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Commitments and Contingencies
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2024
Commitments and Contingencies  
Commitments and Contingencies

8.  Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments

As part of the Company’s investment activity, we have committed $170,000 to investments in limited partnerships. The Company has contributed $143,127 to these commitments as of September 30, 2024. As of September 30, 2024, the remaining committed capital that could be called is $35,540, which includes potential recallable capital distributions.

Contingencies

Various claims, generally incidental to the conduct of normal business, are pending or alleged against the Company from time to time. In the opinion of management, based in part on the advice of legal counsel, the ultimate resolution of such claims will not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s consolidated financial statements. However, if estimates of the ultimate resolutions of those proceedings are revised, liabilities related to those proceedings could be adjusted in the near term.

On October 19, 2021, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (the “SJC”) unanimously ruled that property and casualty insurers must compensate third-party claimants under property damage coverage, part 4 of the standard Massachusetts automobile insurance policy, 2008 edition (standard policy), for the inherent diminished value (“IDV”) that occurs when their vehicles are damaged in a crash. This ruling overturned a previous decision by the Massachusetts Superior Court (the “Superior Court”), which found that a Massachusetts auto insurance policy did not provide property damage coverage for inherent diminished value damages for third-party claimants. The SJC placed the burden of proof on the individual claimant by explicitly specifying that the claimant must establish that the vehicle has suffered IDV damages and also the amount of IDV damages at issue. The SJC further ruled that an insurer’s previous denial of coverage for such damages could not serve as the basis for a claim of unfair business practices. On June 20, 2023, the Superior Court denied a motion brought by the plaintiffs seeking class certification. The plaintiffs had filed a motion to amend the complaint, seeking to address the concerns raised by the Superior Court in denying their motion for class certification, which Safety had opposed. The motion was denied thus at this point, there will not be a renewed motion for class certification. As such, Safety has not accrued for a specific loss contingency.

Massachusetts law requires that insurers licensed to do business in Massachusetts participate in the Massachusetts Insurers Insolvency Fund (“Insolvency Fund”). Members of the Insolvency Fund are assessed a proportionate share of the obligations and expenses of the Insolvency Fund in connection with an insolvent insurer. It is anticipated that there will be additional assessments from time to time relating to various insolvencies. Although the timing and amounts of any future assessments are not known, based upon existing knowledge, management’s opinion is that such future assessments are not expected to have a material effect upon the financial position of the Company.