Packing Your Parachute (Special Edition)

About the Book

Not many people complain of parachutes failing. It is usually too late. Like parachutes, inadequate insurance programs are many times discovered posthaste following a catastrophe, often much to the surprise of management. In this book, we discuss some real-life stories of uninsured or underinsured disasters and coverage disputes. These stories are largely based upon our experiences as insurance expert witnesses in cases where an improperly designed insurance program led to years of litigation, unimaginable costs, and sometimes the bankruptcy of the business and its owner. The mission of this book is to capture the attention of executives on why the way they may be buying business insurance could be all wrong and to provide suggestions on how to improve the process. We write this book as an antivirus scanning program of sorts for the insurance buyer to use in analyzing whether a business insurance agency and insurer are properly packing the company’s parachute.

About the Author

Michael Hale is a principal with the Northville, Michigan based insurance and risk management firms 360 Risk Management, Inc. and Clairmont Advisors, LLC. He is also the founder of the law firm of Hale & Hirn, PLLC which specializes in insurance and risk management matters. A 1994 graduate cum laude of Michigan State University School of Law, he has been retained as an expert witness in over 200 cases involving insurance coverages and agent errors and omissions issues since 2000. Hale has earned the nationally recognized certifications of Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Accredited Advisor in Insurance (AAI). As an attorney, he has represented both insurance companies and policyholders in coverage matters. He was named by Michigan Lawyers Weekly as a Leader in the Law in 2017 and 2008. Hale has been published in many legal and other publications including The Michigan Bar Journal, Michigan Lawyers Weekly, The CPCU Journal, among others. He can be reached at 248-321-8941; mhale@clairmont-advisors.com.