HUB International, one of the largest U.S. insurance brokerages, has inked a deal to offer insurance products to credit union members in the Carolinas and Georgia.
Spero Financial Federal Credit Union, based in South Carolina, has launched Spero Insurance Services, a licensed agency that has been built by HUB subsidiary VIU, the companies said in a news release this week. The move gives credit union members access to more than 40 insurance carriers.
Spero was founded in 1935 and now includes more than 45,000 members.
VIU by HUB, known as an “omnichannel brokerage” is headquartered in Chicago. Bryan Davis is president.
The expansion comes six weeks after HUB, following years of heavy acquisition moves, announced it had filed for an initial public offering and was seeking about $3 billion in investments.
CBF accused the insurance agency of professional negligence, breach of contract, and negligent misrepresentation.
In its defense, the insurance agency claimed that CBF bore responsibility because it signed off on the policy, that there had been no agreement to obtain product recall insurance, and that CBF failed to take proper steps to mitigate damages. The agency further argued that CBF’s losses were caused by its third party ice cream manufacturer, Totally Cool Inc., and by CBFs failure to ensure that the manufacturer maintained proper standards and had sufficient insurance to indemnify its customers like CBF affected by the recall.
According to the original complaint by CBF, C&C procured a general liability insurance policy with coverage and premiums based on an estimated $100,000 in sales. The policy contained an exclusion for liability based upon product recalls. In June 2018, when its revenue was $800,00, CBF advised C&C that it “does not want Product Recall right now.”
By the end of 2021, CBF said its sales exceeded $4.2 million, resulting in a large increase in its insurance premiums. By the end of 2023, CBF had annual sales revenue of $24.4 million.
Despite CBF’s increase in sales, the complaint maintains, C&C never circled back on the issue of recall insurance,”despite the fact that recall insurance is generally recognized as a basic necessity for manufacturers of food products.”
CBF maintains that it became aware of the gap in its coverage only after Totally Cool discovered that certain products may have become contaminated with listeria monocytogenes. Totally Cool immediately initiated a recall of its ice cream products including Chipwiches and products from Hershey’s, Friendly’s, and Jeni’s.
None of CBF’s equipment at the Maryland facility tested positive for listeria. Nevertheless, the recall resulted in the destruction of approximately $900,000 of Chipwich products in inventory and $1.2 million in product on its customer’s shelves, according to the complaint.