Commitments and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments and Contingencies

8. Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments

As part of the Company’s investment activity, we have committed $145,000 to investments in limited partnerships. The Company has contributed $94,269 to these commitments as of December 31, 2021.  As of December 31, 2021, the remaining committed capital that could be called is $54,516, which includes potential recallable capital distributions.

Contingencies

Various claims, generally incidental to the conduct of normal business, are pending or alleged against the Company from time to time. In the opinion of management, based in part on the advice of legal counsel, the ultimate resolution of such claims will not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s consolidated financial statements. However, if estimates of the ultimate resolutions of those proceedings are revised, liabilities related to those proceedings could be adjusted in the near term.

The Company has been named in a lawsuit alleging that the Company improperly denied coverage to commercial insureds for loss of business income resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Our business owner policies serve eligible small and medium sized commercial accounts including but not limited to apartments and condominiums; mercantile establishments; limited cooking restaurants; offices; and special trade contractors. The majority of these business owner policies do not contain a specific exclusion for viruses. However, as viruses do not produce direct physical damage or loss to property, our position is that no coverage exists for this peril. As a result, the Company accrued a reserve of $6,500 for legal defense costs during the year ended December 31, 2020. This amount is still accrued as of December 31, 2021 and is included in loss and loss adjustment expenses.

On October 19, 2021, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (the “Court”) unanimously ruled that property and casualty insurers must compensate third-party claimants under property damage coverage, part 4 of the standard Massachusetts automobile insurance policy, 2008 edition (standard policy), for the inherent diminished value (“IDV”) that occurs when their vehicles are damaged in a crash. This ruling overturned a previous decision by the Massachusetts Superior Court, which found that a Massachusetts auto insurance policy did not provide property damage coverage for inherent diminished value damages for third-party claimants. The Court placed the burden of proof on the individual claimant by explicitly specifying that the claimant must establish that the vehicle has suffered IDV damages and also the amount of IDV damages at issue. The Court further ruled that an insurer’s previous denial of coverage for such damages could not serve as the basis for a claim of unfair business practices. Based on the Court’s rulings, at this time the Company does not expect any claims for IDV damages to be material, and therefore has not accrued for a specific loss contingency.

Massachusetts law requires that insurers licensed to do business in Massachusetts participate in the Massachusetts Insurers Insolvency Fund (“Insolvency Fund”). Members of the Insolvency Fund are assessed a proportionate share of the obligations and expenses of the Insolvency Fund in connection with an insolvent insurer. It is anticipated that there will be additional assessments from time to time relating to various insolvencies. Although the timing and amounts of any future assessments are not known, based upon existing knowledge, management’s opinion is that such future assessments will not have a material effect upon the financial position of the Company.