Insurance Law
Insurance Claims and Issues 
Insurance coverage and the duties of good faith and fair dealing as presented in claims and as ruled on by courts across the nation.
Post Frequency: 2.6/day Last Entry: November 15, 2009 at 19:36:56 Recent Entries: 771
By Dennis J. Wall
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Health Insurers, United States Senate: Why "Federal" and "Regulation" Incompatible.
Posted on November 15, 2009Some folks say that Insurance Regulation of Health and other Insurance Companies would be better handled by the Federal Government than by State Governments. States have regulated the business of Insurance for almost 150 years. Arguments are made for and...
Group Health Insurance Premiums Rise as Small Businesses Fall.
Posted on November 15, 2009Across the nation, owners of small businesses are reporting that their Health Insurance Companies are raising Premiums by double digits, from 10% to 25% and in some cases by 35%, 47%, and perhaps even more. See Robert Weisman, "Small Businesses...
Fact-Based Florida Bad Faith, Holding: Includes "No Formal Offer".
Posted on November 14, 2009Florida Courts consistently hold that Florida is a fact-based Bad-Faith jurisdiction. Florida's Second District Court of Appeal recently reversed a Summary Judgment entered by a Trial Court in favor of a Liability Insurance Company in a Bad Faith Failure to...
Health Insurance, "Unconventional Treatments," "Alternative Practitioners" and Coverage.
Posted on November 14, 2009So-called "unconventional treatments" are increasingly covered by many Health Insurance Policies and Plans. Some "alternative practitioners" may be on your or your client's Health Insurer's approved list. "Preauthorization" may be required in order to receive "unconventional treatments," whether or not...
"Actions have consequences."--"No EOB Deadline, No ... Statutory Cause"--CONTINUED.
Posted on November 13, 2009"However, actions have consequences." Download United Automobile Insurance Co. v. A 1st Choice Healthcare Sys's, Inc. (Fla. 3d DCA Opinion Filed November 4, 2009), at 6. Consider what those consequences can include, in this further post of what the Florida...
Disclosure of Insurance Policy in Discovery: Non-disclosure Draws Sanctions.
Posted on November 13, 2009In a recent Bad Faith case, a Louisiana Appellate Court affirmed a Trial Judge's assessment of sanctions against an Insurance Company which failed to provide an Insurance Policies in discovery in one lawsuit, which it had issued to a Policyholder-Defendant...
Replacement Income Models for Retirement, Catastrophe Models Same Flaw: GIGO.
Posted on November 12, 2009Their shared flaw? "Garbage In, Garbage Out" ("GIGO"). 70 percent of current income is the model widely used for calculating the amount of income you will need when you retire. Unfortunately, that model, like Catastrophe Models, is not based on...
No EOB Deadline, No Private or Implied Statutory Cause of Action.
Posted on November 11, 2009In a newly released Florida Appellate Court decision, the Court confronted two issues involving Florida Statute Section 627.736(4)(2004), which was and is a subsection of Florida's Personal Injury Protection or "PIP" Statute. The first issue was whether the Florida Statute...
Adjusting Your Counseling on Mental Health Insurance Coverage.
Posted on November 10, 2009Adjusting to changing times and changing Insurance Coverages. In a new report by Lesley Alderman, "Patient Money/In Anxious Times, Medical Help for the Mind as Well as the Body" p. B5, col. 1 (New York Times Nat'l ed., "Business Day"...
UPDATE: Alternative Restitution Sources for Chinese Drywall Claims -- Not Insurance Companies.
Posted on November 09, 2009Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) reports that in his judgment, a source of payment for Chinese Drywall Damages Claims other than Insurance is: The Chinese Government. However, he also announced on Friday, November 6, 2009 that when he broached this idea....
Medicare Open Enrollment Selection Time, Too: Advice Sources ....
Posted on November 06, 2009In a recent post, I made available to you and your clients a link for sources of advice in the selection process of open enrollment for Employer-provided Group Health Insurance Plans. This is the time of year that open enrollment...
(Some) Features of House Bill (Possibly) Can Be Described, Now.
Posted on November 05, 2009Once there were three (3) Healthcare Reform bills pending in the U.S. House of Representatives. Now there is (kind of) one. It is fair to say that the work of merging the three bills into one bill, is still a...
Insurance Disclosure Statute, Compliance and Settlement Issues: New Florida Case.
Posted on November 04, 2009A new decision in a Florida case addresses many issues: Compliance with Florida's Insurance Disclosure Statute is only one of those issues in Download Hanson v. Maxfield (Fla. 1st DCA Opinion Filed October 30, 2009). The Florida Statute involved is...
Open Enrollment For Employer-Provided Group Health Insurance: Advice Sources ....
Posted on November 03, 2009Sources of advice for you and your clients concerning the choices embedded in Employer-Based or Employer-Provided Group Health Insurance Plans are offered in this linked newspaper article, by Elizabeth Cooney, "Apples to Apples?/During Open Enrollment Time, it Can Really Pay...
Chinese Drywall: "Not a Health Risk," Say Federal Agencies.
Posted on November 02, 2009In a new development possibly affecting pending and future Insurance Coverage Claims, the Federal Centers for Disease Control has concluded that, at this time, Chinese Drywall "does not pose a health risk." See William E. Gibson and Paul Owers, "Evidence...
Link to Advice Source on Purchasing Automobile Insurance Coverage.
Posted on October 30, 2009Insurance Coverage in Automobile Liability Insurance Policies is at the heart of this useful newspaper report, with many sources mentioned in it for you to follow up, containing helpful advice on purchasing Automobile Liability Insurance Policies generally: Julie Patel, "News...
"Reasonable Basis" for Denying Coverage, Thus No Bad Faith: Unpublished.
Posted on October 29, 2009In an unpublished decision under New Jersey law, a Federal Judge was confronted with a Bad Faith Claim against an Insurance Company which had issued a Policy that the Court called "a businessowner's policy". Download Laverde v. Sirius Am. Ins....
Expert Witness Protected From Discovery Intimidation in Insurance Case.
Posted on October 27, 2009"This case presents issues of first impression regarding the proper scope of discovery into an expert witness's purported bias." Download American Family Mut. Ins. Co. v. Hon. Larry Grant (Ariz. Ct. App., Div. One, Opinion Filed October 8, 2009), attached...
Florida Homeowner's Insurance Premiums Continue to Increase ... When Available.
Posted on October 26, 2009In a continuous development that has only begun in Florida, Homeowner's Insurance Companies have satisfied State Insurance Regulators of their need to charge higher Premiums. See Julie Patel, "Homeowner Rates: Regulators OK Insurance Increases" (South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Friday, October 23,...
House Judiciary Committee Votes to Regulate Health Insurance Companies ...
Posted on October 23, 2009... Can Property, Casualty, Life and Other Insurance Companies be far behind? The Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly this week to regulate Health Insurance Companies. A majority of the House Judiciary Committee voted to repeal...
Push For Premiums, Pushback From Politicians -- Health Insurance Heats Up.
Posted on October 22, 2009Health Insurance Companies reportedly are ready to launch a bare-knuckles fight to secure the greater Premiums they thought they had already negotiated in deals with the White House. They have clearly taken the gloves off. They are not bound by...
Duke Disputes Directors and Officers Insurance Coverage, and Bad Faith.
Posted on October 21, 2009Duke University sued its D&O Carrier, National Union Fire, for failing to pay costs connected with settlement, and defense expenses, plus for National Union's alleged Bad Faith in handling Duke's Coverage Claims. The settlement costs and defense expenses were allegedly...
Chinese Drywall: Insurers Drop Policyholders For Failure to Repair? UPDATE
Posted on October 20, 2009This updates a post here from Tuesday, October 13, 2009. Newspapers report that now two (2) Homeowner's Insurance Companies in Florida may be dropping Policyholders for failure to repair their homes after Damage allegedly caused by Chinese Drywall. The Homeowner's...
Open Covenants, Openly Arrived At: C-SPAN Cameras on the Way?
Posted on October 19, 2009This carries forward the discussion of an issue or two in the post here on Friday, October 16, 2009. During the 2008 Presidential Campaign, the successful candidate received much applause and many votes when he announced that Health Reform talks...
Secret Meetings, Secret Handshakes ... Public Option?
Posted on October 16, 2009Mr. Rahm Emmanuel has been publicized a lot lately. The Obama Administration has been pursuing a stealth Health Reform agenda, you might say, and Mr. Emmanuel has been its most active agent. The results are coming in. First up: After...
Annual Review Time For Group Health Insurance Plans.
Posted on October 15, 2009It is time for your and your clients' annual review of Employer-based Group Health Insurance Plans. Predictions, expectations and what to look for, are explored by Lesley Alderman in "Patient Money/It's Time for the Annual Task of Choosing Your Insurance...
Lex Loci Contract Interpretation of Insurance Contracts Considered.
Posted on October 14, 2009In a recent case, a Federal Judge applied the Florida choice of law rules for interpreting contract provisions. Quoting the Florida State Courts, the Federal Judge wrote that "[t]he rule as applied to insurance contracts 'provides that the law of...
Chinese Drywall Insurance: Dropping Policyholders For Failure to Repair?
Posted on October 13, 2009The nightmare of Chinese Drywall Claims has gotten more nightmarish. Homeowners have made Claims under their Homeowner's Insurance Policies. Their Homeowner's Insurance Companies have denied the Claims, chiefly on the basis of Pollution Exclusions. Now, at least one Homeowner's Insurer...
National Health Care Insurance Exchanges, Reformed From Disastrous Florida Experience.
Posted on October 12, 2009National Health Care Insurance Exchanges are at issue in the upcoming vote on the Healthcare Reform Bills in the U.S. Senate Finance Committee scheduled for Tuesday, October 13, 2009. Health Insurance Exchanges, also known as co-ops, were a disastrous failure...
"Bogus" Bill; Option Healthy: "MAYBE the Fix is NOT on!"
Posted on October 09, 2009"Open covenants, openly arrived at." Woodrow Wilson, the last previous President of the United States before President Barack Obama, to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while in office. Health Insurance Companies made a deal in the Spring with the...
More on CATClaims Coverage for Interrupted Vacations.
Posted on October 08, 2009A few people have a lot of money to spend. Some people who are spending money on travel are willing to also spend money on Insurance Premiums. For these fortunate persons and those who advise them, another newspaper article explores...
KPMG and D&O Insurance Back in News, Again in Courts.
Posted on October 07, 2009After a news hiatus of some two years, KPMG and Insurance Coverage Issues surrounding its Director's and Officer's Liability Coverage have returned to the news and to the Courts. Former KPMG partner David Greenberg was "charged with using tax shelters...
Will Health Insurance Companies Reduce Coverage After Mandate?
Posted on October 06, 2009Caution flags are running up the flag pole. If a Mandate passes the U.S. Congress that all persons in the United States shall have Health Insurance, thus delivering a bountiful pool of Policy Premiums to existing Health Insurance Companies, will...
Defendant's Expert's Report More Than a Rebuttal: Strike or Supplement?
