PRIOR ACTS COVERAGE THAT PROTECTS YOUR PROFESSIONAL HISTORY
Mountain West professionals face a critical gap: clients can sue for work you completed years or even decades ago, but without prior acts coverage, your E&O policy won't protect you from claims arising before your policy's retroactive date—leaving you personally liable for defense costs and settlements that can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars. As an independent brokerage serving attorneys, accountants, architects, engineers, and licensed professionals across Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Montana, we compare 20+ carriers to structure prior acts coverage that extends protection backward to when you first obtained continuous coverage—not just to when you bought your current policy—ensuring your entire professional history is protected, not just recent work. We're local experts who understand professional liability complexities, answer the phone when coverage questions arise, and make sure the retroactive date in your policy actually protects the decades of work you've done, not just the last year.
COMPREHENSIVE PRIOR ACTS PROTECTION FOR PROFESSIONALS
Coverage that extends backward to protect your entire professional career, not just recent work
UNDERSTANDING PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY TIMING GAPS
Professional liability claims emerge years or even decades after services are rendered—an attorney's estate planning advice from 2015 might not be challenged until the client's death in 2025, an accountant's tax calculation from 2018 might not surface until an IRS audit in 2026, an architect's design decision from 2012 might not manifest as a structural defect until 2024, and a consultant's business advice from 2019 might not be questioned until economic conditions change and the client's strategy fails years later. This temporal disconnect between service delivery and claim recognition creates a fundamental problem unique to professional liability insurance: if you purchase E&O coverage for the first time in 2024, that policy typically won't cover claims arising from services you performed in prior years, leaving your entire professional history before 2024 completely uninsured and exposing you to unlimited personal liability for attorney fees that can cost $50,000-$500,000+ and settlements or judgments that can reach into millions depending on your profession and the claim severity. Prior acts coverage solves this timing problem by extending your current policy's protection backward to an earlier retroactive date—typically the date when you first obtained continuous professional liability coverage—so claims made today for work performed years ago still enjoy coverage protection, provided you've maintained continuous insurance without gaps. We structure prior acts coverage that honors your original retroactive date when you first insured your practice (whether that was 5, 15, or 30 years ago), ensuring that your current policy protects your entire insured professional history, not just services performed after you switched to our brokerage or purchased a new policy—eliminating the catastrophic risk of being personally liable for historical work that clients challenge years after completion.
CUSTOMIZED RETROACTIVE DATE PROTECTION
Generic professional liability policies treat all professionals the same, but an attorney who's practiced continuously since 2005 needs completely different retroactive date protection than a newly-licensed professional starting practice in 2024—and a professional switching carriers after maintaining coverage for 15 years shouldn't lose prior acts protection just because they're changing insurers. We structure prior acts coverage by analyzing your specific professional history: when you first obtained continuous E&O coverage (establishing the earliest possible retroactive date), whether you've maintained coverage without gaps (any lapse can reset your retroactive date and eliminate protection for historical work), your claims history during those prior years (carriers evaluate risk differently based on past claims), whether you're switching carriers or renewing with your current insurer (carrier switches often trigger retroactive date resets unless specifically negotiated), and whether you need full prior acts coverage extending back to your original practice inception or whether limited prior acts covering recent years is sufficient for your risk profile and budget. For example, we might negotiate full prior acts coverage for an accountant who's maintained continuous coverage since 2008, ensuring her 2025 policy carries a 2008 retroactive date that protects all professional work since she first insured her practice—while a newly-licensed architect starting practice in 2025 would have a retroactive date matching his policy inception because there's no prior professional history to protect, and we'd educate him about never allowing coverage gaps that would reset that date and eliminate protection for early-career work. For professionals switching carriers, we specifically request that the new insurer honor the retroactive date from your prior policy, confirming this in writing through policy declarations before your old policy expires—and if the new carrier won't grant full prior acts coverage, we help you purchase tail coverage from your old carrier to bridge the gap and maintain protection for work performed under the prior policy. The result is prior acts coverage calibrated to YOUR professional timeline, protecting the actual span of your career under continuous insurance rather than arbitrarily limiting protection to recent years just because you changed carriers or renewed policies.
