Travelers 2014 Annual Report Download - page 61

Table of Contents
•
claims relating to construction defects, which often present complex coverage and damage valuation questions;
•
claims under directors' & officers' insurance policies relating to losses from involvement in financial market activities, such as
mortgage or financial product origination, distribution, structuring or servicing and foreclosure procedures; failed financial
institutions; fraud; possible accounting irregularities; and corporate governance issues;
•
claims related to data and network security breaches, information system failures or cyber attacks;
•
the assertion of "public nuisance" or similar theories of liability, pursuant to which plaintiffs seek to recover monies spent to
administer public health care programs, abate hazards to public health and safety and/or recover damages purportedly attributable
to a "public nuisance";
•
claims related to liability or workers' compensation arising out of the spread of infectious disease or pandemic;
•
claims relating to molestation by an employee or a volunteer of an insured;
•
claims that link health issues to particular causes (for example, cumulative traumatic head injury from sports or other causes),
resulting in liability or workers' compensation claims;
•
claims alleging that one or more of our underwriting criteria have a disparate impact on persons belonging to a protected class in
violation of the law, including the Fair Housing Act;
•
claims arising out of techniques to expand access to oil and gas resources, such as hydraulic fracturing;
•
claims arising out of the use of personal cars, homes or other property in commercial transactions, such as ride or home sharing;
•
claims relating to unanticipated consequences of current or new technologies or business processes; and
•
claims relating to potentially changing climate conditions, including higher frequency and severity of weather - related events.
In some instances, these emerging issues may not become apparent for some time after we have issued the affected insurance policies. As a
result, the full extent of liability under our insurance policies may not be known for many years after the policies are issued.
In addition, the potential passage of new legislation designed to expand the right to sue, to remove limitations on recovery, to deem by statute
the existence of a covered occurrence, to extend the statutes of limitations or otherwise to repeal or weaken tort reforms could have an adverse
impact on our business.
The effects of these and other unforeseen emerging claim and coverage issues are extremely hard to predict and could harm our business and
materially and adversely affect our results of operations.
The intense competition that we face could harm our ability to maintain or increase our business volumes and our profitability . The
property and casualty insurance industry is highly competitive, and we believe that it will remain highly competitive for the foreseeable future. We
compete with both domestic and foreign insurers which may offer products at prices and on terms that are not consistent with our economic
standards in an effort to maintain or increase their business. The competitive environment in which we operate could also be impacted by current
general economic conditions, which could reduce the volume of business available to us as well as to our competitors. In recent years, pension and
hedge funds and other entities with substantial available capital have increasingly
60