Underwriting Lust

Sexual misconduct lawsuits are the “hottest of the hot topics” for D&O insurers right now in Canada and the United States, according to U.S.-based D&O author Kevin LaCroix.

In the United States, lawsuits against media personalities for alleged sexual misconduct have taken aim at the parent company of Fox News. As reported in Reuters, Twenty-First Century Fox Inc reached a $90-million settlement of shareholder claims arising from the sexual harassment scandal at its Fox News Channel, which cost the jobs of longtime news chief Roger Ailes and anchor Bill O‘Reilly.

“I will say that if this represents any type of future trend, this is a big problem,” LaCroix told a PLUS Canada seminar in Toronto in February. “And the name of the problem is board accountability.”

Boards could be held accountable for allowing sexual harassment to take place, or for turning a blind eye when misconduct does arise.

In Canada, as reported by CBC, Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto has been named in a sexual harassment lawsuit seeking $4.2 million in damages from the theatre and $3.6 million in damage from its former artistic director. These allegations have not been proven in court and the former artistic director told CBC that he intends to “vehemently” defend himself.

Read the full article in the Digital Edition of the April 2018 Canadian Underwriter.

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