Posted on September 30, 2009Whether to strike a Defendant's Expert Witness's Report, or allow the Plaintiff's Expert to Supplement "its rebuttal expert report" was the question at issue in this recent non-Insurance case: Download Southern Pan Services Co. v. S.B. Ballard Construction Co...
Some people reportedly are arguing
Posted on September 29, 2009Some people reportedly are arguing that a requirement to have Health Insurance is Unconstitutional. See Katharine Q. Seelye, Prescriptions Blog Post Published as "Insurance Mandate: The Legal Issues" p. 20, col. 5 (New York Times, Sunday, September 27, 2009)...
Overwhelming Support, Unheard So Far, Favors Public Health Insurance Option.
Posted on September 28, 200965% of people in America support the Federal Government offering everyone a government-administered Health Insurance Plan like Medicare that would compete with private Health Insurance Companies. Adam Nagourney and Dalia Sussman, "Poll Finds Frustration on War and Health Plan" p...
Capital Requirements Hiked for Banks; Reserves Up/Down for Life?
Posted on September 25, 2009The Obama Administration plans to curb financial excess and failure by imposing higher Capital requirements on Financial Institutions. See Download Treasury Secretary T.F. Geithner Written Testimony Before U.S. House Financial Services Committee 09.23...
Value of Hedge Funds to Insurers Plunges, Insurers Say "Goodbye."
Posted on September 24, 2009Insurers have in the past invested happily in hedge funds. However, hedge funds in recent months have reportedly returned 25 percent losses. There is reportedly an even greater loss in value to investors in hedge funds, greater even than the...
Insurance Regulators Confab Over Credit Ratings Corporations.
Posted on September 23, 2009Insurance is reportedly the largest single industry among all U.S. Financial Services providers, that relies on ratings by Credit Ratings Corporations. The source of this information is the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Lilla Zuill, "NY Insurance Official Raises Concerns...
Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and Their Attorney-Client Privileges.
Posted on September 22, 2009The merger and acquisition by Bank of America with and of Merrill Lynch has drawn scrutiny from several points of the compass. One was a rejected Consent Settlement Judgment engineered between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Bank of America;...
Chinese Drywall: The NON-Insurance-Related Claims.
Posted on September 21, 2009An interesting post on "Venture" Blog post by Robert Trigaux on St. Petersburg Times Online on August 12, 2009, "Tainted Chinese Drywall: Regulators, Judges, Lawyers Moving Into Fast(er) Lane," points out several alternatives to Insurance that are being pursued at...
CATClaims Coverage for ... Interrupted Vacations.
Posted on September 18, 2009Do you have plans to vacation in Cancun? Vieques? The Mexican Riviera? Some people spend more money on travel than some families have to spend on food in a year. Finding Insurance Coverage for expensive travel plans and locating alternative...
California Wildfires Drive Increases in Premium, Decreases in Homeowner's Coverage Decreases
Posted on September 17, 2009Wildfires in California are driving up Homeowners Insurance Premiums. According to this linked newspaper report, the same wildfires may also drive future decreases in Homeowners Insurance Coverage. Marc Lifsher, "Insurance/California Homeowners Facing Insurance Rate Hikes" (Los Angeles Times Online, Tuesday,...
Privileges and Claim File Documents in Ohio Bad Faith Claim.
Posted on September 16, 2009Privileges and Claim File Documents were one of the issues in an Ohio Bad Faith Claim pending in Federal Court in Download In re Professionals Direct Insurance Co. (6th Cir. Opinion Filed August 24, 2009). Professionals Direct Insurance Company was...
APPEAL IN Maldonado CASE: POSTED 07.23.09.
Posted on September 15, 2009The Maldonado decision of the Southern District of Florida, posted here on July 23, 2009, was affirmed by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Download Maldonado v. First Liberty Insurance Corp. (11th Cir. Opinion Filed August 17, 2009). Please...
Health Plans, But No Dental Plan?
Posted on September 15, 2009Very few people have Dental Insurance. Those that have Health Insurance Plans that Cover some Dental procedures have Coverage that just does not go very far. See generally Walecia Konrad, "How to Manage Dental Costs, With or Without Insurance" p....
If Commercial Construction Loans Default, Insurance and Bond Claims May Follow.
Posted on September 13, 2009Fears continue of possible mass defaults on many Commercial Construction Loans. Fear of Default has been embedded in the Commercial Construction Loan Market for months. See generally Floyd Norris, "Off the Charts/Construction Loans Falter, a Bad Omen for Banks" p...
UPDATE to "Accountable Accounting ...."
Posted on September 11, 2009.... This is an UPDATE to a post here on August 21, 2009. In addition to blaming lawyers for the financial fiasco they made themselves, Wall Streeters are reportedly also blaming CPA's: See Floyd Norris, "High & Low Finance/Accountants Misled...
More Insurance Issues and not-so-Great Drywall of China: ...
Posted on September 10, 2009... Property Insurance Policies and Their Pollution Exclusions. As was the previously posted situation concerning Commercial General Liability ("CGL") Insurance Policies, no reported cases have been found involving Chinese Drywall and Property Insurance Policies...
If Settlement Offer (by Plaintiff) Refused Not Reasonable, ...
Posted on September 09, 2009... Liability Insurer's Coverage conduct apparently held beside the point in California Case of alleged Bad Faith in Settlement--at least in terms of what a Bad Faith Plaintiff must prove in such a Case. In the case of Download Vaid-Raizada...
Reliance on Preexisting Case Law Since Rejected, Held Not Unreasonable.
Posted on September 08, 2009Accordingly, California's Second District Court of Appeal was of the opinion that there could be no First-Party Bad Faith for that reason, "[f]irst and foremost". There was one and only one reported judicial decision available on the legal issue involved...
"Property Damage" and the Not-So-Great Drywall of China: ....
Posted on September 04, 2009.... The Coverage Issues Continue. Commercial General Liability or "CGL" Insurance Policies are the main kind of Liability Insurance Policies issued to general contractors and to subcontractors on construction projects. They are then the main kind of Liability Insurance Policies...
Calling All Mediators: Help Lenders, Borrowers in Foreclosure Mediations, Avoid Evictions.
Posted on September 03, 2009A Task Force assembled by the Supreme Court of Florida recently recommended that all of Florida's Trial Courts adopt a policy to require Mediations in Foreclosure Cases. This is part of an effort to avoid evicting people from their homes...
"Do Overs" Do Not Avoid Accruing Prejudgment Interest!
Posted on September 02, 2009Prejudgment interest on a loss payable under a First-Party Insurance Policy like a Homeowners Policy is governed by this general rule: Prejudgment interest on the loss is recoverable from the date payment is due under the provisions of the Insurance....
Contentious Contention Interrogatories Modified, Only Then Compelled.
Posted on September 01, 2009Contention Interrogatories "seek all facts that support a particular contention." When modified "to seek 'the material or principal facts' instead of 'all facts'" they may be appropriate for a Motion to Compel. See Download Mancini v. Insurance Corporation of New...
Rescisssion? Not so Fast! It Could Be Bad Faith. Maybe.
Posted on August 31, 2009Procentury Insurance Company issued a Commercial Ocean and Marine Insurance Policy to Harbor House Club Condominium Association. Harbor House owned wharves and piers. They were damaged by a storm in 2008. Within 7 months, Procentury denied Harbor House's Claim to...
Discovery of Documents Provided to Experts in Insurance Case.
Posted on August 28, 2009Discovery regarding Expert Witnesses in an Insurance Case was at issue in Download Mancini v. Insurance Corporation of New York (S.D. Cal. Order of Stormes, United States Magistrate Judge, Filed June 18, 2009). The discovering party served a Request for...
No ERISA and No COBRA, But No Bad Faith Appeal.
Posted on August 26, 2009In a recent appeal from a ruling of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals was confronted with Issues, among others, of ERISA, COBRA, and whether there was Bad Faith...
Chinese Drywall Damages: Coverage Issues--PART TWO: "Bodily Injury" Liability.
Posted on August 25, 2009Part One of this post set the background behind CGL Insurance Coverage Issues for Chinese Drywall Claims. The installation of Chinese Drywall in homes built in the United States has resulted in many Bodily Injury and Property Damage Claims arising...
Chinese Drywall Damages: Some Insurance Coverage Issues--PART ONE.
Posted on August 24, 2009Commentators are easy to find on Insurance Coverage Issues surrounding Chinese Drywall Claims. No reported Cases decided by Courts have been found, however. Until actual Cases have been decided, general principles of Insurance Law must predict the outcome of Insurance...
Accountable Accounting by Life and Health Insurance Companies 101.
Posted on August 21, 2009We always knew that changing accounting rules was poor Regulation. Now we know that it is also poor accounting. In this Commentary by Jonathan Weil, "Insurers' Biggest Writedowns May be Yet to Come" (Bloomberg.com Thursday, August 20, 2009), commentary is...
More Bad News Reported From Life Insurance Companies, AIG, Bailouts.
Posted on August 20, 2009A recent article by a knowledgeable and respected business reporter, Mary Williams Walsh, highlights the poor results displayed by Life Insurance Companies and by AIG both: "A.I.G. Posts its First Quarterly Profit Since 2007" p. B2, col. 1 (New York....
Expert Witness Stricken as Sanction for Announced Discovery, Order Violations.
Posted on August 19, 2009A Plaintiff Policyholder's Expert Witness was stricken as a sanction in Download Bray & Gillespie Mgt. v. Lexington Insurance Co. (M.D. Fla. Order of Magistrate Judge Filed August 3, 2009). The Policyholder's Expert Witness was proffered in that case on...
Your Own Private Unemployment Insurance?
Posted on August 18, 2009Interesting concepts of private unemployment Insurance are explored by Ron Lieber, "Your Money/Insure Yourself Against a Job Loss? Good Luck" p. B1, col. 1 (New York Times Nat'l ed., "Business Day" Section, Saturday, August 7, 2009), for reasons know to...
State Farm Dropping Discounts on the Way Out of Florida?
Posted on August 17, 2009State Farm is the largest Property Insurance Company in Florida measured by Premium volume. It wants to increase its income in Florida by reducing discounted Premiums. Some folks say this is a backdoor way of increasing Premiums without filing for...
Construction Defect Claims and "Occurrrences" in Florida: Chinese Drywall Next.
Posted on August 14, 2009This is PART TWO of a post begun on August 5, 2009. Things changed in Florida Insurance Law in December, 2007, mirroring a change in Insurance Law across the nation. That is at least partly because the relevant CGL Exclusion...
No Storms Proof to Some Catastrophes Are On the Way.
Posted on August 13, 2009There have been no named storms so far this year in Florida. Knock on wood (you cannot see me right now, but I am tapping my forehead). This is good news for most of us. Even the Computer Models used...
When "Known Loss" IS Known From the Insurance Policy.
Posted on August 12, 2009In a previous post, the so-called shorthand 'doctrine' of 'known loss' was explored in case law that found little or no support for it in the Insurance Policy at hand. In contrast, a United States District Judge explored "known loss"...
