CONTINGENCIES

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

CONTINGENCIES

CONTINGENCIES

In the ordinary course of business, the Company and its subsidiaries are routinely a defendant in or party to pending or threatened legal actions and proceedings related to the conduct of their insurance operations. These suits can involve alleged breaches of contracts, torts, including bad faith and fraud claims based on alleged wrongful or fraudulent acts of the Company's subsidiaries, and other miscellaneous causes of action. It is inherently difficult to predict the outcome of such matters, particularly when the claimant seeks very large or indeterminate damages or when the matters present novel legal theories or involve multiple parties. An accrued liability is established when loss contingencies are both probable and estimable. However, there is potential loss exposure in excess of any accrued amounts. The Company monitors pending matters for further development that could affect the amount of the accrued liability.

The Company's property & casualty subsidiaries had one longstanding action remaining in Texas filed in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike which was favorably resolved in the second quarter of 2020 with no material impact on these consolidated financial statements.

The Company maintains loss and loss adjustment expense reserves on litigated claims that occur in the routine course of business in the insurance operations of the subsidiaries. These reserves are included in the liability for benefit and loss reserves on the balance sheet and include estimates for associated legal costs for individual claims. In addition the Company has a current accrual of $750,000 for legal expenses and third party claimant settlement cost. There are no individual actions not accrued that are deemed material by management based upon an evaluation of information presently available.