Insurer’s discrepancies being probed

County business Officials say broker Joseph J. Joyce Associates didn’t have required $5M in errors-and-omissions coverage

Luzerne County officials are investigating discrepancies in information provided by the county’s insurance broker, Pittston-based Joseph J. Joyce Associates Inc.

Companies that bid on county insurance must carry at least $5 million per claim in errors-and-omissions coverage. The county underlines the word “minimum” before the $5 million requirement to emphasize the point in specifications provided to prospective bidders.

The Joyce firm supplied the county with a certificate of liability insurance last year and this year stating that it had the $5 million coverage through Darwin Select Insurance Co., but county Controller Walter Griffith said he obtained documents from Darwin that indicate Joyce Associates never purchased that much coverage.

Griffith said Darwin provided paperwork showing that Joyce Associates had $1 million in errors-and-omissions liability insurance per claim from Jan. 15, 2010, to Jan. 15, 2011, and $3 million in coverage from Jan. 15, 2011, to Jan. 15, 2012.

Darwin provided the paperwork after Griffith threatened the company with a subpoena, he said.

“It appears that the amount of insurance they’re carrying does not coincide with the amount requested by the county,” Griffith said.

A representative of Joyce Associates said company officials William and Joseph Joyce had no comment on the discrepancy. Joseph Joyce did not respond to a second detailed request on whether the company had the $5 million coverage.

Griffith said he contacted Joyce Associates late last week to obtain information, and the company did not return his message until late Monday afternoon.

He said a company official informed him that two other companies affiliated with Joyce Associates – Joyce Jackman & Bell LLC and Joyce Haggerty Bell Insurance Group LLC – carry an additional $8 million in errors-and-omissions insurance that could be tapped by the county.

Griffith said the county did not hire these other companies to provide insurance, and the additional policies and companies were not specified in documentation supplied to the county when the company received insurance awards.

The controller said county Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla had contacted him to investigate.

Petrilla said the documents obtained by Griffith are “raising some questions.” Commissioners will likely take action if Joseph J. Joyce Associates did not carry the required coverage, she said.

“I’d like to think there’s a logical explanation for this. I’m anxious to hear from the insurance company as to what may have happened,” Petrilla said.

County Solicitor Vito DeLuca said he and the administration have discussed the matter, and he is also reviewing documents involving Joyce Associates’ insurance coverage from prior years. The administration will take the appropriate action, DeLuca said.

“Before we’ll take any action, we’ll make sure we have a full picture of what happened. We’ll lay out options to the administration and decide together how to proceed,” DeLuca said.

Griffith said the county wanted the $5 million as protection in case it has to go after the broker for problems with any claims or with the handling of insurance.

“If one company is carrying less insurance, it gives them the ability to bid lower than somebody else who is following the rules, cutting other companies out of the process,” Griffith said. “It makes it unfair for people who follow the rules.”

Joseph J. Joyce Associates was hired by the county last December to provide most of the county’s insurance, including property and numerous categories of liability coverage. The agent’s fee was $40,000 on one package of insurance totaling $430,000. Another group of coverage totaling $274,070 provided an agent’s fee of $22,000. The fee was not specified for another insurance package totaling $399,465.

Various Joyce companies have supplied insurance to the county for at least 13 years, according to Times Leader archives.

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Luzerne County council

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