HEALTH COOPERATIVES: TOO SMALL NOT TO FAIL ON NATIONAL SCALE?
Posted on August 11, 2009.... COOP ALTERNATIVE TO PUBLIC HEALTH INSURANCE COMPETITION? PART TWO The post here on Friday, August 7, 2009, "Coop Alternative to Public Health Insurance Competition," is a springboard for this post. Using the same good linked reporting as a well-informed...
UPDATE ON Downfall OF HARTFORD, LINCOLN NATIONAL ...
Posted on August 10, 2009... FIRST TWO TO TAP TARP FOR LIFE. This is an update on the post in these Categories on June 19, 2009. The first -- and so far, the only -- Life Insurance Companies to take TARP money from the...
Health Insurance: Digital Medical Records Modernize Care, Premiums Likely Affected.
Posted on August 08, 2009One of the ways of reducing costs for Health Care, and thus eventually reducing the Premiums for Health Insurance Coverage to pay for that Health Care, lies in the task of digitizing medical records. Recent developments in this area are...
Coop Alternative to Public Health Insurance Competition? PART ONE.
Posted on August 07, 2009United Agricultural Benefit Trust, which is a nonprofit health cooperative with almost 15,000 members from California and Arizona, is being touted by some as a viable alternative to a national Public Health Insurance option. Here are some of the features...
No Duty to Defend, No Indemnity For Insured's Settlement.
Posted on August 06, 2009It is settled law, in Florida as elsewhere, that where a Liability Insurance Company does not have a duty to defend under a Liability Insurance Policy, it does not have any duty to indemnify the Insured's settlement of underlying claims,...
Construction Defect Claims and an Occurrence in Florida ....
Posted on August 05, 2009THIS IS THE FIRST OF TWO PARTS. Florida Insurance Law is an example of Comprehensive General Liability Insurance Issues arising from Construction Defect Claims. Specifically, it is an example of how things have changed in that arena. This example begins...
Health Insurance Companies, U.S. House Members, Accountable and Attack.
Posted on August 04, 2009A card given to Democratic Members of Congress by their leadership before they headed home for the August recess is reportedly entitled, "Health Insurance Reform to Hold Insurance Companies Accountable". David Rogers, "Pelosi Outlines August Plan of Attack" (Friday, July...
When "Known Loss" is Not Known From the Insurance Policy.
Posted on August 03, 2009Courts are often interpreting Insurance Policies without looking at the language in which the Insurance Policies are printed. Cases are sometimes decided as a result based on a so-called "doctrine" that changes from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and sometimes from Judge...
Health Insurance Companies Demand to Offer Public No Option.
Posted on July 31, 2009Health Insurance Companies are in favor of requiring every person in America to have Health Insurance, so long as they are the only ones offering the Health Insurance. The Health Insurance Companies are in favor of a mandate for every...
State Farm, Already Moving Out, Leaving Florida Mitigation Discounts Behind?
Posted on July 30, 2009State Farm has been stymied in its request for Premium Rate Increases in Florida. Its requests have been rejected by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation and the O.I.R. has been upheld by the Florida Courts. State Farm is still...
More On Florida Federal Courts Confronting Contrary State Law.
Posted on July 29, 2009The Federal Judge in this case was made aware of Florida State Law that there is no claim or cause of action for First-Party Bad Faith outside of the Florida Bad Faith Statute: Download Arlen House East Condominium Ass'n v....
Climate Risk Disclosure by Insurance Companies.
Posted on July 28, 2009The National Association of Insurance Commissioners wants Insurance Companies to disclose the climate change risks facing them, to their regulators. The NAIC also wants Insurance Companies to disclose what they are doing to combat those risks. The initial deadline for...
"CICO": Catastrophes In, Catastrophes Out: Are CatModels Being Gamed?
Posted on July 27, 2009Computer Models are used to predict Catastrophes and raise Premiums. There is a dispute over how long a time period is valid for inputting data. In simple terms, Property Insurance Companies would like to use the last 5 years, for...
Asset Affidavits and Bad Faith, or Not, in Settlement.
Posted on July 23, 2009A demand for an "asset affidavit" as part of a demand for settlement was the center of attention in the District Court in Maldonado v. First Liberty Insurance Corp., 546 F. Supp. 2d 1347 (S.D. Fla. 2008)(subscription required), click here...
Florida Court: Attorney-Client Privilege in First-Party Bad Faith.
Posted on July 22, 2009In a recent decision that is well worth close examination, a Florida intermediate Appellate Court has held that the Attorney-Client Privilege applies in First-Party Bad Faith Statutory actions in Florida. Download West Bend Mutual Insurance Co. v. Higgins (Fla...
Children's Health Insurance Program Extended in 13+ States.
Posted on July 21, 2009We are in the midst of the Great Recession, and when it will end, few are certain. In at least 13 States, however, it is certain that now Children's Health Insurance will be made available to Children who otherwise might...
Credit Default Swaps a/k/a Credit Insurance Target of Antitrust Investigation.
Posted on July 20, 2009Markit Group Holdings provides information about Credit Default Swaps and other Derivatives to approximately 300 firms trading in them. These firms are sellers of such Derivatives. "Markit collects pricing information from the largest players in the derivatives industry, and then...
Alleging and Proving Jury Issues of Insurer Bad Faith or Not?
Posted on July 17, 2009Do allegations and proof of Insurer Bad Faith conduct in your jurisdiction require pleading with specificity, as though alleging a fraud claim or cause of action? Even if the claim or cause of action is not for fraud? Does the...
Paying for Health in America.
Posted on July 16, 2009Conflicts abound between Health Insurance Plans being considered in the two houses of the United States Congress. Among the reported conflicts is how to pay for the Plan. The U.S. House of Representatives is considering an increase in Income Taxes...
Florida Federal Court: First Party Bad Faith Without Statute.
Posted on July 15, 2009A Federal Judge in Florida has held that, although Florida State Courts have never allowed a cause of action for alleged First-Party Bad Faith except under Florida's Bad Faith Statute, an alleged Breach of the Implied Covenant of Good Faith...
Accumulating Electronic Devices Increases Amounts of LIghtning Claims.
Posted on July 14, 2009In four years of reporting lightning damages Claims, from 2004 to 2008, a group of Homeowner's Insurance Companies announced recently that total Claims Paid amounts increased by nearly 50% while somehow the price of "the average claims" for covered damages...
UPDATE: "Federal Taxpayers Likely to Lose, Again, on TARP Refunds".
Posted on July 13, 2009This is an Update to previous posts in the Categories of Fiduciary Duties, and Market Performance. Getting paid realistic amounts of money, approaching fair market value, for "warrants" given to Federal Taxpayers is in doubt. Corporations which sought and received...
Stealth Regulation: Federal Creeps Into Power Over Insurance?
Posted on July 10, 2009President Obama and the Treasury Department reportedly have included Federal Regulation over all Insurance Companies that fall into some financial categories in their plans to address the current collapse of financial relationships. Under the plans, a new Federal "Office of...
Options to Consider When Health Insurance is Not Available.
Posted on July 09, 2009Lawyers and other professionals who counsel people concerning Healthcare options should consider counseling people who have no Health Insurance to consider exploring the resources identified by David Colker, "Surviving Recession/Resources For Those Without Health Insurance" (Los Angeles Times Online, Sunday,...
Surety Settlement Found in Bad Faith in Florida.
Posted on July 08, 2009"Whether a surety has settled a claim in good faith or not, of course, depends on the particular facts of the case." Download Auto-Owners Insurance Co. v. Southeast Floating Docks, Inc. (11th Cir. Opinion Filed June 16, 2009). In the...
Resources for Counseling Clients About Life Insurance Companies' Likely Lifespans.
Posted on July 07, 2009You may share with me the sense that counseling about Life Insurance Coverage also often includes counseling about how to find out which Life Insurance Companies are most likely to be around next year, or next decade. A suggested list...
Health, Care, Public Health Option, Medicare...Or Exclusions?
Posted on July 06, 2009How much of a model Medicare will be for a Public Health Option among the Plans being debated in Congress, is unclear. The issues are addressed generally by Reed Abelson, "Medicare's Mixed Legacy" p. 4, col. 4 (New York Times...
Beginning to Learn and Counsel About Long-Term Care Insurance.
Posted on July 03, 2009Happy Fourth of July! Here are some resources which offer potential value to those of us that counsel concerning Insurance Coverage and other Insurance issues, and to our clients. Counseling clients about Long-Term Care Insurance, or any other form of...
Directors and Officers Coverage Comes With Big Bills, Major Issues.
Posted on July 02, 2009Directors and Officers Liability Insurance Coverage is notoriously "complex". It requires specialized handling and experience. See Saskia Scholtes, "Insurers Face $6Bn Bill for D & O Claims" (Financial Times Online, Tuesday, June 23, 2009). Coverage disputes include allocating the available...
Attorney's Fees Denied To Florida Insured Unsuccessfully Seeking Certiorari.
Posted on July 01, 2009Florida's Attorney's Fees Statute is Section 627.428. It requires an "insured or beneficiary" to prevail in the event of an appeal. An intermediate Florida Appellate Court has just held that this Florida Statute does not authorize Florida Appellate Courts "to...
72 Percent Favor Health Equality, 20 Percent Continue to Fear.
Posted on June 30, 200972 percent of people in this country support a Public Health Insurance option. 20 percent oppose that option. Kevin Sack and Marjorie Connelly, "In Poll, Wide Support for Government-Run Health" (New York Times Online, Sunday, June 21, 2009). The reasons...
Confrontation Rights in Insurance Cases Involving Expert Witnesses?
Posted on June 29, 2009In a criminal case, a slim majority of the United States Supreme Court has upheld the right of a criminal defendant to confront her or his accusers under the Confrontation Clause of the U.S. Constitution in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts (U.S....
Health Insurance: Coverage, Claims, Rescission.
Posted on June 26, 2009What some term "post-claims underwriting" has been the subject of previous posts. The term refers to Rescission of Life Insurance Policies and of Health Insurance Policies after large Claims are made on the policies. The usual Rescission action by an...
Health Insurance Theft.
Posted on June 25, 2009Identity theft of your and your clients' Health Insurance identification information is explored by Walecia Konrad, "Patient Money/A New Ailment: Medical ID Theft/Treatment at Your Expense, Or at Least Your Insurer's" p. B1, col. 2 (New York Times Nat'l ed...
Notice Under Policies First-Party and Third-Party.
Posted on June 24, 2009Notice provisions in insurance policies require "notice" to the insurance company that there is a loss or a claim. In basic terms, and depending especially upon the type of Policy involved, notice provisions can be liberally construed in favor of...
"Your Money, FOR Your Life".
Posted on June 23, 2009Bettors have a rigged game going. They call it "Stranger Originated Life Insurance". Strangers originate Life Insurance Policies on other people in exchange for settling with the Policyholder while the Policyholder is still alive, of course. "Life settlements" are paid...
Successful Handling of Insurance Claims and Coverage Disputes.
