policy only covers to the aggregate limit of $2,000,000 for all claims combined.

Note if there is a $900K claim, then a $1.3 M claim in the same year, there is only coverage for $1.9M because the $1.3M is over the occurrence limit.  ($900K + $1.0 M)

Are the Mandatory Policy and Excess Policy claims based or occurrence based?

The CLIA mandatory $1M of professional liability insurance policy is a hybrid of “claims made” and “occurrence based” coverage. Members who are insured under the CLIA mandatory policy, are insured on a “claims made” basis. Any claim or potential claim must be reported within the policy period in which the insured had knowledge of the claim or potential claim.  This is set out in Section 4.2 of the CLIA policy.  When a policy period expires, the Insurer is free of liability for any occurrences except those the insured had knowledge of and was reported prior to expiry of the policy period.   

The mandatory policy takes on its “occurrence-based” character for members who are no longer insured at the time that a claim is made. This could apply to those who have retired, resigned, died, or been disbarred from the law society. In these cases, pursuant to the definition of “Individual Insured”, the policy will cover any claims that arise (subject to policy exclusions) as long as the occurrence took place during the period in which the member was insured.  

Like most liability policies, our excess liability program is “claims made”, meaning insurance needs to be in place when a claim is made and not when the work is done. It is not transactional based coverage. Statutes of limitations provide for a time period in which to present claims, and firms that do not renew their insurances will not have coverage for losses reported after the expiry date of the policy. As such, coverage purchased out of the need for a single transaction will need to be purchased as long as the possibility of a claim still exists.  

See Claims Based vs. Occurrence Based: Understanding Your Coverage Needs for more information.

Before applying, gather the following information:

• Have any of the lawyers listed on your application or their predecessors been the subject of disciplinary proceedings, suspended or disbarred from practice?

• During the past 12 months (if renewal) or 5 years (if new application), have any claim related matters been reported to the Law Society by the firm, its predecessors and/or present and former lawyers?

• After inquiry of the Firm’s lawyers, is the firm aware of any circumstances which would likely give rise to a claim against the firm, its predecessors and/or present and former lawyers, which has not been reported?

If applying for excess cyber coverage, your firm must meet certain requirement in order to be eligible. Some of the questions in the application form may require the assistance of your IT department. If you would like the questions in advance, contact cliacyber@ar-services.ca.

If you are an existing customer:

• The renewal period will be open until June 30, 2024.

• Pricing can change year to year – request a quote before you apply.

• When you’re ready, Sign In To Your Account to access the application form. Note that the form will be prepopulated with your previous information. Please update if needed. 

If you are a new customer:

• Submit applications until July 31, 2024 – applications submitted after that date will be prorated. Note: Cyber coverage cannot be prorated.

• Request a quote before you apply.

• When you’re ready, Create An Account to access the application form.

If you have any questions, please contact CLIA at service@clia.ca.