SYNOPSIS ALL INDUSTRY CONFERENCE CALL June 26, 2013

 

If there is a subject you would like to see addressed on Wednesday, July 3, please email Mike Barry at michaelb@iii.org.

 

Private U.S. property/casualty insurers’ net income after taxes rose to $14.4 billion in first-quarter 2013 from $10.2 billion in first-quarter 2012, according to this Monday, June 24, news release from ISO and the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America. I.I.I. president Robert Hartwig offered this commentary on the first-quarter 2013 results.

The I.I.I.’s Tuesday, June 25, news release focused on lightning-caused insured claim payouts, and got picked up by Allentown, PA’s Morning Call and the Fort Wayne, IN Journal Gazette.   

 

Eighty-two (82) percent of the 238 Americans killed by lightning between 2006 and 2012 were male, and 64 percent of those deaths occurred while the victims were participating in leisure activities (e.g., fishing, camping), according to a Monday, June 24, news release issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Auto thefts in the U.S. increased slightly in 2012 following eight straight years of declines, according to a Wednesday, June 26, news release issued by the NICB. Federal Bureau of Investigation data show thefts rose 1.3 percent in 2012 from 715,373 in 2011, Bloomberg noted. Eight of the 10 NICB ‘hot spots’ for thefts are in California.

Rising prices and some dissatisfaction with policy offerings were behind the auto insurance customer satisfaction rating drop to 794 from 804, on a 1,000 point scale, J.D. Power stated, in this Monday, June 24, news release. The Chicago Tribune filed an article on the survey’s findings and the I.I.I.’s Claire Wilkinson blogged about the Auto Insurance Study.

U.S. life insurers have miscalculated the number of customers who will exercise the lifetime guarantees included in their variable annuities and could be forced to take charges against earnings totaling billions of dollars, according to a Moody’s Investors Services report summarized in the Tuesday, June 25, print edition of The Wall Street Journal (subscription required).

The Hartford Courant and Bloomberg spoke with the I.I.I.’s Hartwig on Wednesday, June 26, about the potential insurance repercussions of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on the federal Defense of Marriage Act….Cliff Charles, director of photography for Spike Lee’s two Katrina documentaries (When the Levees Broke and If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise), is taping an interview with the I.I.I.’s Hartwig at 110 William Street, Manhattan, on Wednesday, July 10, for Charles’ upcoming film, Heart of the Shore.  It will focus on Seaside Heights, New Jersey’s recovery from Sandy. HBO has expressed an interest in airing this documentary on the storm’s one-year anniversary (October 29, 2013) but that has not as yet been finalized….The I.I.I.’s Jeanne Salvatore has been working with Consumer Reports magazine’s Jeff Blyskal and editorial researcher Sharon Riley for a story CR is preparing on the variables that go into pricing an auto insurance policy, as well as with Money Magazine’s Florida-based Lisa Gibbs for an in-depth article Gibbs is readying on various state efforts to reform their no-fault auto insurance systems.

 

Rep. Edward Markey was elected to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts in a Tuesday, June 25, special election held to fill U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s former seat.

 

An ash plume which arose earlier this week from the Pavlof Volcano, nearly 600 miles southwest of Anchorage, is disrupting air travel, according to this Tuesday, June 25, Reuters article.

Lyft, Uber, and Sidecar, ridesharing companies which enable customers to request rides using smart-phone apps, will continue operating in Los Angeles despite receiving cease and desist letters from the city’s Transportation Department, according to this Tuesday, June 25, article at The Los Angeles Times’ website.  The LA Times’ editorial board agrees with the ridesharing companies’ stance, arguing that this city agency does not have the authority to keep them from operating.

Wildfires in the southwestern part of the state prompted the evacuation of South Fork, a popular resort town, CBS News reported, in this Monday, June 24, segment.

 

The South Fork wildfire was not nearly as destructive as the wildfires about two weeks ago near Colorado Springs, which destroyed more than 500 homes and left two people dead, according to this Sunday, June 23, New York Times article.

 

Insurance Commissioner Jim Riesberg is resigning from office effective Monday, July 8, after two years in the job, according to this Friday, June 21, Denver Post story.  Doug Dean, director of the Public Utilities Commission, will serve as interim insurance commissioner until Riesberg’s permanent replacement is named.

 

Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty announced on Monday, June 24, that a life claim settlement agreement had been reached between the Office of Insurance Regulation and TIAA-CREF Life Insurance Company (TIAA) and its affiliates. The settlement focused in part on TIAA’s use of the U.S. Social Security Death Master File to locate beneficiaries.

 

The severe weather that struck the state on Thursday, June 13, caused an estimated $50 million in insurance payouts, this Monday, June 24, Insurance Department news release reported.

 

Georgia ranks number one in the U.S. in paid insurance claims from lightning-caused damage, according to an article posted to the Atlanta Journal Constitution’swebsite on Thursday, June 20. State Farm provided the news peg, reporting they paid out more than $200 million in lightning related claims nationally, with Georgia leading the country at $21 million in payouts.

 

The U.S. Supreme Court announced on Monday, June 24, that it will let stand a 2012 decision by the U.S. 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals, which threw out a multibillion dollar Katrina-related judgment against the Army Corps of Engineers, according to this same-day New Orleans Times-Picayune article. 

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer wants FEMA to restrict and/or prohibit home insurer participation in FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), if companies have issued what are deemed to be too many homeowner non-renewal notices to Long Island policyholders, according to this Monday, June 24, news release. Bloomberg and Newsday (subscription required) filed stories.

 

The Trial Lawyers Association was unable to change a state law governing when a patient can sue a doctor for malpractice, according to a Wednesday, June 26, story in The New York Daily News.

 

The Daily Oklahoman published in its Tuesday, June 25, print edition a story on how employers plan on adjusting to the state’s recently enacted workers compensation insurance law.

 

The Norfolk City Planning Commission is holding a public hearing (see first item) on Thursday, June 27, to consider changes to the zoning rules that govern properties situated in a floodplain, a critical step in addressing Norfolk’s flooding problems as well as creating flood insurance savings for property owners, this Tuesday, June 25, Virginian-Pilot op-ed piece states.

 

The I.I.I. has produced a new animated video, The I’s on Insurance: Homeowners Coverage, and it is receiving a great deal of attention on YouTube and Facebook. 

 

Lightning Safety Awareness Week is trending on Twitter this week with I.I.I. content on lightning claim facts and statistics as well as lightning safety tips being shared by insurance companies and agents. The conversation is focused primarily on how to stay safe during a storm.

 

I.I.I. president Bob Hartwig’s commentary on the 2013 first quarter financial results for P/C insurers is proving a popular topic on Twitter. Journalists and economists are sharing Hartwig’s analysis and remarking how the profitability of the industry rebounded sharply in the first quarter of 2013.  

The New Orleans Times-Picayune launched a new print publication on Monday, June 24, called TP Street. It will be available at 1,500 locations and published on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, according to this Saturday, June 22, Times-Picayune article.

 

The Times-Picayune and WVUE-TV, New Orleans’ Fox affiliate, have said they will join forces on news gathering; the Baton Rouge Advocate announced a comparable deal with WWL-TV.

CNN is closing its CNN Radio unit effective Friday, June 28, TV Newser reports.

 

The publisher of New Jersey’s Star-Ledger said the paper will close at the end of this year unless a new labor contract is signed by Friday, September 27.

 

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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