Claims Analysis from Risk-Retention Professional Liability Group

The incidence of professional liability claims against engineers and architects serving the construction industry remains a serious problem. This paper reports the results of an analysis of 370 claims levied against engineers and architects who are insured by Architects and Engineers Insurance Company (AEIC), a risk-retention company providing professional liability insurance to design professionals in the construction field. In presenting this paper, the writers hope that managers of architectural and engineering firms will gain insights valuable for the reduction of errors and omission claims. The frequency of claims and their significant indications (personal injury, design error, etc.) are treated, as are the relationships between design disciplines, project type, work product involved, owner category and others. Although the results reported in this paper are derived from a relatively small database, we believe they are indicative of experiences many design professionals may encounter. As time passes, it is inevitable that additional claims will be experienced and the database will grow to enable refinement of the relationships discussed here.