A professional who purchases a claims-made policy is completely covered and protected from any accusations and allegations of professional misconduct or negligence within the period of time that has been stipulated. However, any claims of malpractice or unprofessional conduct that have been filed and reported for several months or years after the policy has expired could directly result in a lawsuit.



On the other hand, if you have appended a tail that is attached to a claims-made policy that has already been terminated, any legal action that has been forced upon the professional insurer can be completely covered.



There are several ways in which your tail can be protected and defended. The first thing a professional with a terminated claims-made policy needs to do to cover his tail is to purchase another policy and call for an appeal for a retroactive date. Requesting for a retroactive date would entail the professional insurer to be protected from any accusations or allegations that have been reported within the period of coverage for the malpractice or negligence claims, within the stipulated time of the policy, and before the period of coverage. This appeal is often referred to as nose coverage or prior acts coverage. The person who called for a retroactive date for his malpractice tail coverage gets to have his previous insurer's tail policy as the current insurer's prior acts coverage or nose coverage. This goes both ways as these two actually protect the same issue.