SYNOPSIS – ALL INDUSTRY CONFERENCE CALL – September 11, 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, September 18, please email me at michaelb@iii.org.

NYIA is organizing two events, one on Monday, September 16, in Syracuse, and the other on Wednesday, September 18, in Manhattan, to provide government officials as well as insurance industry representatives with an opportunity to discuss the current and future state of affairs in New York related to disaster preparedness and flood readiness.

 

The National Hurricane Center said Humberto reached hurricane strength on Wednesday, September 11; Gabrielle swept across Bermuda the previous night, the Miami Herald reported.

The I.I.I.’s Bob Hartwig spoke with The San Francisco Chronicle and The Hartford Courant about the CFA’s Wednesday, September 4, news release but neither publication ran a story. Only one auto insurance website posted an article on the issue, and it included quotes from the CFA’s Robert Hunter and the I.I.I.’s Hartwig.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Assurant reached a nearly $300 million agreement to settle a lawsuit brought by borrowers who had been sold lender-placed homeowners’ insurance, according to this Tuesday, September 10, Wall Street Journal (subscription required) print edition article.

The LA Times’ Jerry Hirsch spoke with the I.I.I.’s Hartwig for an upcoming article on how self-driving vehicles could change the U.S. auto insurance market….Judy Ausuebel, a news researcher with the Associated Press, is working with the I.I.I.’s Loretta Worters for a one-year Sandy anniversary story the AP is prepping….The Connecticut Mirror’s Ana Radelat interviewed the I.I.I.’s Steve Weisbart for an article on the cost of auto insurance in that state….U.S. News and World Report’s Kimberly Palmer is interviewing the I.I.I.’s Jeanne Salvatore for an upcoming piece Palmer is doing on coverage a driver may have but does not know about (e.g., when renting a car)….San Diego Union Tribune business columnist Dan McSwain is researching the California Earthquake Authority’s (CEA) finances for a column pegged to the cost of buying a CEA policy….MP McQueen, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, is looking to develop a story for Investopedia on what happened after the New York Department of Financial Services issued this cease and desist order against Relay Rides in May 2013.

Anthony Giorgianni, a CR finance writer, said his article on the best way to purchase insurance for jewelry is likely to appear in the November 2013 edition. Giorgianni worked with the I.I.I.’s Worters and Mike Barry on this story.

Government subsidies for crop insurance reveal how a program set up to protect farmers has developed into a system that in most years has also protected the profits of insurers, according to this Tuesday, September 10, Bloomberg article.

Governor Jan Brewer is appealing FEMA’s denial of federal disaster aid for Yarnell in the wake of this summer’s deadly wildfire, according to a Wednesday, September 4, news release.

 

The Clover Fire (Shasta County) engulfed more than 7,400 acres and destroyed 80 structures as of Tuesday, September 10, according to the Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention.

 

The Morgan Fire (Contra Costa County), north of San Francisco, had burned nearly 4,000 acres as of Monday, September 9. About 100 homes near Mount Diablo State Park were evacuated.

 

Pacific Gas & Electric announced on Monday, September 9, that it had settled nearly all of the remaining victims’ lawsuits from the September 2010 explosion which killed eight people in San Bruno, according to this San Jose Mercury News article.

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation expects an additional 120,000 of its policyholders to switch to one of 10 private home insurance companies this year, according to this Monday, September 9, segment on Tampa’s ABC affiliate.

 

Citizens had its 2014 rate hike request for coastal and personal lines accounts reduced to 6.3 percent from 7.9 percent, the Office of Insurance Regulation announced this week.

 

Greater New Orleans Inc., a pro-business group, issued a report questioning whether FEMA should “implement increases in flood insurance premiums when the agency admits it will need another year to determine how many policyholders will be affected,” according to this Wednesday, September 11, Times-Picayune article.

The owner of two Katrina-damaged shipyards released an eight-year-old insurance claim in exchange for $180 million, the Biloxi Sun Herald reported, on Tuesday, September 10.

AshBritt, retained to handle debris removal after Sandy, overbilled nine towns for their services, a state comptroller’s investigation determined.

 

One measure approved during a special legislative session on Monday, September 9, dealt with fixing a 2009 law, aimed at deterring frivolous lawsuits, that the Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional in June 2013, according to this same-day story in The Daily Oklahoman.

 

The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) believes workers compensation costs in the state will drop in 2014, The Daily Oklahoman reported on Friday, September 6.

 

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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