Issue 112 - June 2021
RISK SOLUTIONS

ReClaim: Define. Educate. Mitigate.
Since 2016, the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority and its members have incurred over $46M in liability litigation costs involving cases where the application of government immunities were a potential dispositive defense.
To help members identify, understand, and reduce the cost of these and other claims, the Authority is launching ReClaim, a new awareness campaign. This important, data-driven initiative will help members develop a deep understanding of those claims that represent the greatest impact to them and to build strategies about how to reduce these claims in the future.
While the impact of these claim costs depends on each agency’s size and history, Assistant Executive Officer Norm Lefmann identified this unifying data point during the 2019 Risk Management Educational Forum: “For the liability program alone, the one program in which all California JPIA members participate,” he said, “the top five claims have cost the pool $85M over the last five years. That is about $17M a year that all of you share in paying.”
Reducing these claims will help redirect critical funding toward important programs and services carried out by the Authority’s member agencies.
California law states that personal injury and other tort liability against public agencies must be expressly provided by statute or constitutional provision. Any statute setting forth an immunity may except a public entity from liability.
This summer, the ReClaim campaign will focus on three specific governmental immunities: hazardous recreation activity immunity, design immunity, and trail immunity. To receive an alert when new materials are available, please contact Management Analyst Courtney Morrison.
“ReClaim is simple,” said Lefmann, “but only in concept. Carrying this out will take effort. A primary goal of the ReClaim program is to instill in every staff member in every one of the Authority’s member agencies an understanding of these claims in a way that makes our undertaking achievable.”
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