SYNOPSIS ALL INDUSTRY CONFERENCE CALL January 9, 2013

 

If there is a subject you would like to see addressed on Wednesday, January 23, please email Mike Barry at Michaelb@iii.org

 

The I.I.I.’s Jeanne Salvatore appeared in a taped interview on NBC’s Weekend Today Show on Sunday morning, January 6.  She discussed which perils are generally excluded from standard homeowners insurance policies (e.g., flood, earthquake). The Today Show’s Sandy news peg was an Allstate television advertisement that the company has since taken off the air.

The I.I.I.’s Loretta Worters was interviewed by New York City’s CBS affiliate on Tuesday, January 8. The segment focused on Sandy-related insurance disputes in Manhattan. It was pitched to WCBS-TV by an insurance broker who said his customers were unhappy with how their small business claims were handled.

 

Since the call, New York’s Department of Financial Services (DFS) has announced DFS representatives will be at Brooklyn, Long Island and Staten Island locations between January 12-18 to help homeowners, renters and business owners with insurance-related issues stemming from damage caused by Sandy.

 

Big M, a clothing retailer, generated media attention when it linked its Friday, January 4, Chapter 11 filing to a pending Sandy-related business interruption insurance claim.

 

A Fitch Ratings report came out yesterday putting Sandy insured losses at least $20B, and perhaps as much as $25B.

 

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s NYS 2100 commission report is expected to recommend that the state “authorize private insurers to sell policies beyond wind, mold and flood damage, to include the risk of business interruption,” according to a Monday, January 7, New York Times article.

 

The I.I.I.’s Salvatore taped a series of insurance-related interviews at The Asbury Park (New Jersey) Press on Monday, January 7, for the paper’s subscription-only website.

 

Newsday (subscription required) had a front page story on Monday, January 7, about Long Island homeowners who are having difficulties because they are waiting for banks and mortgage companies to endorse their Sandy insurance claim checks, or to approve rebuilding projects being financed by their insurance proceeds.

 

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s State of the State address, delivered on Tuesday, January 8, focused on Sandy recovery efforts.

The I.I.I.’s Steve Weisbart is quoted in Consumer Reports and offers guidance to prospective beneficiaries in the article, which reports that “six major insurers—AIG, Forethought, John Hancock, MetLife, Nationwide, and Prudential—have agreed to search for dead policyholders and beneficiaries more diligently.”

 

Newsday’s Joe Ryan (Phone: 631-843-2725) is seeking an expert who can talk about how the independent catastrophe adjuster business has changed over time. Pilot Catastrophe Services and Cunningham & Lindsey were two companies Ryan mentioned specifically to the I.I.I.’s Mike Barry as potential sources; his deadline is Monday, January 14….The I.I.I.’s Bob Hartwig taped an interview on Wednesday, January 9, with Oklahoma City-based reporter Joe Wertz about the ways commercial insurers assess the risk of covering oil drilling and fracking companies. Wertz’s story may touch on concerns that Oklahoma’s recent earthquakes, such as the one on New Year’s Day 2013, may be tied to this type of business activity….Dow Jones Newswire’s Mia Lamar (Phone: 212-416-3207) is working on a story about how insurance companies are assessing/identifying opportunities to insure businesses with 10 employees or fewer….The I.I.I.’s Salvatore gave a taped interview to The Huffington Post on renters insurance (what it is; how the policies work) while the I.I.I.’s Worters gave The Huffington Post information for a story they are doing on Sandy and flood insurance.  

 

Congress approved on Friday, January 4, legislation authorizing FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program to borrow up to $9.7 billion to pay Sandy flood claims.

In its annual report, the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors will incorporate information regarding insured losses from natural disasters, and came to the I.I.I. for historical data.

 

The state’s Office of Administrative Law (OAL) has approved amended regulations regarding auto insurer use of aftermarket parts. The OAL is requiring insurers to settle claims using the Bureau of Automotive Repair’s standards as opposed to an insurer’s own repair guidelines, according to this Friday, January 4, news release from the California Department of Insurance.

Daryl Ferguson of Hilton Head, a retired telecommunications industry executive who has analyzed the state’s property insurance market, is “convinced that the southernmost part of South Carolina is far less vulnerable to hurricanes than other parts of the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts,” according to this Friday, January 4, print edition article in The Wall Street Journal (subscription required).

 

Former Insurance Commissioner John Ingram died on Sunday, January 6, at his home in Myrtle Beach.  He was 83 years old.  Ingram, who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate against then-Senator Jesse Helms in 1978, served as the state’s top insurance regulator between 1973 and 1984, according to this Monday, January 7, article in The Charlotte Observer.

 

Rep. Steve Palazzo, who voted against last week’s flood insurance bill in the U.S. House, toured Sandy-ravaged portions of New Jersey and New York on Tuesday, January 7, saying he will be instrumental in reforming FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program as a new member of the U.S. House’s Homeland Security committee, the Biloxi Sun Herald reports.

 

Biloxi Sun Herald’s editorial board strongly criticized Rep. Palazzo this week for his “no” vote on allowing the NFIP to borrow additional monies.

Former state Senator Ben Brooks wrote in a Mobile Press-Register op-ed piece on Sunday, January 6, that the Governor’s Affordable Homeowners Insurance Commission outlined in its final report dozens of specific bills and ideas that should be considered for further action. 

 

The International Disaster Conference & Expo is being held this week (January 8-10) in New Orleans, and has generated media coverage in The Times-Picayune.

 

The I.I.I.’s Lynne McChristian will be in Tallahassee on Thursday, January 24, to address Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jeff Atwater’s Auto Insurance Fraud Strike Force.  McChristian was invited by the CFO’s office to brief the strike force board on what has transpired with Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage in the state, and how Florida got to where it is now.

 

The Palm Beach Post is working on a story about insurance discounts for mature drivers. Florida has a law saying drivers aged 55-plus can take a safe-driving course and get a discount which lasts for three years.  

 

The Chicago Tribune reports the Illinois House voted on Tuesday, January 8, to make Temporary Visitor Driver’s Licenses available to illegal immigrants. Governor Pat Quinn has said he will sign the measure into law. It was passed by the state Senate in December. Those licenses, renewable every three years, cannot be used for other identification purposes, such as boarding a plane, buying a gun or voting, according to Illinois’ secretary of state. Temporary Visitor Driver’s Licenses are already available for foreigners who are legally residing in the U.S.

 

Texas was the site of seven catastrophic weather events in 2012, and ISO reports they cumulatively generated $2.3 billion in insured losses, according to the Insurance Council of Texas. The tornadoes that struck the Dallas-Fort Worth area on April 3 ($775 million), and a June 13 storm ($890 million) in the same part of the state were Texas’ costliest natural disasters this year. 

Selvena Brooks, one of at least five candidates vying to run in a special New York City Council election on Tuesday, February 19, is circulating nominating petitions that would allow her to run under the newly created Rebuild Now party, a ballot line that could draw votes to Ms. Brooks in this Sandy-damaged part of Queens County, this New York Observer article states.   

The AIG Story, a book co-authored by former AIG chief executive officer Maurice Greenberg, is being published on Tuesday, January 29, 2013.

 

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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