SYNOPSIS ALL INDUSTRY CONFERENCE CALL July 24, 2013

To recap the issues raised during today’s conference call, here are the key media stories we discussed, and the messages we’re conveying.

 

If there is a subject you would like to see addressed on Wednesday, July 31, please email Loretta Worters at lorettaw@iii.org.

 

The I.I.I.’s Bob Hartwig and Jeanne Salvatore handled the English-language interviews for the SMT on Tuesday, July 23, while the I.I.I.’s Elianne González conducted the Spanish-language media interviews. The attached media alert offers a synopsis of the topics covered, and the other document lists the stations on which the I.I.I. has appeared to date. There are a number of taped interviews that will run over the next few weeks.

The CFA’s Monday, July 22, report maintained a policyholder’s education and occupation significantly influenced the premiums they paid for auto insurance while the I.I.I. pointed out that actual expenditures for auto insurance for a typical U.S. driver stood at about $819 per annum in 2012, far below the price quotes the CFA cited.

 

Ogilvy Washington and Leap Frog, the NFIP’s public relations agencies of record, recruited the I.I.I.’s Salvatore to serve as the video’s host. It briefs agents on how the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act changed the way NFIP policies are priced and sold. It was taped in D.C. on Thursday, July 25.

The Weather Channel has been closely following Dorian’s path but in the days after Wednesday’s conference call forecasters expressed doubt it would cause significant damage anywhere.

Six Flags, in a standard filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it carries “multilayered general liability policies,” coverage which will likely provide reimbursement to Six Flags for the financial losses it incurs after a woman riding one of its roller coaster rides in Arlington, Texas, died in an accident on Friday, July 19, the Dallas Morning News reported.

J.D. Power found that small improvements in consumer satisfaction with repairable claims were offset by declines in satisfaction among total loss-claimants in the second quarter of 2013, which may be due to October 2012’s Superstorm Sandy and February 2013’s major snowstorm in the Northeast, this Thursday, July 18, news release states.

Athene Holding Ltd. has drawn regulatory scrutiny because of its ambitious move into the fixed annuities market, according to a Tuesday, July 23, article in The Wall Street Journal (subscription required). Apollo Global Management LLC, the private equity and investment firm, provides much of Athene’s funding.

The Wednesday, July 31, 10 p.m., ET, edition of ABC’s The Lookout will likely feature a segment on a Point Pleasant, New Jersey, policyholder whose flooded vehicle was declared a total loss after Sandy yet this same vehicle allegedly turned up, for sale, on a car lot in another part of New Jersey months later…the I.I.I.’s Salvatore did an interview with a producer/researcher at Washington, D.C.’s NBC affiliate regarding rental truck insurance—a viewer wrote in to Liz Crenshaw’s Consumer Watch team to say she is renting a U-Haul truck for a move, and U-Haul recommended paying $30 for insurance when renting the truck. The viewer’s question: is it worth it?….The I.I.I.’s González taped an interview about the importance of having renters insurance on Wednesday, July 24. It appeared that evening on Univision Channel 41’s 6 p.m. news program, reaching a large Spanish-language audience in New York and New Jersey. González, while in Manhattan for the I.I.I.’s SMT, also taped a series of segments for Time Warner Cable’s NY1 Noticias, a 24-hour Spanish-language news channel covering all of New York City. They will be broadcast over the next few weeks, and focus on the importance of hurricane preparedness.

Prudential Financial met this week with the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) to avoid being labeled a “systemically important” nonbank financial firm, a designation which could bring with it higher capital and regulatory costs for Prudential, this Tuesday, July 23, Wall Street Journal (subscription required) story explains.

Neal Wolin, formerly of the Hartford, is stepping down as Deputy Treasury Secretary in late August after serving in the Obama administration for four-plus years.

Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange has introduced an ordinance that would allow the city’s police department to tow vehicles involved in accidents if the driver is uninsured. Current city ordinances allow drivers found to be driving without insurance to continue driving their vehicle, according to this Saturday, July 20, Montgomery Advertiser article.

Flash floods in the Phoenix area on Sunday, July 21, washed out roadways and trapped some drivers, according to this same-day USA Today article.

