Marc Cheves of AS has linked the new draft of the MTS
2011 ALTA Standards at Linked-In but here is a link to AS where you can download the word.doc
http://www.amerisurv.com/content/view/7799/
Interesting addition of Table A, Item 21: Professional Liability Insurance policy obtained by the surveyor in the minimum amount of $____________ to be in effect throughout the contract term. Certificate of Insurance to be furnished upon request.
What Good Is Professional Liability Insurance ?
During the survey contract. It only does the client any good if it is continued for many years beyond the contract.
That is a financial obligation that only the most expensive survey firms can attempt to promise and probably not deliver.
Professional liability insurance is not like title insurance, it must be renewed and paid for anuually. It must be current in the year the claim is made.
Maybe the title insurance companies are looking to sell an entirely new product.
Paul in PA
What Good Is Professional Liability Insurance ?
> Maybe the title insurance companies are looking to sell an entirely new product.
Of course they are. The ALTA standards are being dictated by insurance companies for insurance companies.
This is just another example of the NSPS being arrogant and out of touch. The decision to purchase Liability Insurance should be based on you and your clients need, not dictated by some quasi-governmental organization like NSPS. I cannot understand why any educated, private or non-union surveyor contributing dues to this alter of bureaucracy. They may represent some small minority of surveyors’ interest, but mostly they are an organization detrimental to most small private firms.
It is not NSPS that says you have to have insurance. It is a client option to decide that the client wants you to have insurance. Exactly what you suggest in your erroneous post. NSPS has no government connection - quasi or otherwise.
Now for my personal opinion - I believe that state boards should mandate financial responsibility as a condition of holding a license. That financial responsibility could be in the form of insurance, cash bond, or any number of other possibilities, but all firms or operating entities offering professional services should have to prove financial responsibility.
Y'all have never had to have insurance on large projects? Down here, that is not all that unusual. From time to time, large projects, both civil and governmental, require insurance. This just gives them a place to state that in the initial contract.
No big deal. Quite commom actually.