San Diego buildings sway after 5.8-magnitude earthquake strikes northern Mexico:
Florida surpassed Texas in 2007 as costliest state for consumers to buy homeowners insurance, NAIC reports:
A Wednesday, Dec. 30, Dallas Morning News story offered an analysis of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ report.
I.I.I. plays key role in A.M. Best’s five-part Decade of Change series:
A series of videos highlighting the major events affecting the property/casualty insurance industry over the past 10 years, produced by A.M. Best, is now available online. First posted between Wednesday, December 23, and Wednesday, December 30, the videos look at Y2K and the bursting of the tech bubble, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Katrina and the hurricane seasons of 2004-2005, innovations in product development and technology, and the global financial crisis and its impact on the insurance industry. The series can be viewed at http://www.ambest.com/decadeofchange.html (subscription required).
USA Today editorial board hails dramatic drop in U.S. drunk-driving fatalities:
This Monday, December 28, USA Today editorial sums up the current state of the fight against drunk driving. It reports good news: according to the latest calculations, drunken driving fatalities dropped by 7 percent from 2007 to 2008, down a sizable two-thirds since 1982. There is also bad news: too many people are still dying in auto crashes; and, in the editorial board’s view, the inexplicable: why such proven ways to reduce fatalities as interlocks and checkpoints are not more widely used. The editorial includes a chart from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration showing the drop in drunken driving deaths per million vehicle miles traveled from 1983 to 2008, in five-year increments.
U.S. Department of Transportation launches Web site on distracted driving:
The site, www.distraction.gov, was launched on Wednesday, December 30.Illinois, Kansas, New Hampshire and Oregon have new laws on books aimed at curbing distracted driving:
All the new laws take effect on Friday, January 1, 2010. Details are in this Monday, December 28, press release from Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI).
Florida property insurer placed under administrative supervision by the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR):
Magnolia Insurance Co. agreed to the supervision, which is to last at least four months. Company president James Irl also resigned, as the consent order prohibits him from having a management role in the company. Magnolia is restricted from writing new business and has agreed to work with the OIR to develop a “corrective plan of action” that could include being acquired. The company began writing policies in April 2008, with $20 million in capital and 100,000 policies shifted from Citizens. The Insurance Journal has more details on Magnolia. The Miami Herald article on Magnolia reports that many of its policyholders may end up returning to Citizens.
New sinkhole legislation takes effect in Florida’s Pasco and Hernando counties beginning January 1:
Insurers can non-renew existing sinkhole policies and offer coverage for “catastrophic ground cover collapse,” which is damage that makes a property uninhabitable. This bill impacts only those two Tampa Bay area counties and is part of an effort to test the effectiveness of sinkhole loss prevention ordinances which are currently in place. The St. Petersburg Times had more details on new rules for sinkholes this week.
Miami Herald interviews Florida’s Insurance Consumer Advocate:
Sean Shaw was the subject of a Monday, December 28, Q&A with Miami Herald reporter Beatrice Garcia. Shaw offered a preview of his anticipated role in the upcoming 2010 legislative session. The Insurance Consumer Advocate, who reports to Florida chief financial officer Alex Sink, also told the Herald that in January 2010 he will finalize recommendations to regulators and legislators for improving the claims process for homeowners, and may seek increased supervision of public adjusters.Florida enters into consent agreements with American Fidelity Life Insurance Co. and Trans World Assurance Co:
The actions settled disputes over the sales of products to active-duty military in Florida. The agreement included fines for American Fidelity of $75,000 and levies against Trans World Assurance totaling $175,000. In addition to the penalties and fees, both companies have issued refunds to policyholders and will re-file policy forms to comply with Florida law. For more information, see the American Fidelity Consent Order and the Trans World Consent Order.
California unlikely to sell part of State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF) any time soon:
To raise about $1 billion of the $20 billion needed to close the state’s budget deficit, the Schwarzenegger administration proposed selling part of SCIF, California’s state-run workers compensation insurer, to private-sector insurers. The plan was derailed by a lawsuit filed by California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, who argued that the sale would weaken the SCIF, forcing thousands of employers to pay higher premiums. The Los Angeles Times looked at the status of the SCIF in a Wednesday, December 30, piece.University of California-Berkeley study finds sun and moon movements play role in earth’s underground ‘rumbling:’
The San Jose Mercury News had a story in its Wednesday, December 23, edition on a new study published in Nature in which seismologists at UC-Berkeley concluded that rumbles deep below the Earth’s surface (15 miles underground) are caused by water controlled by the sun and moon. The researchers studied a portion of the San Andreas Fault and found that underground fluids moved like tides.
Massachusetts attorney general offers critique of state’s auto insurance reforms:
AG Martha Coakley released on Wednesday, December 23, a 59-page report, offering a generally unfavorable critique of the Patrick administration’s changes to the state’s auto insurance regulatory structure. AG Coakley is the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in the Tuesday, January 19, special election to fill the late Senator Kennedy’s seat.
Mississippi to ask property insurers to file their initial rate increase requests on a statewide basis:
This is a change from the state’s longtime practice, reports a December 23, Biloxi Sun Herald article. In the future, Insurance Commissioner Michael Chaney wants insurers to look at the state as a whole in their rate filings, rather than focusing on coastal communities.
Mississippi Wind Pool rates expected to remain stable in 2010:
Commissioner Chaney transferred $19 million in state monies to the wind pool for the purchase of reinsurance; a move will likely keep wind pool rates at their 2009 levels in 2010, this Wednesday, December 23, Sun Herald story states.
Jackson (MS) Clarion Ledger defends state’s damage limits cap in a case currently before the Mississippi Supreme Court.
The case, filed by a man who was injured in a random shooting outside a convenience store, seeks to have Mississippi’s cap on non-economic damages declared unconstitutional after a circuit court judge reduced the victim’s award to $1.7 million from $4.2 million to fit within the state cap. The Ledger’s editorial appeared on Saturday, December 26.
Louisiana announces appointment of new chief deputy commissioner, chief of staff:
Allstate’s Sugar Bowl caught up in Time Warner Cable-Fox dispute:
The Fox Sports broadcast of the Allstate Sugar Bowl, to be played in New Orleans on Friday evening, January 1, may not air on many Time Warner Cable (TWC) systems nationwide. Details on the TWC-Fox controversy, from Fox’s perspective, are at www.keepfoxon.com. Florida and Cincinnati are playing in the Sugar Bowl. Since the call, TWC and Fox reached an accord, according to a Saturday, January 2, Wall Street Journal article (subscription required).