Posted on June 22, 2009Successful outcomes in handling Claims and Insurance Coverage disputes owe a lot to experience. Share your experience and leave a Comment Online on the Claims Magazine web site through this link to a recent article about Claims Handling co-authored by...
Hartford, Lincoln National First Two to Tap TARP for Life.
Posted on June 19, 2009Due to its failing Life Insurance operations, as previously posted here, Hartford Financial Services Group just became the first of the 6 Life Insurance Companies that eagerly sought and received approval for Federal Taxpayer Bailout Money, to receive TARP injections...
It's "American INTERNATIONAL Group".
Posted on June 18, 2009Some people think that AIG is an insurance company. Wrong. First of all, "AIG" stands for American International Group. Not American Insurance Group, as many people think. Next, AIG is a group of companies. Over 270 of them. Only 71...
Attorney's Fees Awarded in Florida After Appraisal, Suit, Payment.
Posted on June 17, 2009Universal Property and Casualty Insurance Company issued a Homeowner's Insurance Policy to Robert and Nancy Lewis in Florida. Hurricane Wilma struck the Lewis's home in October, 2005, causing damage. In 2006, over a year later, Universal contested Coverage...
Trustees, AIG Nominate 6 Directors for 06.30.09 Annual Meeting Vote.
Posted on June 16, 2009Last month, AIG issued a Press Release to announce that 6 new Directors to be added to its Board would be voted on at AIG's June 30, 2009 Annual Meeting. The AIG Press Release provides some biographical information about these...
Life Insurance Reserves Manipulations: Will State Regulators Reward Failures?
Posted on June 15, 2009"We're not willing to answer your questions." Stephen P. Horvat, Jr., Esquire, on behalf of Midland National Life Insurance Company, quoted by David S. Hilzenrath, "Politics Puts Insurance Regulators in a Bind" (Washington Post.com, Friday, June 12, 2009)...
American Health Choices (Insurance) Act: Modified Federal Regulation Proposed.
Posted on June 12, 2009A draft American Health Choices Act was unveiled on Friday, June 5, 2009 by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the Chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Among its many provisions, a couple have been reported that...
Organization of Doctors Opposes Public Health Plan ... Again.
Posted on June 11, 2009The leaders of the American Medical Association have announced that they oppose any competition to Private Health Insurance Companies from a Public Health Insurance Plan of any kind. See Robert Pear, "Doctors' Group Opposes Public Health Insurance Plan" p...
First-Party Bad Faith Claims Doubtful, Florida Supreme Court Considers.
Posted on June 10, 2009Never in recorded history has a Florida State Court held that there is a cause of action at common law based on allegations of a First-Party Insurance Company's bad faith and unfair dealing. In perhaps three (3) decisions in the...
American Health Insurance Choices Act: The "Essential Benefits".
Posted on June 09, 2009There is a tension between Physicians and Health Insurance Companies over medical care. Physicians want what their Patients need, but often feel compelled to prescribe what Insurance Companies will pay for. Health Insurance Companies insist that their overhead costs including...
President Obama's Message: Public Health Insurance Option Vital to Choice.
Posted on June 08, 2009President Obama's message on Health Insurance choices is a simple one. In his letter dated June 2, 2009 to Senators Kennedy and Baucus, he wrote: I strongly believe that Americans should have the choice of a public health insurance option...
Insurance Coverage and Other Issues for Homeowners and Condominium Associations.
Posted on June 05, 2009Troublesome issues over Insurance Coverage for Homeowners and Condominium Unit Owners may come from failed Insurance Coverage lawsuits or from Members not kept advised by the Board. Sometimes both: See "Associations/Homeowner Association Members Face Huge Assessment for Legal Fees" by...
President Obama's Bill of Health Insurance Too.
Posted on June 05, 2009President Obama has sent a message to the two Senators who have been tasked to bring Health Insurance to the nation. Senator Edward Kennedy is one of the two Senators who received President Obama's letter. Kennedy chairs the U.S. Senate...
Innovations for Insurance Regulation? Credit Collapse II, Wall Street at it Again.
Posted on June 04, 2009Reportedly, Insurance is one of the hangups in Federal Regulation of the Institutions responsible for the currrent Credit Collapse. One of the supposedly "difficult and unresolved" questions "is how the federal government should more aggressively regulate insurance companies, which are...
Discovery and Privileges in Bad Faith Cases: The Florida Experience.
Posted on June 03, 2009?In Allstate Indem. Co. v. Ruiz, 899 So. 2d 1121 (subscription required) (Fla. 2005), link to the official report here, the Supreme Court of Florida addressed "application of work product privilege" in a first party bad faith case. The Supreme...
Senator Kennedy's Bill of Health Insurance.
Posted on June 02, 2009In an op-ed piece published late last week in The Boston Globe, Senator Edward Kennedy wrote about the outlines of Health Insurance Bill written in his Committee. Kennedy chairs the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. His Committee's...
The Hurricanes Are Coming, The Hurricanes Are Coming!
Posted on June 01, 2009Is your Insurance Coverage prepared for Hurricanes? The Hurricane Season officially begins on Monday, June 1, 2009. Ready? Explore the issues addressed in this report from Slate, by Martha C. White, "Hurricane Prudence/Is the Battered Insurance Industry Ready for the...
MORE ON "Federal Taxpayers Likely to Lose, Again, on TARP Refunds".
Posted on May 28, 2009This is an update to the post here on May 19, 2009. Attention is being paid. See Mark Pittman, "TARP Warrants Show Banks May Reap 'Ruthless Bargain' (Update 2)" (Bloomberg.com, Friday, May 22, 2009). Mr. Timothy Geithner does not have...
Direct Liability to Excess, for Excess, or Not?
Posted on May 27, 2009Two cases decided by the same Florida Appellate Court decades apart, leave the existence of a direct duty in doubt from a Primary Liability Carrier to an Excess Liability Carrier. In the earlier of the two cases, Florida's First District...
FURTHER THOUGHTS ON "Insurer Regularity Insured by State Regulators".
Posted on May 26, 2009This post adds to a previous post here on May 21, 2009. Insurance operations have not failed. Life Insurance Companies are the only Insurance Companies known at this time to have applied for Federal Bailout Funds, for example, yet even...
UPDATE on "AIG Trust Agreement, Feds and Trustees: Who Do They Work For?"
Posted on May 22, 2009This is an update of a post here on April 21, 2009: "AIG Trust Agreement, Feds and Trustees: Who Do They Work For?" It is rumored that the three Trustees of AIG, appointees of the New York Fed and ostensibly...
Insurer Regularity Insured by State Regulators.
Posted on May 21, 2009Innovation in finance resulted in securitization. Securitization resulted in the Current Collapse. Present newspaper reports tell of how the Wall Street failures who brought us securitization are demanding that it, and they, be bailed out. They must have been successful,...
Expert Disclosures in Florida Governed by Courts, Not Statutes.
Posted on May 20, 2009Florida Statute Section 57.071(2) used to provide that Expert Witness fees could not be taxed as Costs unless the retaining party provided certain Expert Witness Disclosures within certain timeframes: (2) Expert witness fees may not be awarded as taxable costs...
Federal Taxpayers Likely to Lose, Again, on TARP Refunds.
Posted on May 19, 2009This is a Postscript to the post here on May 18, 2009: "Fiduciaries Avoid Federal Pay Limits, Pay Back Low-Interest Bailouts?" As a part of the consideration for making low-interest loans from the Troubled Assets Relief Program to failing corporations,...
Fiduciaries Avoid Federal Pay Limits, Pay Back Low-Interest Bailout?
Posted on May 18, 2009Now that some Life Insurance Companies have received approval to apply for Federal TARP or Bailout funds, it is worthwhile to address some questions raised by the behavior of some large Corporations that have already received TARP funds. TARP funds...
Lifeline and Mr. Liddy: Federal Taxpayers Bail Out Allstate Too.
Posted on May 15, 2009Six Life Insurance Companies which applied for Federal TARP or Taxpayer Bailout Funds, have reportedly received preliminary approval for the Taxpayer money. Jeremy Hobson, "Life Insurers Get a Piece of the Bailout," Friday, May 15, 2009, available online in print...
Can You Write "LIFE" Insurers Seek TARP Funds?
Posted on May 15, 2009Property and Casualty Insurance Companies give every evidence of solvency. They are not the Insurance Companies which are seeking TARP Funds or Bailouts using Federal Taxpayer Funds. Instead, the Insurance Companies which are seeking Federal Taxpayer Funds are all Life...
"Stress Test" Results and Credit Default Swaps.Credit Insurance Policies.
Posted on May 14, 2009"Stress test" results have been released by the Federal Reserve Board in 37 pages of text, charts and graphics, plus 1 cover page: Download Stress Test Results.050709. In a continuous revelation of a secret hidden in plain view, the results...
"Unauthorized Insurer" Purchasing Reinsurance in Florida Can Sue As "Insured".
Posted on May 13, 2009Florida, like many jurisdictions, has a Statute which prohibits "suits by unauthorized insurers". In Florida, the Statute in question is Florida Statute Section 626.903, accessible here. Section 626.903 provides in essence that "no unauthorized insurer shall institute, file, or maintain,...
Mortgage Modification Motivations: Impure But Insurable.
Posted on May 12, 2009The pending Congressional amendments to TARP apparently include encouraging mortgage modifications for potentially impure motives, according to some persons. These objections are reported by Gretchen Morgenson, "Fair Game/A Reality Check on Mortgage Modification" p...
Current Health Insurance Coverage Issues.
Posted on May 11, 2009There are a great many Health Insurance Coverage issues that have come to the surface of late. There are so many, it is easy to lose track. These are some of them. 1. A trade association of Health Insurance Companies...
Florida PIP Benefits Not Payable Held Not Overdue, No Penalties.
Posted on May 08, 2009PIP benefits are overdue when not paid according to Florida Statute Section 627.736(4)(b) including its time limit of 30 days. Access the Florida PIP Statute here. When overdue in Florida, PIP payments draw penalties: simple interest and, if the Policyholder...
Life Insurance Companies Get Premiums From Swine Flu.
Posted on May 07, 2009One person's panic is another person's Premium. Fears of swine flu have increased the number of people paying Premiums to Life Insurance Companies, it is reported on his blog by Robert Trigaux, St. Petersburg Times Business Columnist, "Venture" Blog, April...
Bond Insurance Company Sues Insured it Issued Credit Default Swaps.
Posted on May 06, 2009MBIA issued a press release dated April 30, 2009 announcing a lawsuit which it and its subsidiary, LaCrosse Financial Products, LLC filed against their insured. The defendant is Merrill Lynch, their Insured-Counterparty. See also Jody Shenn, "MBIA Sues Merrill Lynch...
Hartford Changes Accounting, Announces Transformed Financials.
Posted on May 06, 2009Before The Hartford and other corporations changed their mark-to-market accounting values, The Hartford in particular was headed for a huge loss. The large loss would have followed these recent developments: 1. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners repealed a requirement...
Mr. Warren Buffett, Economic Pearl Harbor Passed, But Derivatives Tick.
