We at Dominion Insurance Services, along with our predecessors in business, have been serving the insurance needs of our clients for nearly half a century. Two decades ago we developed the first-in-the-nation liability insurance program designed specifically for patent practitioners, both agents and attorneys. We have continuously provided this important coverage ever since, always striving to be creative, proactive risk management specialists who work diligently to meet our clients' needs. As one of our latest innovations, the Patent Agent Liability (PAL) program offers significant new features and benefits to our insureds. Read on for details as we're confident that Dominion will continue to be for you a trusted place Where the Answers Are.
Competitive pricing, with additional discounts available for members of professional patent practitioner associations, constitutes a key element of this program. Moreover, as a patent-agent-specific offering, your premiums do not subsidize patent attorney exposures, as would be the case with one-size-fits-all patent practitioner programs. Accordingly, PAL insureds are bound to enjoy much more competitive pricing than they would under any other patent practitioner liability insurance program.
To our knowledge, the PAL program we underwrite through Lloyd's of London exceeds the scope of coverage, price competitiveness, and security strength of any competitor in the marketplace today. Our PAL insurance offering encompasses the full range of coverages that patent agents require in today's challenging business environment. Moreover, PAL includes all supplementary coverages offered elsewhere, plus additional, unique enhancements designated with an asterisk (*) under Program Highlights.
Unlike any other carrier in the marketplace, Lloyd's is backed by a unique, distributed and prodigious chain of security. Because Lloyd's is an insurance marketplace, not simply a single carrier, Lloyd's brings together vast resources providing synergistic safeguards for its insureds. For example, in addition to funds held by each syndicate (insurance carrier) Lloyd's members participate in a series of layered central funds that amount to over seventy-five billion dollars in security for its insureds. Not surprisingly, in over three and a quarter centuries of operation Lloyd's has never failed to pay a valid claim.
Claims handling at Lloyd's employs a time-tested, team approach, overseen by a claims underwriter working in conjunction with the insured, appointed defense counsel, Lloyd's coverholder (Dominion), and the Lloyd's broker. For the PAL program, Lloyd's has also established a toll-free, confidential Risk Management Hotline for policyholders. Policyholders can feel confident to discuss fully thorny situations without the fear of jeopardizing their insurance coverage.
At Lloyd's utmost good faith is more than just a motto, it is a deeply ingrained cultural heritage grounded in notions of transparency, honesty in business dealings, and fair play. For this and other reasons Lloyd's is all about developing and maintaining long-term relationships with its insureds. Time and again when domestic carriers have fled the market amidst economic panic or adverse claims development, Lloyd's has stayed the course, protecting its insureds while the turmoil subsides.