SYNOPSIS ALL INDUSTRY CONFERENCE CALL January 23, 2013

If there is a subject you would like to see addressed on Wednesday, January 30, please email Mike Barry at Michaelb@iii.org

 

Since the call, we have learned that the CFA will release on Monday, January 28, its latest report on how major insurance companies set auto insurance rates. In a media advisory, the consumer group says, “After studying 120 rate quotes from 12 cities across the country, the CFA has surprising findings on the difference in quoted premiums to drivers with and without an at fault accident in the past three years. The cities used in the study were: Baltimore, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Tampa, Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, Denver, Houston, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Seattle.”

 

Lisa Gibbs, a Florida-based senior writer, has been speaking with the I.I.I. since mid-2012 about insurers who are reducing their coastal exposure while raising premium rates on the policyholders they do retain. The I.I.I. has provided a lot of information to Gibbs. We understand that she has also reached out to a number of insurance companies directly. The article is scheduled to appear in the print edition of the magazine in April.

 

The limited coverage for FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policyholders who had their basement apartments flooded in Hoboken, New Jersey, is the most prominent insurance issue cited in this article, which appeared in the Tuesday, January 22, print edition of The New York Times (subscription required).

 

Each of the top 10 awards exceeded $100 million. The largest award in 2012 involved a convenience store selling alcohol to a teen who crashed into another car, killing the driver. The compilation only includes verdicts awarded to individual plaintiffs and was published on Monday, January 21, in Lawyers USA. The I.I.I.’s Claire Wilkinson blogged about the list.

 

Richard Rose, an on-air reporter for the CBS-owned WLNY-TV, which focuses on Long Island, is exploring the pros/cons of retaining a public adjuster….The New York Post’s Chuck Bennett is readying a story about a tow truck operator who is suing New York City to recoup monies the operator lost when one of his trucks was flooded while parked at a NYC-owned impound lot….WNYC-AM, NYC’s public radio station, is researching the latest number of Sandy flood-damaged cars in the region for a future story….Hugh Morley, a senior business writer at The (Bergen) Record in New Jersey is writing an article about the ways Sandy damaged the state’s businesses in late 2012 (e.g., flood, electrical outages)….Priyanka Dayal of the Worcester (MA) Telegraph Gazette will summarize 2012 catastrophe losses in the U.S in an upcoming story.

Herb Weisbaum, who can be heard on KOMO Newsradio in Seattle, interviewed the I.I.I.’s Steve Weisbart for an online news article he is writing on how the potential beneficiaries of lost life insurance policies can gather additional information about the policies. Weisbaum had seen Weisbart quoted on this issue in the February 2013 edition of Consumer Reports….Ross Kenneth Urken, formerly with AOL Auto, is now writing a blog on the same topic for Forbes. Urken is examining how new state laws legalizing marijuana use in places like Colorado and Washington might impact those states’ auto insurance markets.

Ben Nelson, who is also a former Nebraska governor and insurance director, will succeed Dr. Therese Vaughan, according to this Tuesday, January 22, NAIC news release.

 

The House and Senate Insurance committees held separate public meetings in Tallahassee on Wednesday, January 23.

State Representative David Linsky has introduced legislation that would make liability insurance a requirement for gun owners.

Governor Rick Snyder called in his State of the State address for the Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation (OFIR) to become a stand-alone department and issued an executive order to create formally a Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS).  

The U. S. Department of Homeland Security has extended until Thursday, February 21, 2013, the deadline for submission of Hurricane Isaac-related proof of flood loss filings.

FEMA officials told Plaquemines Parish residents at a Tuesday, January 22, public hearing that they will likely have to elevate their homes if they want to avoid substantial, annual flood insurance premium rate increases, according to this same-day news story in the Times-Picayune.

 

New Orleans City Business (subscription required) reports that 59 percent of all respondents said that, as a juror, they would generally side with the plaintiff over an insurance company, according to a national survey conducted by the Defense Research Institute (DRI).

The state Legislature is trying to bolster the Second Injury Fund, which is financed by Missouri employers through a surcharge on their workers compensation insurance premiums, according to this Tuesday, January 22, Associated Press article. The AP story is pegged to an appeals court ruling this week involving a plaintiff who sued the Fund.

 

Flood is the trending topic this week with comments and content on Twitter focusing on policyholder literacy. Insurance agents and companies are sharing tweets about how flood losses from Sandy demonstrate why more education is needed about flood insurance. 

 

Another flood topic that is re-emerging this week is about how consumers should be aware of flood-damaged cars appearing for sale after Sandy. The I.I.I.’s tips about avoiding these types of damaged cars are being widely shared on Twitter.    

 

An online clip stressing the importance of having flood insurance, and featuring the I.I.I.’s Jeanne Salvatore, was re-broadcast recently on Lifetime’s Designing Spaces program. The segment has received some good pick-up on Twitter and YouTube from insurance agents and consumers.

 

Please note that starting next week, you will receive these recaps from Mike Barry, who organizes the call for the I.I.I.

 

The I.I.I. is cited regularly in the media as an authoritative source of insurance information. To access the current I.I.I. press clips, click here

 

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