Best Business Practices for Photographers [88]
Figure 10.1
In the end, a COI is a required tool for on-location photographers everywhere. Lastly, more and more hotels and other rite-of-passage event venues are requiring photographers to provide a COI and complete forms about their conduct while on site. I know from experience that even when photographing a friend's wedding, the hotel planner at the Four Seasons in Washington D.C. required me to complete the forms and provide a COI, asking the bride-to-be whether I had insurance and such. If you are (or hope to be) doing events of this nature at large hotels and palatial estates, having the right insurance will ensure that you don't get disqualified just because you didn't have insurance.
Errors and Omissions Insurance
Errors and omissions insurance, referred to as E&O insurance, is more overlooked than disability and long-term care insurance by photographers, yet it should not be. So, to that end, it is important that I convince you that you need E&O coverage.
E&O coverage protects you in the event that a client holds you responsible (and that usually means they are suing you or threatening to do so) for not delivering the results they were expecting or that you promised. This could mean that you completely failed to provide the services or that you provided them, but the client expected something different. Just as your physician and your lawyer have malpractice insurance, so, too, should you have E&O coverage. They are, generally speaking, the same thing. It is very important to note, though, that E&O coverage, which encompasses professional liability coverage, is not the same as general liability. General liability does not cover things such as contract disputes, for example.
E&O coverage will mean that when you are sued, the costs for you to defend yourself in that lawsuit are covered, including settlements and, if a trial goes to the end and you lose, the judgment. Since everyone makes mistakes, having insurance to protect you against the liability of those mistakes can mean the difference between staying in business and going bankrupt.
To secure E&O coverage, call the company that is already insuring your business and ask them about adding E&O coverage. Be sure to inquire about dates of coverage available and consider the costs of retroactive coverage, which can be worthwhile. Sometimes, you'll be asked to provide copies of the contracts you use (in other words, what you're promising to deliver), and you may be asked to provide evidence of checks and balances you use. For example, do you send your finished product via First Class U.S. Mail, which has no mechanism to track packages, or do you use a shipper that requires a signature to acknowledge that the package has arrived? If your current insurance broker does not offer E&O, they likely can direct you to a company that does.
Umbrella Policies
As if health, life, auto, disability, homeowner, business, general liability, E&O, and the rest of the insurance coverages weren't enough, we have umbrella insurance. In point of fact, it is the very reality that those insurance coverages are not enough that means you need umbrella insurance. Umbrella insurance is insurance over and above the insurances you already have. A March 8, 2008, article in the New York Times, titled "Umbrella Coverage for Preventing Your Ruin," notes, "Umbrella and excess coverage are extensions of home and auto insurance. Banks make people buy home insurance to get mortgages, and states require drivers to buy auto insurance. But no one mandates buying a policy that could turn out to be the most important part of your insurance package."
Costs for umbrella polices are nominal. For example, if you