Posted on May 05, 2009Mr. Warren Buffett earlier in 2009 described the Great Recession of 2007 - 2009 as an "economic Pearl Harbor". Before the annual convention of his chief corporation, Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., began on Saturday, May 2, 2009 he advised that the...
Property Insurers' Agenda Increases Premiums of Florida House.
Posted on May 04, 2009Property Insurance Companies' proposed legislation passed the Florida House. The bill awaits the Florida Senate and the Governor. Among other long-sought features, the Property bill would: Increase Citizens Property Insurance Company Premiums by 10% per year...
"Moral Hazard" Overwhelms Seventh Circuit Interpretation of a CGL Policy.
Posted on May 04, 2009Importing a justification for current foreclosures into the arena of Insurance Policy Interpretation, a panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that under Indiana law, a residential General Contractor's CGL or Commercial General Liability Insurance Policy with...
State Farm, Already Appealing to Withdraw, Sent to Administrative Hearing.
Posted on April 30, 2009This is an Update to several posts here on State Farm's Petition to Withdraw Unconditionally from the Florida Property Insurance market, including posts on March 10 and March 13, 2009, and most recently on April 24, 2009. State Farm filed...
"Unclean Hands" Bar to Advancement and Payment.
Posted on April 28, 2009A former officer of a corporation sued the corporation for its allegedly wrongful refusal to advance the officer's defense expenses under the bylaws of the corporation in Download Tafeen v. Homestore, Inc. (Del. Ch. April 27, 2004).. (Director's and Officer's...
Sector Snapshot for Insurance is Here Again ....
Posted on April 28, 2009.... Again, Courtesy of The New York Times. Today's Sector Snapshot/Insurance appears on page B8, col. 1 of the Business Day Section of the National Edition of The New York Times for Tuesday, April 28, 2009. (Be prepared to go...
Property Insurers Dovetail With Environmentally Concerned Coalitions.
Posted on April 27, 2009The Travelers and Fireman's Fund Insurance Companies are reportedly pressing for innovations to meet climate changes that would alter forever the face of Property Insurance Coverage in the United States. See, e.g., Cornelia Dean, "Groups See Added Risks From Change...
More on State Farm Florida Contests Conditions For Withdrawal.
Posted on April 24, 2009State Farm wants to stop selling Property Insurance Policies in Florida. It looked for awhile like they would not contest the Florida Insurance Commissioner when he required them to allow their insurance agents, in that case, to sell other Property...
Tips At The 2009 Annual Covention of RIMS in Orlando.
Posted on April 23, 2009RIMS is the Risk and Insurance Management Society. No promotional exchange has been requested for this post. Handouts can be printed online or on-site. Here are some tips for their highest and best use: Print them out before each Session...
"Insurance Companies, CDS's, Prove States Should Not Regulate," CEO Writes ....
Posted on April 23, 2009.... This is a Postscript to an April 16, 2009 Post, "'Insurance Companies, CDS's, Prove States Should Not Regulate,' CEO Writes". The April 16, 2009 Post explored when a call for Federal Regulation to displace all State Regulation was really...
Health Insurance, COBRA Alternative: UPDATE.
Posted on April 22, 2009This updates informative posts here since January 15, 2009, including on March 3 and March 9, 2009. Research on this web log under the Categories of Health Insurance, and Market Performance. Useful information on Health Insurance Coverage, COBRA, and alternatives...
At the 2009 RIMS Annual Conference in Orlando ....
Posted on April 22, 2009.... RIMS is the Risk and Insurance Management Society. Rumor has it that the Insurance Companies within the AIG Group have improved at paying claims, but accounts differ on how much they have improved .... No expense of any kind...
AIG Trust Agreement, Feds and Trustees: Who Do They Work For?
Posted on April 21, 2009The effective date of the Trust Agreement between the Federal Government, i.e., the Federal Reserve Bank of New York ("FRBNY"), on behalf of the Federal Taxpayers bailing out AIG, and the three persons who agreed to serve as Trustees, is...
Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) in Orlando!
Posted on April 21, 2009The RIMS 2009 Annual Convention continues in Orlando. Many opportunities are provided for education and experience. Take advantage of these fine opportunities! (No promotional advantage has been requested for this announcement.) Hurricane Season approaches again, believe it or not! New...
Federal Taxpayer Funds: The New Corporate Bond Insurance.
Posted on April 20, 2009The only corporate bonds being traded at this time are reportedly "investment-grade" bonds issued by "high-quality corporate borrowers." Floyd Norris, "Off The Charts/Corporate Bonds Sell (If There's a Safety Net)" p. B3, col. 1 (New York Times Nat'l Ed...
"We Were Only Following Orders, er, Lawyer Memos": Lawyer Insurance?
Posted on April 17, 2009Newspapers report in greater detail than was previously available, that C.I.A. operatives inflicted torture in reliance on legal cover provided by Memorandums from government lawyers. See, e.g., Mark Mazzetti and Scott Shane, "Memos Spell Out Brutal C...
"Insurance Companies, CDS's, Prove States Should Not Regulate," CEO Writes.
Posted on April 16, 2009Arguments in favor of a Federal regulator of Insurance Companies are presented by Tom Wilson, "Regulate Me, Please" p. A23, col. 2 (New York Times Nat'l Ed., Thursday, April 16, 2009). Mr. Wilson is identified as the chief executive of...
Life Insurance Companies and TARP: Less is Suddenly More.
Posted on April 15, 2009It has been well documented that Life Insurance Companies, which mostly made very bad securitization bets in recent years, desperately included Federal Bailout Funds or TARP money in their business models. See, for example, recent posts here on March 31,...
Goldman Returning Federal Funds?
Posted on April 14, 2009Newspapers report that Goldman Sachs wants to return the Federal Funds it received to bail it out in down times. After it spent the Federal Taxpayers' money, now Goldman Sachs reportedly perceives itself as enjoying "up" times. Also it does...
LIFE Insurance Companies Seek TARP Cover For Bad Securitization Bets.
Posted on April 10, 2009At least one of the Life Insurance Companies that made poor bets on securitization and has tried to apply for Federal Bailout Money by buying a bank, has been turned down. Genworth Financial, Inc. also reportedly sells Mortgage Insurance. Lu...
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Becoming Federal LOAN Insurance Corporation.
Posted on April 08, 2009The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation provides security for bank deposits. Literally. Its mission is to provide insurance for deposits. Its ability to take on obligations is capped by Federal Law at $30 Billion or $30,000,000,000.00. See Andrew Ross Sorkin, "Dealbook/'No-Risk'...
Guiding Principles for Claims Handling.
Posted on April 07, 2009For a long time, Insurance Companies issuing Insurance Policies of all kinds have attempted to write "Guiding Principles" for handling insurance claims in Good Faith. It is to their credit that they have done so. These written Principles may often...
Property Insurance in Florida.
Posted on April 06, 2009Florida Property Insurance Premiums across the board will increase by at least 10% during the coming year, if any one of a number of pending bills passes the Florida Legislature before its current session ends in May, 2009. If none...
Health Insurance Companies Put Preexisting Conditions on Negotiations, Fear Competition: UPDATE.
Posted on April 02, 2009This updates a post here of Friday, March 27, 2009. David Lazarus writes in the Los Angeles Times that the proposal announced last week by Health Insurance Companies to drop a pre-existing conditions Exclusion in exchange for a universal Federal...
"Mark-to-Management" Change: Bankers' Credit Insurance Profit, Taxpayers' Expense.
Posted on April 01, 2009Current accounting rules binding investment houses including banks require so-called "assets" to be marked at current market value. A lot of "assets" are insured by Credit Default Swaps, an unregulated form of Credit Insurance favored by large institutions like AIG...
Sector Snapshot for Insurance is Here!
Posted on April 01, 2009Courtesy of The New York Times, once again the Sector Snapshot for Insurance is here As always, click first on the "Financials" Category, then click on "Insurance" on the pullout bar that comes from Financials. Also as before, the Insurance...
Life Insurance Companies And Life Support: Federal Taxpayer Funds?
Posted on March 31, 2009A recently published newspaper report continues the ongoing story of the demands by Life Insurance Companies for Federal Taxpayer Funds. These demands were previously posted here, along with the dropping financial status of most Life Insurance Companies due primarily to...
Sector Snapshot for Insurance is Here!
Posted on March 31, 2009Courtesy of The New York Times, once again the Sector Snapshot for Insurance is here As always, click first on the "Financials" Category, then click on "Insurance" on the pullout bar that comes from Financials. Also as before, the Insurance...
Fiduciary Duties, Accounting, and Directors and Officers Insurance.
Posted on March 30, 2009From the New York Times comes an interesting report of a lawsuit filed in State Court in Oklahoma. See Gretchen Morgenson, "Fair Game/Shareholders Who Act Like Owners" p. 1, col. 6 (New York Times Nat'l Ed., SundayBusiness Section, Sunday, March...
Health Insurance Companies Put Preexisting Conditions on Negotiations, Fear Competition.
Posted on March 27, 2009Two Health Insurance Company organizations, America's Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, are offering to have Health Insurance Companies drop their current insistence on excluding pre-existing conditions, in exchange for a national plan that would...
Insurance Declaratory Judgment Actions: Part Two of Two: ....
Posted on March 26, 2009.... Download Free For Value. Part One of this post left us in the case of Montrose Chem. Corp. v. Superior Court, 25 Cal. App. 4th 902, 908-09, 31 Cal. Rptr. 2d 38, 42, 94 C.D.O.S. 4313, 94 Daily Journal...
Getting Bailout Money Back: There Are Certainly Remedies. PART TWO.
Posted on March 25, 2009PART TWO OF TWO: THE REMEDIES EXIST. THEY ARE HARD TO UNDERSTAND, BUT THEY SUCCEED. THE HARD IS WHAT MAKES THEM GOOD. Relief is available in equity. The actions and omissions of Wall Street and in particular AIG at present,...
Goldman Sacks Federal Treasury.
Posted on March 24, 2009"All we did is call for the collateral that was due to us under the contracts. So I don't think there's any guilt there whatsoever." Mr. David A. Viniar, CFO of Goldman Sachs, quoted by Peter Edmonston, "Goldman Insists it...
Getting the Money Back: There ARE Ways. -- PART ONE.
Posted on March 23, 2009PART ONE OF TWO PARTS: THE REMEDIES EXIST IN EQUITY. Many non-lawyers, and others, have recently accepted and promoted a view that nothing can be done to recover the Bailout Bonuses which AIG openly paid to its Financial Products Division....
"Don't Cry For Me, Joe Nocera" -- Bonuses Not the Issue.
Posted on March 22, 2009The media has a hard time reporting on what is really happening. This was true during the time leading up to the unprovoked Invasion of Iraq when, it seems, newspapers and the rest of the press were so dazzled by...
Insurance Declaratory Judgment Actions: 'Adding Value Here, Free Download Also'.
Posted on March 19, 2009PART ONE OF TWO PARTS. At this time I am in the middle of writing the Third Edition of my Book, "Litigation and Prevention of Insurer Bad Faith". This makes 26 years or writing and researching the issues I address...
