Posted by Tim on May 06, 1999 at 17:27:47:
Errors & Ommissions (E&O) is insurance for damages to a customer/client of an individual or company providing a professional service. The classic example of E&O is medical malpractice insurance.
You would be interested if the architect has E&O for say the following example. Architect provides plans for the building of your structure. Due to a negligent error in the plans, you need to tear down the structure and start over at a large cost. His E&O policy would pick up the cost to defend him against your allegation of the negligent act and to pay the judgement if he loses. E&O WILL NOT generally pay for a bodily injury (Say the badly designed building falls down and kills somebody. The exception being medical malpractice insurance.) Architect also has general liability coverage in the even of Bodily Injury.
You may be interested if the contractor has E&O if he is providing any service for you, say determining the presence of pollution on you property, carrying out inspections, etc.
Tim