"Love means never having to say you're sorry," uttered the protagonist in Eric Segal's hit movie, Love Story. That notion may work in love; increasingly, however, it may not apply to risk management.

Years ago, I began my claim-handling career by attending a five-week adjuster boot camp in Atlanta run by a national TPA. Seasoned instructors drummed certain precepts into trainee adjusters. Conventional wisdom in handling liability claims was never to admit fault or blame. These were admissions against interest, and they evoked a sense of Miranda warnings: Anything you say can and will be used against you.

Some now challenge this conventional wisdom in the risk arena. Selected entities are supplanting historical norms of adversarial claim approaches as apology programs — especially in medical malpractice — are receiving increasing interest and publicity. Interestingly, three Canadian jurisdictions have introduced so-called "apology laws" that would allow a party to express regret without such statements being used against them in court. In the U.S., more than 20 states have enacted some form of apology laws.