N.Y. Times Concurs: Credit Default Swaps Are Unregulated "Credit Insurance".
Posted on March 18, 2009In an insightful piece of reporting by Gretchen Morgenson, "A.I.G.'s Bailout Priorities Are in Critics' Cross Hairs/Covering Foreign Institutions Further Upsets Some in U.S." p. B1, col. 2 (New York Times Nat'l Ed., Wed., March 18, 2009), the venerable New...
AIG's Bonus Money: Don't Show Them MONEY, Show Us CONTRACTS ....
Posted on March 17, 2009HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! PART TWO OF TWO. Timing is Everything. The Bailout Bonuses Due March 15 Were Already Paid on Friday, March 13 Before the Federal Taxpayers Even Knew. "We would never make any important business decisions without discussing...
AIG's Bailout Bonuses: Don't Show THEM Money, Show US CONTRACTS.
Posted on March 16, 2009PART ONE OF TWO PARTS. "We need to find out whether these bonuses are legally recoverable." Representative Barney Frank, Chair of the U.S. House of Representatives' Financial Services Committee, quoted by Mary Williams Walsh, "A.I.G. Lists Firms to Which it...
UPDATE: CITIZENS IS NOT INSOLVENT: "State Farm Florida Contests Conditions ..."
Posted on March 13, 2009... for Withdrawal After All," Posted here on 03.10.09. In the previous post, it was observed that Citizens Property Insurance Company in Florida reportedly may become insolvent this year based on the same things that State Farm Florida cites as...
AIG: UPDATE: Still Splitting and Selling Off, By Another Name.
Posted on March 13, 2009This updates a post here on March 5, 2009. Here is another history of the bailout process, "Keeping AIG Going" by Scott Wilson (Los Angeles Times Online, Wed., March 3, 2009). It can get bewildering as the months and Taxpayer...
Health Insurance Coverage Premiums Rise, Financial Collapse Continues.
Posted on March 12, 2009Two under-reported facts of the continuing Financial Collapse are revealed in this story by Dave Weber, "Health Costs Stun Seminole Schools" p. B1, col. 5 (Orlando Sentinel, Wed., March 11, 2009). The story is about one Health Insurance Company and...
"Beware of Geeks Bearing Formulas."--Warren Buffett.
Posted on March 12, 2009Mr. Warren Buffett wrote those words on page 15 of his attached recent letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. He wrote them in a section of his 23-page, February 27, 2009 letter captioned, "Tax-Exempt Bond Insurance". There is much more to...
Fed Purchase Terms Revealed for AIG's Credit Default Instruments.
Posted on March 11, 2009The terms of the Fed's purchases of Collateralized Debt Obligations undertaken by AIG, and of Credit Default Swaps issued and guaranteed by AIG, have now been revealed. The Fed apparently paid 100% of the declared value of these 'instruments'. The...
State Farm Florida Contests Conditions for Withdrawal After All.
Posted on March 10, 2009Not going quietly into that good flight, at the last minute of the final deadline State Farm Florida filed a regulatory appeal contesting conditions on its withdrawal from Florida's Property Insurance market. It wants to continue selling Auto Insurance and...
Sector Snapshot: INSURANCE: Nobody's at Home.
Posted on March 10, 2009Keeping track of the financial status of the Insurance Sector of the Market can be frightening. As of this post on Tuesday evening, March 10, 2009, not one Insurance Company is ahead of the S&P 500 over the last year,...
Unemployed? Likely Uninsured Now. COBRA? Alternatives? UPDATE
Posted on March 09, 2009This updates reports posted here on March 3, 2009 and on January 15, 2009. Options should be considered before Employer-based Health Insurance Coverage is lost due to layoff, as well as afterward. Alternatives are thoroughly and helpfully discussed by Walecia...
Positive Patient Potential, Health Insurance Changes in Proposed Obama Budget.
Posted on March 01, 2009Labor Law and Insurance Law Intersect: Advice for Lawyers.
Posted on February 26, 2009Lawyers counseling clients on Unemployment Insurance, who are themselves not Experts, may find these resources useful as starting points for background research: Requirements applicants must meet: "Unemployment Benefits Eligibility" (Los Angeles Times Online, Sunday, Feb...
Health Care Business Model And Health Insurance Coverage.
Posted on February 24, 2009Shannon Brownlee's 2007 ground-breaking book, "Overtreated," focused attention on a new Medicalcare model. The new Healthcare model she proposed would address Medical treatment from the perspective of whole person health, rather than provider payment for procedures that treat individual symptoms...
Director's and Officer's Risk Management Included in Financial Fiduciary Duties.
Posted on February 23, 2009Fiduciary Duties include Risk Management. Whether or not people sitting on corporate Boards of Directors had the duty to act as a Fiduciary on issues of Financial Risk Management, they apparently are seen as having Fiduciary Duties on financial Risk....
Securitization Unregulated (including "Insurance"), Behind Credit Collapse.
Posted on February 20, 2009In a speech to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Wed., February 18, 2009, Mr. Ben Bernanke pointed out that securitization is the major default behind the Credit Collapse. The current Chair of the Federal Reserve System said...
You CAN Teach Alan Greenspan New Tricks.
Posted on February 19, 2009In a speech to the New York Economics Club on Tuesday, February 17, 2009, Mr. Alan Greenspan pointed out that there is a need for sufficient Capital to back lending and investments. This is one reason, the former Chair of...
Something Old, Something New: Stimulus Borrowed, Stimulus For You?
Posted on February 18, 2009Some of the many provisions of the stimulus bill enacted by the U.S. Congress last Friday, and signed into law yesterday by the President, have potentially great effects on Health Insurance. 1. Medicaid, a shared Federal-State Health Insurance program for...
When Property Damage Occurs in Texas.
Posted on February 17, 2009On February 13, 2009 the Texas Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision. The Court reaffirmed its 2008 pronouncement that under a CGL Policy in Texas, "Property Damage" is deemed to "occur" when there is what the Court calls an "actual...
Fiduciary Duties: Bonus Pay for POSITIVE Performance?
Posted on February 16, 2009One of the many provisions of the stimulus package making its way to the President's desk on this President's Day, 2009, addresses restrictions on executive bonuses paid by financial institutions that take Federal Taxpayer Funds. If the provisions remain as...
Reinsurance Coverage Extends to North Korea.
Posted on February 13, 2009Reinsurance Coverage has a broad reach. Recently, Korea National Insurance Company, owned by the government of North Korea, settled an Insurance Coverage case filed in London, in which reportedly 95% of a claimed loss will be paid by its Reinsurers.....
Insurance-Like CDOs Sued On, Newspaper Reports State Court Lawsuit.
Posted on February 12, 2009In a case reported in The New York Times, M&T Bank Corporation has sued Deutsche Bank in New York State Court in Buffalo. Vikas Bajaj, "After Sure-Bet Investment Fails, A Bank Contends It Was Duped" p. B1, col. 2 (New...
FICO Scores Mortgage Insurance.
Posted on February 11, 2009Somethihng called FICO affects whether home buyers hoping to refinance, have to also pay for Mortgage Insurance. Without a high enough FICO score, homeowners may not be able to refinance without first establishing equity in thier homes of a minimum...
Existing Mortgage Modifications ("Cramdowns") May Affect Mortgage Insurance Premiums: UPDATE.
Posted on February 10, 2009It was previously reported that Mortgage Insurance Premiums may be affected by proposals pending in the U.S. Congress. "Latest Legal Irk: 'Cramdown Provisions,'" January 12, 2009, posted in the Categories of Market Performance and Mortgage Insurance. One Creditor's "Cramdown Provision"...
Credit Default Swaps Without Capital Reserves: Making Money Without Money.
Posted on February 09, 2009The profiteers from Credit Default Swaps never wanted them regulated. In particular, they did not want the issuance of CDS's to be regulated like Insurance was regulated. Even when the CDS's were the moral equivalent of Insurance and cried out...
Commercial Real Estate Financing and Insurance Bind, Too.
Posted on February 06, 2009The Credit Collapse Continues. According to the mounting evidence, Commercial Real Estate will present the next rush of financing failures. The financial failures continued to be tied to the inability to obtain appropriate Credit Insurance, among other things, in particular...
Health Insurance Predictions UPDATE: Higher 2009 Deductibles, Premiums, Less Coverage.
Posted on February 05, 2009This is an UPDATE of a post originally reported here on November 3, 2008. Employers in 2009 are experiencing the effects of predicted Higher 2009 Health Insurance Deductibles and Premiums, and Less Coverage. Anecdotal evidence is offered by Kevin Sack,...
"They Bet Your Life Insurance Reserves. And You Lost?": UPDATE 2
Posted on February 04, 2009MAYBE IN SOME STATES? This post updates a couple of previous posts here. The post of December 21, 2008, "They Bet Your Life Insurance Reserves. And You Lost?", contains a postscript added on January 12, 2009 reporting that the National...
You Know Your Class(less) When Half a Million is Way Beneath You.
Posted on February 04, 2009Today President Obama proposed a $500,000.00 cap on the salary of the top 5 executive officers of Corporations that ask for very large amounts of Federal Taxpayer Money. The proposed cap will not apply to any other officers, nor to...
How Recoup Bonuses to Bankers? Let Me Explore the Ways.
Posted on February 03, 2009Apologies to the Bard in wriiting a captivating headline to this post. Some starting points to explore possible ways to recoup monies paid to bankers who may not have earned them. There are many ways to attempt to recoup nonexistent...
"They Bet Your Life Insurance Reserves. And You Lost?": UPDATE.
Posted on February 02, 2009MAYBE NOT. This post updates a previous post here on December 21, 2008, "They Bet Your Life Insurance Reserves. And You Lost?" A postscript added to that post on January 12, 2009 reported that the National Association of Insurance Commissioners...
Secrecy Stipulations Do Not Survive Open Records Without Good Cause.
Posted on January 30, 2009As many attorneys do in Insurance and other cases, the attorneys for the parties in a recent Federal Declaratory Relief action stipulated that certain Insurance Coverage information would be produced under seal. In fact, the attorneys apparently stipulated to a...
Insurance Sector Snapshot Is Here!
Posted on January 30, 2009It is time once again for the Insurance Sector Snapshot, courtesy of The New York Times, here. Instructions for navigating the Snapshot are given in it. A couple of things about it are pretty easy to understand, and if I...
Director's and Officer's Insurance Coverage -- for Fiduciary Duties?
Posted on January 29, 2009Questions arise every day, it seems, concerning the extent of Fiduciary duties and relationships, if any, that are owed by and among corporate officers, directors, shareholders and consumers. Lawsuits have reportedly been filed challenging the decisions of officers or directors...
Texas Court Answers "Injury in Fact" Property Damage, Occurrence Questions.
Posted on January 28, 2009In a ground-breaking answer in a Construction Insurance Coverage case, the Texas Supreme Court recently adopted an "Injury in Fact" test under a standard "occurrence-based commercial general liability [CGL] insurance policy": Download 07-0639 Don's Building Supply, Inc_ v_ Onebeacon Ins_...
