Insuring Against Educational Malpractice
Volume 1, Number 8, Fall 2000
In my last Practice Pointer (Vol. 1., No. 7), I discussed some cases alleging educational malpractice. Although educators usually prevail in litigation alleging educational malpractice, plaintiffs' attorneys continue to pursue this legal theory. Thirty years ago it was rare for a social worker to be sued for malpractice. Today it is a common occurrence. Can educational malpractice be that far behind?
One of the risk management strategies I suggested was maintaining social work liability insurance to cover social work teaching activities. Academics typically are uninsured or underinsured for their professional work. This article focuses on issues related to properly insuring a professional academic.
Even though plaintiffs have not been terribly success-ful thus far with allegations of educational malpractice, the number of lawsuits alleging educational malpractice is growing. No matter how un-likely the success of a suit or how unfounded its allegations, all lawsuits require a response. A lawyer typically makes that response.
Professional liability insurance provides two specific types of coverage. Legal defense costs AND funds for settlements or damage awards. A social worker pays between $59 to $225 a year for pro-fessional liability insurance. The variance in premium is a function of the liability limits and/or the age of the policy. Obtaining one hour of a lawyer's time will typically cost about the annual premium in most states. Most lawyers will need more than one hour to get a frivolous suit dismissed. When insurance coverage is this inexpensive, why leave the risk of educational malpractice uncovered?
Many academics feel that their risk of educational malpractice is covered fully by their college or university. Certainly, private colleges purchase liability policies that would defend their staff. State schools may have repre-sentation through the state attorney general's office. Institutional policies or states' attorney generals do respond to the majority of claims to all defendants' satisfaction.
However, most academics overlook the fact that insurance coverage is issued to institutions and the institution, not the individual faculty members are the clients. It is not unusual for an institution to want to settle an allegation quickly, particularly if there is negative publicity involved. It also is not unusual for an institution to take a different view of an allegation than the individual faculty member. While most academic institutions do a good job defending their faculty against litigation alleging education malpractice, there will always be exceptions. Having your own professional liability policy is an inexpensive way to offset that risk.
Regardless of whether you buy social work pro-fessional liability insurance to supplement your educator's coverage from the institution, it is important to prepare for possible litigation.
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Be familiar with the procedure for reporting a potential legal problem involving educational malpractice to the institution.
If you are concerned about an activity that has the potential for litigation, discuss it with your institution's legal counsel first. -
Keep good records of your academic activities both inside and outside of the classroom.
Margaret A. Bogie, MHSA, Insurance Consultant, is a contributing writer and Mirean Coleman, LICSW, Senior Staff Associate at NASW, is a contributing editor to this series for the NASW Insurance Trust. The names and case examples used in Practice Pointers articles are completely fictitious, and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Questions about this article should be directed to NASW via blawrenc@naswdc.org.