Local expertise matters
Independent agency committed to providing transparent, straightforward insurance solutions for Wyoming and Northern Colorado residents.
REAL PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY RISKS, REAL SOLUTIONS
Prior acts coverage that stands between historical work and catastrophic personal liability
When Claims Emerge Years After Service
You're an attorney who advised a business client on a complex commercial transaction in 2018, the deal closed successfully, and you maintained a good relationship with the client for years afterward—but in 2025, the client's business partner files a lawsuit alleging the transaction structure you recommended created tax liabilities and partnership governance problems that are now causing financial harm, and the client is looking to you for reimbursement claiming your legal advice was negligent. Professional malpractice claims frequently surface 5-10 years after services were rendered because clients often don't recognize problems until circumstances change, adverse parties challenge the work, or economic conditions reveal flaws in advice that seemed reasonable at the time—and defense costs for professional liability claims typically range from $75,000-$300,000 even when you ultimately prevail, with settlements or judgments adding substantially more if the claim has merit. If you purchased your current E&O policy in 2023 and it has a retroactive date of 2023 (meaning no prior acts coverage for work before that date), your 2018 legal services fall completely outside your policy's coverage—leaving you personally responsible for hiring defense counsel, paying all legal fees from your own accounts, and funding any settlement or judgment, potentially costing you $200,000-$500,000+ or more depending on claim complexity. We structure prior acts coverage that extends your retroactive date back to when you first obtained continuous malpractice insurance—so if you've maintained coverage since 2010, your current policy carries a 2010 retroactive date, ensuring the 2018 services are fully covered even though the claim emerges in 2025, protecting you from devastating out-of-pocket costs for work you completed and invoiced years ago under entirely different circumstances.
When Switching Carriers Resets Your Protection
You're an accountant who maintained continuous E&O coverage from 2012 through 2024 with one carrier, building a 12-year history of protection with a retroactive date back to 2012—but your carrier raised premiums significantly in 2024, so you switched to a new carrier offering better rates, and the new policy's retroactive date was set to the 2024 inception date because you didn't specifically negotiate prior acts coverage, instantly eliminating 12 years of protection for all professional services rendered between 2012-2024. Two years later in 2026, a former client files a claim alleging you made calculation errors on their 2019 business tax returns that resulted in underpaid taxes, IRS penalties, and interest—a claim that would have been covered under your old continuous coverage with its 2012 retroactive date, but now falls completely outside your current policy because the 2019 services occurred before your 2024 retroactive date. Accountants face particularly long-tail exposure because tax return errors may not surface until IRS audits occur years after filing, amended returns reveal mistakes in prior years, or clients' business circumstances change and they review historical tax strategies that now seem problematic—and by the time claims emerge, professionals who switched carriers without protecting prior acts coverage discover they're personally liable for services they performed under supposedly active insurance years earlier. We negotiate with new carriers before you switch to ensure they honor your prior retroactive date from your old policy, confirming full prior acts coverage in writing through policy endorsements before your transition occurs—and if a new carrier won't grant full prior acts coverage (sometimes due to claims history or underwriting concerns), we help you purchase tail coverage from your old carrier that extends reporting rights for work performed under that policy, creating a bridge of protection until your new carrier's coverage takes effect. You don't lose a decade of protection just because you switched insurers to save on premiums—we make sure carrier transitions preserve your historical coverage, not eliminate it.