Appraisal Award Establishes Claim For Florida Statutory Bad Faith.
Posted on January 27, 2009A Federal Judge in Florida has recently held that an Appraisal Award establishes that determinations were previously made of both the liablity of the Insurance Company and the damages of the Policyholder in order for the Policyholder to bring an...
Appraisal Award Establishes Preconditions For Florida Statutory Bad Faith Claim.
Posted on January 27, 2009A Federal Judge in Florida has recently held that an Appraisal Award establishes that determinations were previously made of both the liablity of the Insurance Company and the damages of the Policyholder in order for the Policyholder to bring an...
If Insurance Trades Like a Security, Regulate Like a Security?
Posted on January 26, 2009Apparently the new Administration in Washington has made a decision that the Federal Government should have the power to regulate Credit Default Swaps as securities. This means that the States would perhaps completely lose any power to regulate CDS's that...
Derivatives and Despair: Insurance Companies (and Others) Beware
Posted on January 25, 2009Derivatives include Collateralized Debt Obligations and Credit-Default Swaps. Their role in the current credit chaos is deadly. Credit-Default Swaps, in particular, are an unregulated form of Credit Insurance issued by Companies without sufficient capital to pay them off...
"Triple Benefits" of Health Insurance: Joseph Stiglitz.
Posted on January 23, 2009Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has written a clear and informative essay in the Financial Times, entitled, "Do Not Squander America's Stimulus on Tax Cuts" (FT.com, Thursday, January 15, 2009). In the essay, he sees three benefits to the U...
A Tarp, or an Umbrella?
Posted on January 22, 2009There seem to be differing perceptions over the purposes of the Troubled Assets Relief Program ("TARP"). Congress and the Federal Taxpayers, whose Tax money is being used to fund the program, understood Congress to provide for the purchase of troubled...
Privacy No Rightful Impediment to Electronic Medical Records.
Posted on January 20, 2009Today is Inauguration Day! Good luck to our new President. You are in our hopes and in our prayers. The drive to bring Information Technology to Doctors and Hospitals through electronic medical records is reportedly stalled by concerns about protecting...
Hope.
Posted on January 19, 2009Dr. King's Birthday will be celebrated on January 19 in 2009. Dr. King is being honored with a National Holiday to be observed on the occasion of his birth because he was a great American. His life gave evidence to...
Staying All Discovery (Costs) in Insurance Coverage Cases.
Posted on January 16, 2009The Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania has recently ruled in favor of staying all discovery in an Insurance Coverage and alleged Bad Faith case where a potentially dispositive motion would decide the...
Professional Liability Insurance Claims Anticipated Against Unregulated Investors.
Posted on January 16, 2009A spokesperson for Marsh & McLennan, reportedly the second-largest Insurance Broker in the United States, is cited recently as reporting that "[r]egistered mutual funds and their advisers pay about $250 million for errors and omissions insurance each year"...
Unemployed? Likely Uninsured Now. COBRA? Many Unemployed Cannot Afford It.
Posted on January 15, 2009The consequences of Employment-based Health Insurance include that when there is no longer employment, there is no longer any Health Insurance, either, for many people. For example, Florida is reportedly one of 9 States where the Family Coverage Premiums for...
Munis: TARP To Be Thrown Over Issuers and Insurers.
Posted on January 14, 2009According to a January 9, 2009 Press Release Outline of Legislation to Amend TARP, the Chair of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee Barney Frank (D-Mass.) will offer amendments to TARP, the Troubled Assets Relief Program, to "clarify" the Treasury...
Sector Snapshot: Insurance -- Lagging Life Insurers.
Posted on January 13, 2009News posted here on December 21, 2008 and updated most recently last night, "They Bet Your Life Insurance Reserves. And You Lost? Maybe Not," posted in the categories of Life Insurance, Market Performance, and Reserves, is reflected in the news...
Loan Modifications to Forestall Foreclosures: Federal Immunity for Loan Servicers.
Posted on January 13, 2009Mortgage or Loan Servicers may be sued by Lenders if they agree to modify a loan or mortgage to forestall foreclosure on Borrowers' homes. In other words, Mortgage Servicers can be sued for doing a good thing. Lenders may sue...
Latest Legal Irk: "Cramdown Provisions".
Posted on January 12, 2009Lenders including Bankers and Mortgagees have until now dictated the framework available to Homeowners to find solutions, other than Foreclosure, to their inability to repay their Home Loans. How is that going? Citigroup reportedly has agreed to support amendments to...
Reinsurance Premiums Predicted to Rise With Exposure.
Posted on January 09, 2009Reinsurance Premiums are predicted to rise in double digits in the New Year. Andrea Felsted, "Embattled Insurers Ready to Benefit From Lessons Learned" (Financial Times.com, Saturday, January 3, 2009). This prediction has peculiar force concerning Reinsurance Premiums that are widely...
Why No Regulation, Even Now?
Posted on January 08, 2009Regulation of the financial system is long overdue. Lessons can be learned from the imperfect but workable experience of State Insurance Departments and other State regulators over Insurance. Given the more recent experience of failure in the financial system, the...
CDS Unregulated "Insurance": Regulation and Risk Management Mean Capital Reserves.
Posted on January 07, 2009A previous post exposed the little-known fact that there are several different kinds of Credit Default Securities or CDSs. See "CDS Unregulated 'Insurance': How the AK-47 Chewed Up Wall Street," December 24, 2008. See also "CDS Unregulated 'Insurance': The AK-47...
Credit Ratings Corporations No Insurance Against the Credit Crunch.
Posted on January 07, 2009"Given their performance it's hard to believe credit rating agencies are still around." Michael Lewis and David Einhorn, "The End Of The Financial World As We Know It" p. 9, col. 1 (New York Times Nat'l Ed., Week in Review...
OMG! It is NOTRE DAME That They Are Talking About!
Posted on January 06, 2009"I feel like we're the nerd in college football." Cierre Wood, Notre Dame Football recruit, quoted in Thayer Evans, "Commitment to Notre Dame Is No Joke For Top Recruits" (New York Times Nat'l Ed., Sports Section, p. 6, col. 1,...
Hurricanes Not Buffeting Florida, Benefits Both Florida and Mr. Buffett.
Posted on January 06, 2009After Hurricanes Charley, Ivan, Jeanne, Rita and Wilma et al. pummeled Florida properties in recent years, the Florida Legislature established a fund for the avowed purpose of enabling Florida Property Owners to purchase Property Insurance Coverage. The fund was so...
Computer Models: The New Astrological Charts.
Posted on January 05, 2009"Their credibility suffered for it last year." Louis Uchitelle, "Forecasters See Fast Recovery; Others Doubt Their Eyesight" p. A1, col. 5 (New York Times Nat'l Ed., Sat., Jan. 3, 2009). Their credibility suffered because they failed. They could not predict...
Two W's: A Tale Never Before Told.
Posted on January 05, 2009In the past two years, there have been more losses than during any other two-year period in history. Not "than during any other two-year period since the Great Depression." In history. Insurance Companies and Catastrophe Claims? No. Wall Street? No.....
Contractual Provisions no Insurance of Payback.
Posted on January 02, 2009Upon taking another $20 Billion in Federal Taxpayer Funds, making a total taken of $45 Billion in Federal Taxpayer Funds as of New Year's Eve 2008, Citigroup's CEO sent a memo to employees announcing the growing bailout and also announcing...
AIG "a systemically important company"--New Deal, Old Company, Again.
Posted on January 01, 2009A post here on November 10, 2008 explored new deals for AIG from the current Treasury Department. The post addressed raising capital, with Federal Taxpayer Funds or with private funds. After receiving Federal Taxpayer Funds, AIG is reportedly asking for...
Condominium Insurance Confusion Under New Florida Law?
Posted on December 31, 2008Condominium Assocations in Florida are required to have Property Insurance for property held by the Association. Reportedly, as of January 1, 2009 Owners of Condominiums ALSO (1) must "prove" to the Association that the Owners have Insurance (and if the...
"Financial Literacy" Including Insurance.
Posted on December 30, 2008Financial literacy is absolutely necessary in the United States to our survival as a nation, there can be no doubt. The idea of adding the teaching of the basics of finance, "financial literacy," to the core curriculum at some level...
TV Primer on Credit Ratings Contribution to Credit Crunch Crisis.
Posted on December 29, 2008The work of unraveling the current credit crisis is hard. The deliberately complex financial "instruments" and arrangements devised in the past two-and-a-half decades make that work very difficult. It is a labor of love, in addition, to explain how Insurance...
Rating Consumers' Credit Draws Federal Inquiry.
Posted on December 26, 2008Consumers' credit ratings are the subject of a Congressionally ordered inquiry by the Federal Trade Commission. The particular area under investigation is the use of Consumers' Credit Ratings in Homeowner's Insurance. Allstate is first among many Homeowner's Insurance Companies to...
CDS Unregulated "Insurance": How the AK-47 Chewed Up Wall Street.
Posted on December 24, 2008There are at least two (2) types of Credit Default Swaps (CDS's) that were loose on Wall Street. One is akin to Insurance: It provides a contracted payoff in the event of a default on a transaction, often involving an...
'We Had To Sell AIG in Order to Save it.'
Posted on December 23, 2008This post is about AIG. However, the story of AIG on this page includes parts of the stories of others. Some years ago, AIG ventured into credit default swaps and as a result of that failure, AIG is now being...
Health IT to Lower Health IP*
Posted on December 22, 2008Many innovations are unknown to many business sectors. That may be hard to accept if you are one of the small group of people who think that "everyone" understands or at least uses all the information techonology that is available....
Bonus Babies Ignore Risk Management.
Posted on December 21, 2008Risk Management principles had no place on Wall Street during the boom years. Bonuses came first. Bonuses were paid first, before investments performed. Bigger risks drove bigger bonuses. Bonuses dwarfed salaries exponentially. Bonuses drove the risk taking engine, that is,...
They Bet Your Life Insurance Reserves. And You Lost?
Posted on December 21, 2008Maybe Not. Corporations make profits in many ways. Most invest. Many Life Insurance Companies invested in risky securitized financial products, like credit default swaps. Ironically, they invested Life Insurance Premiums paid to them by their own Policyholders...
Federal Government Health Insurance: Plans, Policies, and Programs.
Posted on December 19, 2008The incoming Federal Government people are floating the idea of a competing Public Health Insurance Program. Called a National Health Insurance Exchange, its mission will be to compete with private Health Insurance Plans. Even as it offers a range of...
Bonus Babies Ignore Risk Management.
Posted on December 18, 2008Risk Management principles had no place on Wall Street during the boom years. Bonuses came first. Bonuses were paid first, before investments performed. Bigger risks drove bigger bonuses. Bonuses dwarfed salaries exponentially. Bonuses drove the risk taking engine, that is,...
Umbrella Insurance as Investment.
Posted on December 17, 2008Who would have thought? Some brokers are now touting paying Premiums on Umbrella Insurance Policies as a good investment for some. See Paul Sullivan, "It's The New Economic Reality. Work With It." (New York Times Online, Saturday, December 13, 2008)....
