Philadelphia considers protest insurance for upcoming Democratic National Convention

The city is looking into purchasing the specialty insurance product, anticipating claims from the upcoming Democratic Convention

Insurance News

By Lyle Adriano

The city of Philadelphia is considering securing “law-enforcement liability insurance,” also known as protest insurance, in preparation for the upcoming Democratic National Convention (DNC) and the protests it could spark.

The policy would help cover for any potential claims arising from police brutality or other civil rights violations that may occur in the wake of the political event this summer, newsworks.org reported.

According to mayoral spokesman Mike Dunn and DNC host committee spokeswoman Anna Adams-Sarthou , city administrators and DNC committee officials are still working on the specifics of the policy, including how much the policy would cost and the extent of its coverage.

Dunn said that the city has yet to settle on an insurer to broker the policy with. Maryland-based insurance brokerage firm South River Partners, however, will cover the DNC for everything else—this includes general liability, automobile, event cancellation, terrorism, crime, kidnap, ransom, extortion, accidental death and dismemberment, Adams-Sarthou said.

Purchasing protest insurance in preparation for political events is not an uncommon thing. Cleveland paid $1.5 million to a brokerage firm to help secure a $10 million protest insurance policy for its upcoming Republican National Convention (RNC) in July. Philadelphia had also previously purchased protest insurance back in 2000, when the city hosted the RNC.

While Philadelphia had secured a $3 million insurance policy back in 2000, it did little to cushion the financial blow it suffered. In the end, the city paid tens of thousands of dollars to settle 15 lawsuits that alleged police brutality.

Despite these figures, city risk manager Barry Scott underlined the importance of protest insurance.
“It’s there in case something goes really wrong. We don’t want to have any loss, but if we have a big loss, it’s better to have insurance than to not to have insurance,” remarked Scott. “This is always what we’re doing: We’re looking to protect the city’s financial resources for the taxpayers who have given us those dollars to steward. So if we are able to buy insurance to do that, then it’s a great deal.”


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