When Coverage Gaps Destroy Protection
You're an architect who maintained continuous professional liability coverage from 2008 through 2022, enjoying 14 years of protection with a retroactive date back to 2008—but during a personally difficult period in late 2022, you missed your renewal deadline, your policy lapsed for 90 days before you realized the gap and purchased new coverage in early 2023, and your new carrier set the retroactive date to the 2023 inception date because the coverage gap destroyed the continuity required to honor prior acts protection. Now in 2025, a property owner files a claim alleging your architectural design from a 2015 commercial building project has structural deficiencies causing water intrusion and foundation settlement, seeking damages of $800,000 for repairs plus lost rental income during remediation—but your claim falls completely outside coverage because the 2015 services occurred before your 2023 retroactive date, leaving you personally liable for both defense costs (potentially $150,000-$400,000 for complex construction defect litigation) and any settlement or judgment. Even a single-day coverage gap can reset your retroactive date with most carriers, eliminating years or decades of prior acts protection and exposing you to unlimited personal liability for historical professional services—and reinstatement provisions that might restore coverage after brief lapses are limited, discretionary, and never guaranteed. Mountain West professionals face particular risks during economic downturns affecting industries like energy, construction, and agriculture, where budget pressures might tempt firms to let coverage lapse temporarily—but the consequences of even brief gaps are catastrophic and permanent, destroying protection that can never be fully restored. We proactively contact you 90 days before each renewal to begin the renewal process early, send multiple reminders as expiration approaches, and if necessary work with you on payment plans to keep coverage active during financially tight periods—because maintaining continuous coverage without gaps is the single most important factor in preserving prior acts protection for your entire professional career, and a few months of premium cost is insignificant compared to being personally uninsured for decades of prior work.
When You Need Expert Claims Guidance
A former client contacts you alleging that consulting advice you provided three years ago was negligent and demanding compensation for business losses they attribute to following your recommendations—you're not sure whether this constitutes a formal "claim" that must be reported to your E&O carrier, whether the services fall within your policy's retroactive date, what documentation you need to gather, or whether reporting a potential claim will trigger premium increases even if the claim ultimately has no merit. Professional liability policies are written on a claims-made basis with strict reporting requirements, and many policies require reporting claims "as soon as reasonably practicable" or within 30-90 days of the policy expiration, meaning that delays in reporting can result in complete coverage denial even when the underlying claim would otherwise be covered—but professionals often hesitate to report potential claims because they're not sure if the situation meets the policy's definition of a "claim," they're concerned about premium impacts, or they don't understand the mechanics of how retroactive dates determine coverage. Without expert guidance, you might fail to report a claim within required timeframes (forfeiting coverage), report situations that aren't actually claims (potentially creating unnecessary premium impacts), misunderstand whether your retroactive date covers the services in question (missing opportunities to confirm coverage or purchase additional protection), or provide inadequate documentation to the carrier (complicating the claims process and potentially giving the carrier grounds to deny coverage). We guide you through the entire potential claims process—helping you determine whether a client complaint or demand letter constitutes a "claim" requiring reporting under your policy terms, reviewing your retroactive date and policy period to confirm whether the services and claim timing fall within coverage, walking you through exactly what documentation carriers need (correspondence, engagement letters, work product, billing records), and communicating directly with the carrier on your behalf to ensure proper reporting and documentation. You're not navigating claims-made policy complexity alone, trying to interpret policy language you've never studied while under the stress of a client dispute—we handle the insurance mechanics so you can focus on the professional and legal response, ensuring you don't make procedural mistakes that jeopardize coverage for an otherwise covered claim.
PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY INSIGHTS THAT MATTER
Essential knowledge to protect your professional practice and career
Understanding Retroactive Dates and Coverage Timelines
How claims-made policies differ fundamentally from occurrence coverage, why the retroactive date is the single most important provision in your E&O policy, how prior acts coverage extends protection backward in time, what happens to your retroactive date when you switch carriers or allow coverage gaps, and why professionals must verify their retroactive date before every renewal to ensure continuous protection for historical work hasn't been inadvertently eliminated.
Tail Coverage vs. Prior Acts Coverage: Critical Differences
Why prior acts coverage and tail coverage serve completely different purposes despite both being "backward-looking" protection, when you need tail coverage to protect historical work after retiring or closing your practice, how tail coverage extends the reporting window forward in time while prior acts coverage extends the coverage window backward, and why professionals need both forms of protection to comprehensively insure their entire career from first client through final retirement.
