Even though the insurance carrier is no longer writing Lawyers Professional Liability Insurance your coverage for an issued Extended Reporting Period Endorsement (Tail) remains in force. With this stated, as the years go by you could be with a carrier that has merged, been sold, liquidated or gone completely out of business. Many times your insurance agent will be able to help you locate the proper staff to report a claim. And if another insurance carrier has “taken” over your old insurance carrier that new carrier should have assume your old insurance carrier’s obligations.
If the carrier you had has been liquidated or completed dissolved with no obvious successor and your insurance agent is no longer around or cannot assist, your best resource is likely the insurance commissioner in your state. Using this website http://www.naic.org/state_web_map.htm you should be able to locate your insurance commissioner. If the carrier was admitted in the state the insurance commissioner’s office should be able to direct you to who is now responsible for claims handling responsibilities. With an admitted insurance carrier, your Tail obligations should still be honored by the state guarantee fund to the limit of the guarantee fund.
If the Tail that you purchased was from a non-admitted insurance carrier or a risk retention group and has been liquidated, you may be out of luck. But it is still worth checking with your state insurance commissioner to see if they can assist.