SYNOPSIS ALL INDUSTRY CONFERENCE CALL November 23, 2011

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, November 30, please email Mike Barry at michaelb@iii.org.

 

The news release was distributed on Tuesday, November 22; a list of states with social host liability laws can be found in the I.I.I.’s Issues Update paper on Drunk Driving (see chart at the bottom of the link). The I.I.I.’s Loretta Worters was quoted in this Associated Press story on the issue.

Eqecat issued a statement on Wednesday, November 23, saying the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season saw 18 named storms, ranking it fifth among hurricane seasons with the most named storms since 1900. Six of the 18 named storms achieved hurricane-strength winds in 2011. Hurricane Irene was the only one to make landfall on the U.S. mainland. Eqecat also announced it is hosting an online hurricane season recap seminar on Thursday, December 15, at 11 a.m., EST. 

Michael Perry, former chief executive of IndyMac Bancorp set up a website to defend himself against Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charges that he misled investors about the bank’s true financial condition before the collapse of IndyMac in 2008. The website includes a document in which Perry states a high level official at the federal Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), IndyMac’s regulator, directed and approved some of the actions cited in the SEC’s allegations. The New York Times article, which appeared on the front page of its Wednesday, November 23, print edition, discusses the dispute in great detail.

 

The lawsuits, filed on Monday, November 21, charge that the takeover of American International Group (AIG) was improper and that the FRBNY violated its duties to AIG shareholders when it intervened in AIG’s costly speculation on mortgage securities. Former AIG CEO Maurice Greenberg filed the two lawsuits on behalf of Starr International, the large AIG shareholder which he owns. The case against the U.S. Treasury Department was filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington; the case against the FRBNY was filed in Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York., according to a front-page The New York Times article, which appeared on Tuesday, November 22.

–Marcie Geffner of Bankrate.com is working on a story about New Year’s resolutions for homeowners and interviewed the I.I.I.’s Jeanne Salvatore about homeowners insurance.

–Jay McDonald of Bankrate.com interviewed the I.I.I.’s Steve Weisbart for an upcoming article about rules and regulations governing the sale of replacement life insurance policies.

–Jane Clark of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine asked the I.I.I. to estimate how much, in dollars, a typical homeowners insurance policy covered. The I.I.I.’s Bob Hartwig calculated it was about $235,000, based on an analysis of the latest National Association of Insurance Commissioners data.

–The I.I.I.’s Mike Barry responded in writing, at the request of Body Shop Business magazine, to an Iowa reader’s inquiry about the protocol a policyholder should follow when filing a physical damage claim.

–The I.I.I.’s Barry worked with the Pottsville, PA, Republican Herald’s Amy Marchiano for an upcoming story she is writing on how Pennsylvania has in recent years become the fourth-likeliest state in the U.S. for a driver to have a collision with a deer. 

Senator Thomas Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee told The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) this week that he may investigate a “burgeoning and controversial business in which veterans and other retirees sell some of their future pension income to investors, with an array of middlemen profiting from the transactions.”

 

The Reno Gazette Journal reported on Monday, November 21, that federal investigators are helping local authorities determine the cause of the Caughlin Fire. It began on Friday, November 18, destroying 32 homes, spreading across 2,000 acres and causing the evacuation of nearly 10,000 people. The fire was made worse by winds gusting up to 70 miles per hour, with flames as high as 100 feet passing through ravines and canyons. Nevada Insurance Commissioner Scott Kipper praised the state’s insurance community for promptly responding to the disaster.

The St. Petersburg Times interviewed I.I.I. president Bob Hartwig on his updated no-fault auto insurance ‘fraud tax’ number ($658 million), which was unveiled at the Florida Chamber of Commerce’s annual Insurance Summit late last week in Orlando. The story appeared in the paper’s Thursday, November 17, print edition. The Bradenton Herald inserted the I.I.I.’s messaging on this issue (see third paragraph from the bottom) into its Tuesday, November 22, editorial on how no-fault auto insurance fraud is adversely impacting Florida’s drivers.

 

Florida Underwriter, a National Underwriter-owned magazine, will publish its final edition in December 2011 after a 27-year run.

Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the state’s property insurer of last resort, is projected to see its statewide market share drop to 4.3 percent at year-end 2011, as compared to 5.3 percent as of year-end 2010, as more Citizens policyholders find coverage from private-sector insurers, according to a Thursday, November 17, New Orleans Times-Picayune story.

 

State Senator Ed Murray (D-New Orleans), chair of the Legislative Audit Advisory Council, publicly encouraged Daryl Purpera, Louisiana’s legislative auditor, to draft legislation aimed at giving Purpera greater access to internal Louisiana Insurance Department records. Purpera says his office has been denied these materials for years when trying to assess the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s activities, according to this Friday, November 18, Associated Press article.

 

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is due to expire on Friday, December 16, but the chance of Congress enacting a long-term NFIP extension beyond that date is unlikely, according to this Monday, November 21, article in the Mobile Press-Register. The NFIP is the primary source of flood insurance for some 5.6 million property owners. Many blame the program’s insolvency—currently $18 billion of debt—on insufficient rates, the article states.

 

The Mobile Press-Register’s editorial board wrote that, “Flood insurance needs a long-term fix,” in its Tuesday, November 22, edition. In the text, they praised Alabama Senators Richard Shelby and Thad Cochran for their work on bolstering the NFIP’s financial condition.

 

The Dallas Morning News had an editorial in its Saturday, November 19, edition, urging readers to complain to the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) if they believe they have interacted with an unethical auto insurer. The editorial came only days after the paper published an article pegged to TDI statistics showing two companies, Fred Loya Insurance Company and Old American County Mutual Insurance Company, have complaint rates far higher than the state average.

Attorney General Martha Coakley is urging state insurance regulators to scrutinize premium rate hike requests sought by coastal property insurers, this Thursday, November 17, Boston Globe article explains, arguing that the models these insurers employ overstate the hurricane risk. The story also notes the state’s Division of Insurance is holding a public hearing on Monday, December 19, in Boston to discuss a proposed 7-plus percent premium rate increase request from the Massachusetts Property Insurance Underwriting Association (the FAIR Plan).

The New York State Assembly is holding a public hearing on Thursday, December 1, at 1 p.m. in Albany to receive an update on the integration of the state’s Banking and Insurance Departments. The two agencies merged in October 2011, creating the New York State Department of Financial Services.

 

The Michigan state Senate held a hearing on Tuesday, November 22, about reforming the state’s workers compensation system. The session was summarized in this Michigan Radio report.

 

Sugarland, the band scheduled to play at the Indiana State Fair on the night of a deadly stage collapse in August 2011, was among the defendants named in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, November 22, in Marion County Superior Court in Indianapolis, the AP reports.

–The tweet of the week goes to the aforementioned I.I.I. release from Tuesday, November 22, about social host liability. It is being shared by insurance agents and reporters all around Twitter.

 

–Another popular topic this week in social media is cyber security and avoiding identity theft on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the traditional start of the holiday shopping season. Reporters are talking about the ways consumers can protect themselves. 

 

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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