SYNOPSIS ALL INDUSTRY CONFERENCE CALL March 14, 2012

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

 

If there is a subject you would like to see addressed on Wednesday, March 21, please email Mike Barry at Michaelb@iii.org

 

Ron Lieber of the NYT spoke with the I.I.I.’s Loretta Worters and a number of I.I.I. member companies about the issue. The article is primarily centered on the peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace with a focus on Relay Rides and its insurance implications. On Tuesday, March 6, WABC news did a story on the service as did NPR on Monday, March 5, on the roll-out of the product nationwide.

In January 2012 employment in the various subsectors of the insurance industry generally fell, both in relation to the prior month and to the same month a year earlier, the I.I.I. found. 

The Cuomo administration, New York State’s attorney general, and Manhattan’s U.S. attorney have in recent weeks made news with either regulatory or law enforcement announcements relating to no-fault auto insurance, which were chronicled in this Wednesday, March 14, I.I.I. media advisory.

Matt Stroud interviewed the I.I.I.’s Mike Barry for a story that will likely examine how private-sector insurers have over time reduced their exposure in disaster-prone parts of the U.S.

VerdictSearch, a National Law Journal affiliate, determined that the top monetary award last year was a $150.4 billion judgment in a wrongful death suit against a man who, when he was 13, set an 8-year-old on fire. The story was posted online on Monday, March 12 (a subscription is required to gain access to the complete list of verdicts).

The Wall Street Journal reported in its Tuesday, March 13, print edition (subscription required) that two homes in Tennessee were allowed to burn over the past two years because the homeowners had not paid a required $75 annual fee to local firefighters.

Climate Central, a Princeton, New Jersey-based firm, had its findings published in Environmental Research Letters, according to the article. The New York Times print edition on Wednesday, March 14, briefly mentions the implications of rising seas for the National Flood Insurance Program and state-sponsored property insurers of last resort.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers have found that, when motorists’ minds become closely focused on any topic, they pay less attention to potential road hazards, according to this Wednesday, March 14, USA Today article.

 

California’s two U.S. Senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, are opposed to the Obama administration’s proposed 2013 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) budget because it calls for $4.6 million in reductions to tsunami warning and preparedness programs, this Tuesday, March 13, San Jose Mercury News story reported.

 

Illinois state officials estimated about $3 million in federal aid would be needed to help Illinois rebuild, or repair, homes and businesses destroyed by a tornado that swept through Harrisburg, Illinois, killing seven people, on Wednesday, February 29.  But FEMA has to date declined to offered financial assistance to Illinois in the aftermath of the disaster, according to this Tuesday, March 13, story in The Chicago Tribune.

 

Rep. Robert Turner (R-New York City) announced this week his intention to seek the Republican nomination to run this year against U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

The Albany Times Union’s Tuesday, March 13, print edition had a front-page story on the insurance industry’s response to Hurricane Irene last summer. The article was pegged to a state Senate Insurance Committee hearing on the topic, which was held on the previous day.

The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs issued a news release on Tuesday, March 13, to announce that the state’s Office of Regulatory Reinvention had released a report to Governor Snyder “containing 46 recommendations for improving Michigan’s insurance and finance regulations while continuing to protect Michigan’s consumers.”

The I.I.I. has been invited to submit a column on the implications of the just-approved personal injury protection (PIP) reform bill to El Sentinel, the Orlando-based Spanish weekly newspaper, in the wake of the passage of House Bill 119 in the Florida state Legislature on Friday, March 9. The American Insurance Association’s news release from that same day offers details (see third paragraph) on how the measure will change the auto insurance industry in the state, if signed into law by Governor Scott.

 

Orlando’s ABC affiliate (WFTV)  is preparing a special investigative news report for broadcast during the May 2012 sweeps week that will spotlight the substantial fees attorneys receive after settling certain PIP claim disputes. Reporter Jamie Holmes has already contacted some insurers, and the I.I.I. has provided Holmes with instances in which this has occurred from the Florida Justice Reform Institute. Holmes would like insurers to provide to him specific court case numbers for what the reporter called ‘egregious judgments’ that also show how much money went to claimants, and what percentage their lawyer received. You can send the information to forward to the reporter to the I.I.I.’s Lynne McChristian (lynnem@iii.org). Alternatively, I.I.I. member companies can contact the reporter directly at jamie.holmes@wftv.com or 407-792-9298.  The I.I.I. expects to be interviewed for this story in late March.

The Mobile Press-Register reported that the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale (SSHWS) is undergoing a minor modification for 2012. The change broadens the Category 4 wind speed range by one mile per hour (mph) at each end of the range, yielding a new range of 130-156 mph. The announcement was made by the National Weather Service.

 

The Press-Register had a story in its Monday, March 12, edition on how Baldwin County enacted a new building code in January 2012. It is being implemented this spring by one of the two counties in the state that border the Gulf of Mexico.

 

Louisiana’s property insurer of last resort, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, is filing for an average 10.5 percent statewide rate increase for its 116,449 homeowners policyholders, according to this Sunday, March 11, article in the Baton Rouge Advocate.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported on Friday, March 9, that The Ehrhardt Group, a New Orleans-based public relations firm, has been retained to provide corporate communications services to Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. 

The Mississippi House passed House Bill 1410 on Tuesday, March 13. The legislation would, if enacted, require insurers in five counties to offer discounts to policyholders whose residential properties meet Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) standards, the Associated Press reports. The five counties are Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Pearl River and Stone.

The Daily Oklahoman reported on Tuesday, March 13, the final day of inaugural National Tornado Preparedness Summit in Oklahoma City, that Oklahoma insurers have paid out more than $1 billion in catastrophe-related claims in recent years. 

 

Homeowners insurance was a trending in social media topic this week, rate hikes being the most mentioned topic, perhaps because of the Friday, March 9, posting of this Smart Money article.  On Twitter, journalists and consumer advocacy groups are tweeting about what many envision will be a national average increase of 5 percent in 2012 due in part to the severe weather numerous states have seen in recent years. The same issue is also appearing on a lot of blogs written by local news outlets, many of which cite the I.I.I.

 

Along with talk of potential premium rate hikes for homeowners, there are also articles being shared about being sure homeowners are adequately covered and that their policies are up to date. 

One thing we did not have a chance to mention at the end of the call: CNN is said to be in talks that may lead to an acquisition of Mashable , a social news website, for upwards of $200 million, The New York Times reported on Monday, March 12.

 

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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