As the nation nervously looked on, the massive storm surge caused by Hurricane Gustav topped–but did not breach–the weakened New Orleans levee system earlier this year. That was a huge relief not only to owners of homes and businesses in the area and their insurers, but to one specialty underwriter on the hook for an unusual related risk as well–the professional liability of architects and engineers in charge of fortifying the protective walls.

Mark Henderson, vice president of Markel Shand Inc., watched with concern for the safety of those in New Orleans, but also as someone with skin in the game–as an underwriter insuring architects and engineers who have been rebuilding the levees that ruptured during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, flooding The Big Easy.

While the repairs to the levees are incomplete–and thus the firms insured by Markel might not have been legally liable even had the levees failed during Gustav–Mr. Henderson said another catastrophic flood inundating New Orleans would have been so problematic from a claims standpoint that the company and its policyholders might have decided they had to tender the policy limit.