COVERAGE FOR EVERY CAREER STAGE
Newly Licensed Professional
Just starting your professional practice? Your priority is obtaining your first E&O policy with a retroactive date matching your practice inception—and then maintaining continuous coverage without gaps so that retroactive date never resets, building protection that extends backward to cover your entire career as it develops. We structure essential professional liability coverage that meets licensing or regulatory requirements, educate you about the critical importance of never allowing coverage gaps (even one-day lapses can reset your retroactive date), and establish coverage habits that protect you throughout your career.
Established Professional
Growing your practice with 5-15 years of professional history? You've built substantial client relationships, completed significant projects or matters, and now have a meaningful span of prior work that could generate claims for years to come—requiring prior acts coverage that protects your entire professional history under continuous insurance. We verify your retroactive date extends back to when you first obtained coverage, ensure carrier switches or firm changes don't reset your protection, and structure coverage limits appropriate for your growing professional exposure and asset protection needs.
Senior Professional
Managing a mature practice with 20+ years of professional history? You've handled complex, high-value matters throughout your career, accumulated substantial assets requiring protection from professional liability exposure, and face claims that may emerge from work completed decades ago—requiring comprehensive prior acts coverage with limits reflecting your total professional exposure. We structure high-limit professional liability coverage with retroactive dates extending back to your career inception, umbrella or excess liability protection for claims exceeding primary policy limits, and proactive coverage reviews ensuring your protection evolves with your practice complexity and asset accumulation.
Retiring Professional
Planning to close your practice, retire, or transition to of-counsel status? You must purchase tail coverage before your final policy expires to extend reporting rights for claims arising from decades of professional work—because once your policy expires without tail coverage, you're completely uninsured for your entire career's worth of historical services that could still generate claims years after retirement. We help you purchase appropriate tail coverage (typically 1-6 years of extended reporting or unlimited if available), structure coverage to protect you through your full retirement, and ensure your life's professional work remains protected even after you stop practicing and close your final active policy.
FAQs
Yes, absolutely! While you might think only large corporations exposed to significant risk need it, any professional providing advice or services can be sued for alleged errors or negligence, regardless of intent. E&O insurance protects your business's reputation and financial stability, covering legal costs whether the claim is valid or not. It's crucial for peace of mind, even for small businesses in Wyoming and Colorado.
Professional Liability (Errors and Omissions) insurance protects your business financially from claims of negligence, errors, or omissions in the professional services you provide. This includes things like incorrect advice, misrepresentation, or failure to deliver services as promised, which can lead to financial loss for your client. It helps cover legal defense costs and damages up to your policy limits.
The main difference is what they cover. General Liability insurance covers claims of bodily injury or property damage that occur on your business premises or from your operations (e.g., a client tripping and falling in your office). Professional Liability E&O insurance, however, specifically covers financial losses due to errors, omissions, or negligence in the professional services or advice you provide. Many businesses, especially those in service industries, need both for comprehensive protection.
The cost of E&O insurance varies widely based on your profession, business size, revenue, location (like Wyoming or Colorado), and claims history. Highly specialized fields or those with higher risk factors might see higher premiums. It's best to get a personalized quote to understand your specific costs and coverage options. We can help you find a plan that fits your budget.
E&O insurance typically does not cover claims arising from intentional wrongdoings, fraudulent acts, criminal activity, or bodily injury/property damage (those are usually covered by General Liability). It also generally excludes employment-related practices claims (like wrongful termination) or disputes among business partners. It's specific to professional services and financial harm to clients.
If a client alleges an error or initiates a claim, you should immediately notify your insurance provider. Gather all relevant documentation, such as contracts, correspondence, and project details, but do not admit fault or make any promises to the client. Your insurer will guide you through the process, providing legal defense and managing the claim on your behalf to protect your business.