Doctors and lawyers are used to getting sued, but what about notaries and ticket brokers? An increasingly litigious society, combined with a profession's natural maturation, is resulting in heightened interest in miscellaneous errors and omissions insurance. AAB asked Howard Goldstein, assistant vice president of underwriting for Philadelphia Insurance Cos. in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., to discuss the current state of miscellaneous E&O from his company's perspective.

AAB: What is the term "miscellaneous E&O" generally understood to mean?

Goldstein: Typically, it's a catch-all for professions that don't have dedicated products; segments of the E&O marketplace that are a little tougher to identify, or to put in an ironclad category. For instance, a lawyer is a lawyer is a lawyer, and a CPA firm is a CPA firm. Something like a marketing consultant, or a technology consultant, might be a little more elusive.AAB: Looking over your E&O brochure, I see about 50 professions listed. How have you arrived at those specialties? Or do you have a product for literally every profession out there?Goldstein: We will consider many classes that extend beyond these 50 and the universe of potential classes expands almost daily with the growth in service industries and the increased specialization of many industries. We draw upon our claim experience, industry experience, the size of a particular class or niche and general risk factors to come up with areas where we feel we can grow profitably and serve a market need.AAB: You've determined that there's a coverage need for dog groomers, to name one on your list. Should someone come to you interested in coverage for, let's say, parking lot stripers, you might develop that product? Goldstein: Yes, we do listen. We're still actively listening to ideas that people bring us.AAB: If someone wanted coverage for a profession you're not currently insuring, can you adjust an existing policy, or would you have to start from scratch? Goldstein: We have an open category for miscellaneous consultants, so a lot of things can fit into there. We operate more on a basis of anything that's not prohibited is at least a possibility.AAB: How long has Philadelphia been selling miscellaneous E&O?Goldstein: About 14 years. It's certainly experienced an awful lot of growth during the time that we've been in it. Not just for us, but for the industry.AAB: How has this market changed in the past five years or so?Goldstein: Every profession is trying to sophisticate and refine itself, and the more formalized a profession becomes, the more inclined it is to both buy and to require of itself professional liability insurance. The more traditional post-graduate degrees, like lawyers and doctors, have had professional liability insurance for many years. But now, there are other professions emerging with exposures that were not contemplated or served by traditional professional liability or general liability forms.This coincides with an overall increase in litigiousness in the world over the same period of time. For every legitimate profession, coverage is a legitimate need. We have mortgage brokers as one of our subclasses, and that is certainly an area under economic strain that wasn't predicted three years ago, for example.AAB: With this growth, has this become one of Philadelphia's "premium" specialties, so to speak?