SYNOPSIS ALL INDUSTRY CONFERENCE CALL October 10, 2012

If there is a subject you would like to see addressed on Wednesday, October 17, please email Mike Barry at michaelb@iii.org.

 

NHTSA issued this news release on Wednesday, October 10, and their announcement quickly gained national media attention. The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) has a backgrounder on air bag theft and fraud on its website. Roger Morris, the NICB’s chief communications officer, briefed the group on how his organization has been working closely with governmental agencies on this issue, with a consensus emerging that anywhere from 13,000 to 250,000 vehicles nationwide may be at risk of having counterfeit air bags in them.

Private U.S. property/casualty (P/C) insurers’ net income after taxes jumped to $16.4 billion in first-half 2012 from $4.8 billion in first-half 2011, with insurers’ overall profitability as measured by their annualized rate of return on average policyholders’ surplus climbing to 5.9 percent from 1.7 percent, according to a Thursday, October 4, news release. I.I.I. president Bob Hartwig offered this commentary on the numbers.

Donations from the personal giving campaign will benefit four nonprofit organizations chosen by the IICF regional division boards: Feeding America, St. Baldrick’s Foundation, Starlight Children’s Foundation and the Wounded Warrior Project, according to this Wednesday, October 10, IICF news release.

The Weather Channel, being a private company rather than governmental agency, is not in a position to name winter storms for the 2012-2013 season, according to Weather Channel critics quoted in this Friday, October 5, Bloomberg article.

The number of natural disasters per year has been rising dramatically on all continents since 1980 but the trend is steepest for North America, a new report from Munich Re states. The reinsurer’s study served as the news peg to this Wednesday, October 10, USA Today article.

Citizens Property Insurance Corp. held a Depopulation Committee meeting on Tuesday, October 9; their news release offers additional information on the Citizens Surplus Notes program.

 

The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) said Florida’s workers compensation insurance rates need to be raised 6.1 percent next year, primarily because of an increase in losses and trend projections.Workers compensation rates declined after the state legislature enacted reforms in 2003 but they have gone up the past two years, according to a Thursday, October 4, Florida Current story.

Yes on Prop 33 television advertisements are being broadcast statewide and Consumer Watchdog is complaining about them, arguing that Sacramento-based Marketplace Communications, the company that produced the TV spots, should have volunteered that the on-air testimonials were made by their employees. The NBC affiliate in San Francisco filed a story on the dispute.

 

The I.I.I.’s Hartwig strongly disputed a New Orleans housing advocate’s implication that the rising cost of homeowners insurance premiums have contributed to some Louisiana mortgage foreclosures. This American Public Media radio segment was broadcast on Los Angeles’ KCRW-FM and Washington, D.C.’s WAMU-FM on Tuesday, October 9.

 

On Monday, October 1, a three-judge federal appeals court upheld Zach Scruggs’ conviction in the judicial corruption scheme that sent Zach and his father, Dickie Scruggs, to jail.

 

The 5^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has asked parties involved in a personal injury lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Mississippi’s $1 million cap on noneconomic damages to re-brief the issue, which dates back to a 2005 case involving Lisa Learmonth, who was injured in a collision with a Sears van in Mississippi in 2005. A federal jury determined in 2008 that Sears was liable for Learmonth’s injuries and awarded her $4 million without detailing how much of the award was meant for noneconomic damages, according to this Tuesday, October 9, story from the Associated Press.

 

Tulsa World reported in its Friday, October 5, print edition that Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingham told the Tulsa Metro Chamber that workers compensation reform is his top priority for next year’s legislative session while calling the current workers comp system the number one obstacle to business growth in the state.

The Delaware Department of Insurance is holding a public hearing on Friday, November 2, at 10 a.m. in Wilmington to discuss the Delaware Compensation Rating Bureau’s proposed workers compensation insurance premium rate increase filing. 

Roger Sevigny will likely remain the state’s insurance commissioner, no matter who wins the state’s gubernatorial election next month, according to an online video report posted earlier this week by A.M. Best. Sevigny’s five-year term in his current, appointive post comes up for renewal in 2013.

 

The I.I.I.’s Monday, October 8, press release about the insurance implications of cohabiting is getting some attention on Twitter and Facebook, with reporters, agents and insurance groups sharing the content and talking about the best ways to cover the increasing number of people living in these shared environments.  

 

A Wednesday, October 10, CNN Money blog post about how to handle your finances once your kids have finally moved away from home is trending this week. With offspring leaving the nest later, today’s empty-nesters have less savings and more debt than previous generations. The blog lists ways to help with finances, and calls for re-evaluating and cutting back on some insurance coverage. The CNN Money content has been reposted to insurance and consumer-savings blogs, with much of the conversation revolving around how best to reassess the insurance needs of empty-nesters.

 

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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