 

Heavy rains on Monday, July 22, doused a wildfire that destroyed seven homes and once threatened the town of Idyllwild, according to this Tuesday, July 23, Associated Press story.

 

The Chariot fire burned from July 6-15, destroyed 149 structures, and consumed 7,055 acres in East County, this Saturday, July 20, San Diego Union Tribune article states.

 

The Los Angeles City Council should delay its approval of a 4.5 acre development near Hollywood’s Capitol Records building until the state has determined whether the parcel is too close to an earthquake fault line, the developer’s opponents argued, at a Monday, July 22, press conference covered by the Los Angeles Times.

 

Marguerite Salazar, who was most recently with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will become the state’s insurance commissioner effective Monday, August 19.

 

Secretary Shaun Donovan announced the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) approval of the state’s Sandy recovery action plan, which calls for a nearly $72 million investment in a variety of housing, infrastructure and business recovery activities, according to this Friday, July 19, news release.

 

A Curtis Bay woman reimbursed State Farm for a false claim she filed with them, and a Mechanicsville man repaid American United Life Insurance Company in another fraud case, after the Insurance Administration employed its newly granted authority to pursue civil insurance fraud cases, according to this Tuesday, July 23, news release.

 

Governor Chris Christie has announced that eligible homeowners in nine coastal counties can apply for a FEMA-funded grant of up to $30,000 to elevate their owner-occupied, single family homes, according to this Monday, July 22, news release.

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand complained to FEMA administrator Craig Fugate about the ‘earth movement’ exclusion in a standard National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policy, such as the one invoked to deny partially a claim made by an NFIP policyholder on Long Island after Sandy, according to this Monday, July 22, Newsday (subscription required) print edition story.

 

An EF-1 tornado swept through Ursuline College’s campus in Pepper Pike early on Saturday morning, July 20, toppling trees and damaging buildings. The college was closed for a few days and re-opened on Tuesday, July 23, according to this Monday, July 22, Cleveland Plain-Dealer article.

State lawmakers are debating whether a special legislative session is needed this year “ to pass legislation supported by business interests to restrict civil lawsuits,” according to this Tuesday, July 23, article in The Daily Oklahoman. The state Legislature is scheduled to reconvene in February 2014 but Governor Mary Fallin has said a special session may be warranted because the state’s highest court ruled that a 2009 state law dealing with how lawsuits are filed violated the state Constitution. The ruling was issued days after the 2013 regular session concluded.

A panel has submitted a preliminary report to the state’s Department of Insurance, offering guidance to the regulator on how it should assess property insurers’ use of risk modeling data, according to this Friday, July 19, article in the Charleston Post and Courier.  The reporter, who wrote the paper’s Storm of Money series, takes credit in this piece for the creation of the panel.

 

A wildfire, which began on Saturday, July 20, after a lightning strike near Snowville, in Box Elder County, had grown to more than 2,600 acres by the next day, according to this Sunday, July 21, article in The Salt Lake City Deseret News. No structures were in immediate danger but a different blaze prompted voluntary evacuations in Sanpete County, the story stated.

 

The I.I.I.’s same-day response to the Consumer Federation of America’s (CFA) Monday, July 22, teleconference on how some auto insurers weigh a policyholder’s education and occupation when rating them included an I.I.I. news release as well as posting the article, What Determines the Price of My Auto Insurance Policy?, on the I.I.I. homepage. Twitter, Facebook, and blogs written by insurance agents, companies and education groups all shared the I.I.I. article. There was some further buzz in social media about how competition in the auto insurance business is good for consumers. Most of the conversations sprang directly from I.I.I. posts to social media on these topics. The general tone around the conversations is positive with people eager to know how they can save money on their insurance.  

Maria Bartiromo’s current contract with CNBC expires this year and she may be looking to leave CNBC, according to this Monday, July 22, New York Post article.

 

Bids are due on Monday, July 29, for Albritton Communications Company’s eight TV stations, including Washington D.C.’s ABC affiliate.  The stations could fetch as much as $1 billion, according to this Monday, July 22, Wall Street Journal (subscription required) print edition article.

 

NBC News laid off some of the personnel at the Today Show and a few people who worked previously at the just-canceled Rock Center, this Tuesday, July 23, TVNewser story reports.

 

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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