• The fee disputes exclusion is an exception found in a significant minority of professional liability insurance policies that excludes coverage of claims made by professionals in connection with disputes over fees charged by such professionals. A typical sequence of events that leads to this sort of claim is: (1) the client disputes the amount charged by the professional upon receipt of his or her invoice, agreeing to pay only part of the invoice (or perhaps nothing); (2) a professional sues a client for an unpaid balance on a bill; and (3) the client responds to the recovery claim by filing a claim against the professional alleging that the professional negligently performed the service that is in dispute. The rationale for excluding claims related to a fee dispute is that insurers consider such matters to be business risks, not risks arising from negligent professional service. Another reason for exclusion is that insurers consider these disputes to be largely avoidable, provided that the professional clearly explains their fee structure and obtains the client’s agreement to these fees before the professional services are actually performed.