Lexington increases fire cover capacity

NEW YORK--Lexington Insurance Co., a unit of American International Group Inc., has increased capacity for U.S. fire property insurance to $500 million from $250 million.

The full property fire capacity is accessible through Lexington.

For more information on Lexington's property fire insurance, contact Jennifer Wilkinson, product line manager for health care, higher education and property division, at jennifer.wilkinson@aig.com or at 617-330-4307.

Standard introduces LTD program

PORTLAND, Ore.--Standard Insurance Co., a subsidiary of StanCorp Financial Group Inc., has introduced Basic LTD, a long-term disability product designed for employers with large groups of employees at higher risk for disability, such as workers who perform physically demanding jobs.

Basic LTD coverage is a nontraditional LTD plan offering a lower benefit percentage in return for benefits that are not reduced by Social Security Disability Insurance payments, work earnings or other income that the employee receives or is eligible to receive.

Basic LTD is for groups with 15 or more covered employees. It includes features such as an employee assistance program for groups with 15 to 2,500 covered lives, a reasonable accommodation expense benefit and rehabilitation plan provisions.

For more information, visit www.stancorpfinancial.com.

XL releases guide for design professionals

EXTON, Pa.--XL Insurance, the global insurance operation of XL Capital Ltd., has released The XL Insurance Contract Guide for Design Professionals: A Risk Management Handbook for Architects and Engineers. The guidebook, which was produced by XL Insurance's Design Professional group, offers professional liability insurance and loss prevention education programs for architects and engineers.

The Contract Guide covers more than 100 topics of issue-driven discussions, claims scenarios, problem-solving strategies and contract language solutions.

Several Contract Guide chapters are dedicated to emerging trends such as green design and sustainability, building information modeling, offshore outsourcing, building commissioning and innovative design technology.

The full guide is provided only to XL Insurance policyholders, but the first nine chapters, the Primer, are available online at www.xldp.com. The Primer provides a summary of contract concepts such as dealing with risk and negotiating a contract.

More information is available at www.xlinsurance.com.

Guide covers stages of coverage disputes

DUBLIN, Ireland--Research & Markets Ltd. has published Insurance Coverage Dispute Report, a guide to issues that can arise at every stage of a coverage dispute, from the initial inquiry into whether a policy exists, to questions of law, evidentiary matters, procedure and strategy.

Topics in the report include case management, venue, discovery disputes and privileged documents, insurance policy interpretation and extra-contractual claims. The book is updated as needed, generally twice a year.

For a complete index of the report or to order a copy, go to www.researchandmarkets.com/product/966a38/insurance_coverage_dispute. The report also can be ordered by mail at Research & Markets Ltd., Guinness Center, Taylors Lane, Dublin 8 Ireland.