CDS Unregulated "Insurance": The AK-47 Loose on Wall Street.
Posted on December 15, 2008This is the beginning, the first post in a pressing occasional series takng a look at the biggest unregulated form of Insurance in the World, the "Credit Default Swap" or "CDS". The current credit crisis is a financial failure. It...
UPDATE 1: Goldman Markets Munis, Sachs Issues Credit Default Swaps.
Posted on December 12, 2008This is an update to a post that appeared here on Insurance Claims And Issues on November 12, 2008. Previously, it was reported that Goldman Sachs had caused a furor in California by recommending credit-default swaps on municipal bonds in...
Cobra Costs a Lot, Still Better Than No Health Insurance?
Posted on December 11, 2008When a person is laid off, they may have no money coming in. That is a hard time to consider making new payments that you may never had to make before. However, to many if not most people at least...
Emergency Physicians: No Waiting in Hall on Health Insurance Reform.
Posted on December 10, 2008It is not a secret that emergency rooms across the United States are generally overflowing their capacity by leaps and bounds. So-called "Emergency" care is the only care that many people seek for even routine medical care they cannot afford....
Considering Changing Health Insurance Plans? Look Before You Leap.
Posted on December 09, 2008It is not a good thing to switch Health Insurance Plans on a whim. The switch should be done only after lots of homework, when it is done at all. Things to compare in making a switch of Health Insurance...
Current Sector Snapshot Publshed!
Posted on December 08, 2008Here is the current "Sector Snapshot" of "Insurance," courtesy of The New York Times. A published and online feature, the online version linked here is an Interactive Graphic. The published verison is on p. B7, col. 1, Business Section, New...
Credit Ratings Agencies, Credit, and Civil Rights Damages Claims.
Posted on December 05, 2008Two Credit Rating Corporations, Moody's Investors Service (a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway) and Fitch Ratings, allegedly "enriched themselves by assigning high ratings to bonds backed by mortgages," according to a recently filed complaint. The junk mortgages allegedly imposed unfair payment...
What Are They really Doing?
Posted on December 04, 2008It has recently been widely reported that Health Insurance Company associations and trade groups are ready to make a deal with Congress: They will support a nationwide ban on excluding pre-existing conditions in individual Health Insurance Policies. In return, they...
Courts, Lawsuits to Shape Securitization as Way of Life.
Posted on December 03, 2008The way many people live will almost certainly be decided by the Courts in future cases. In cases to come, nothing less than determining what financing practices will be acceptable in the future, and what arrangements will be legally enforced...
Heard of Twitter? Now Meet The Twits.
Posted on December 02, 2008Students at M.I.T. are apparently wired. They use Facebook, You Tube, EMail, Cellphones and GPS's. They are not afraid of privacy breaches. They live in a world offering the possibility of entrepeneurship called "collective intelligence," which refers to the collection...
Health Insurance Companies Reportedly Provide Medical Advice, ...
Posted on December 01, 2008... Urge Policyholders to Overrule Physicians and Obtain Prescriptions for Cheaper Meds. Health Insurance Companies have been in the forefront of generic medicines and other cost reductions in the provision of medical services. Some Health Insurance Companies reportedly have taken...
Financial Failure Fallout Hurts All Investors, Including Insurance Companies.
Posted on November 28, 2008A new round of defaults is reportedly anticipated from developers and builders engaged in Commercial Real Estate. See, e.g., Heather Landy and Dana Hedgpeth, "Crisis Hits Values of Commercial Mortgages" (Washington Post.com, Thursday, November 20, 2008); Neil Irwin and Renae...
Better Ways Than Bond Insurance? Credit Ratings May Drive Diversification.
Posted on November 27, 2008Moody's investors Service has recently done an incredible thing in many ways. In downgrading the Credit Ratings of two (2) Bond Insurance Companies that compete with a Bond Insurance Company owned by Moody's parent, Berkshire Hathaway, Moody's analysts reportedly wrote...
UPDATE 1 to Bank Bailouts, Bond Insurance, and a Better Way.
Posted on November 26, 2008It was previously posted in this space that, among other things, Dexia sold Bond Insurance Company Financial Security Assurance ("FSA") to Bond Insurance Company Assured Guaranty Ltd. It is now reported that Moody's Investors Service has reduced the Credit Ratings...
Risk Management Once Was Lost, But Now Has Been Found ....
Posted on November 26, 2008.... Perhaps. What are the causes of the financial failure across the planet? Relying on outliers like Credit Rating Companies to assess risk in the financial services sector is a recurring observation made by regulators. See Eric Dash and Julie...
Bailing Out "Banks": "Banks" Get Help, People Don't.
Posted on November 25, 2008The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 does not seem to be limited to banks. Link to the Act here and take a look for yourself. That is also what many -- if not all -- Members of Congress who...
Failure Has Consequences, But Not Today at Notre Dame.
Posted on November 24, 2008Notre Dame lost again. They lost on November 22, 2008 to a team that previously won two games in 2008. For the fourth time so far in 2008, the Fighting Irish football team gave up a lead in double digits...
Bank Bailouts, Bond Insurance and a Better Way.
Posted on November 21, 2008News of significantly vast potential to achieiving a successful combination of "Bank Bailout" using Taxpayer Money, coupled with Private Capital Injection, has surfaced very recently: Jody Shenn and Fabio Benedetti-Valentini, "Assured Guaranty to Buy Dexia's FSA Bond Insurer (Update 4)"...
Employer-Provided Health Insurance Plans: "One Way, or No Way!"
Posted on November 20, 2008Annual deductibles of $1,100 and more for an individual will reportedly be common in the next year. That is, if the individual is fortunate to work for an Employer which offers a Health Insurance Plan at all. Deductibles on Family...
California Fires, Global Financial Failures Not Problems for Property-Casualty.
Posted on November 19, 2008California fres have reportedly led to an examination of the ability of Property-Casualty Insurance Companies to pay Claims -- and to be solvent after that. The answer is that Property and Casualty Insurance Companies are the strongest financial performers in...
Sector Snapshot: Insurance.
Posted on November 18, 2008Here it is, our irregularly featured "Sector Snapshot," courtesy as ever of The New York Times. This information was published in the New York Times National Edition on Tuesday, November 18, 2008. Note that the Insurance Companies shown to be...
Bond Insurance: States, Cities Sell Bonds ... Still Need Bailouts.
Posted on November 17, 2008The finances of States, Counties and Cities appear to be in bad shape. Things may only be getting worse. Munis and Insurance or guarantees are not the whole story, not any more, not now. As readers of this space know,...
"Troubled Assets Insurance" and "Financing Fund": Outline of TARP Insurance.
Posted on November 14, 2008In a previous post, it was reported here that the Emergency Economic Stablization Act of 2008 enacts a new Federal Insurance Program. Here is the Act; the new Federal Insruance is enacted in Section 102. The Insurance for TARP is...
Risk Management Lost: Part II.
Posted on November 13, 2008This follows a recent previous post about the role of Risk Management in the financial fiasco. To that previously posted list of ways to have a financial breakdown, including in Insurance, should be added: It is not good risk management...
Goldman Markets Munis, Sachs Issues Credit Default Swaps
Posted on November 12, 2008Bonds issued by local governments, known as "munis," have rarely if ever defaulted. They have probably never needed to be backed by Bond Insurance. As many readers of past posts in this space have read here, Bond Insurance made its...
Municipal Bonds: What Insurance?
Posted on November 11, 2008Although the absence of availability of Bond Insurance is not mentioned in the linked blog, its absence is starkly illuminated by this report about the woes faced by Munis issuers who until recently could not find many takers: Money &...
AIG "a systemically important company" -- New Deal for an Old Company.
Posted on November 10, 2008Untested claims are apparently the reason for the current Treasury Department, extending more Federal Taxpayer Funds in a better deal for the reclamation of AIG. No, not "claims" on Insurance Policies. Claims that AIG cannot raise private capital without a...
Risk Management Run Aground.
Posted on November 10, 2008Risk Management seems to have been run into the ground. Recent months have brought many examples of Insurance failures. They have been part of the overall financial fiasco across the world, to be sure. But they are real and they...
Man Bites Dog ... Berkshire Hathaway Loses Money!
Posted on November 08, 2008Insurance Losses and Investment Losses on Derivatives Drop Value in 3Q 2008 Reported Results. Berkshire Hathaway reports that its 3Q profit declined 77%. It was the fourth straight Quarterly drop for Berkshire Hathaway. Reportedly, that has not happened since at...
Health Insurers, Social Security ... And Sweet Smells Success?
Posted on November 07, 2008A previous post in this space addressed reports that some Health Insurance Companies were steering their policyholders into applying for Social Security Benefits before the Companies would allegedly process the claims for Health Insurance Benefits. Six claims were reportedly singled...
Insurance for Defaulting Defense Coverage?
Posted on November 07, 2008The financial woes of AIG and of Hartford Financial Services have been widely reported. AIG has been taken over by the Federal Government and Hartford Financial has experienced a drop in share price of 88% in 2008. Aon Corporation, however,...
Bonds, Bond Insurance, Bailouts and Bull Dinky.
Posted on November 06, 2008Bonds are at the heart of the credit chaos gripping the world rght now. Bonds are a major source of grief to cities and school districts which suddenly find themselves on the hook for guarantees they never fully realized they...
Credit-Default Swaps Values Provided Online ... Value Provided TBD.
Posted on November 05, 2008The Depositary Trust and Clearing Corporation ("DTCC"), an industry-owned and -operated creature, is scheduled to publish weekly values for Credit-Default Swaps. The DTCC will publish "on its website www.dtcc.com/derivserv the outstanding gross and net notional values ('stock values') of credit...
Vigilance Required By Citizens, For Citizens.
Posted on November 04, 2008CITIZENS PROPERTY INSURANCE CORPORATION: THE REASON IT EXISTS IN FLORIDA. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation was made by the Legislature of Florida in response to a lack of available Property Insurance. After the 2004 Hurricanes swept the State, many Floridians simply...
Health Insurance Gurus Predict Higher 2009 Deductibles, Premiums, Less Coverage.
Posted on November 03, 2008The general ideas that Health Insurance Coverage Deductibles and Premiums are likely to continue to climb in 2009, while Health Insurance Coverage offerings are likely to shrink, are certainly accepted by most people. The Kaiser Family Foundation puts some figures...
Fiduciary Duties to Shareholders by Banks?
Posted on November 03, 2008Duties owed to Shareholders of Banks that allegedly are run by Officers or Directors who make loans they should not make, are currently under examination in many news reports, Court cases, and other places. Shareholders are suing the executives who...
Recoupment and Restitution of Gotten Gains: "Well, Never Mind"?
Posted on October 31, 2008The New York Attorney General has apparently wrung an agreement from A.I.G. to stop lavishly spending Taxpayer funds on partridge hunts, spas, and failed fired executives. However, the A.G. recently demanded more from A.I.G. than that. The A.G. previously demanded...
Health Insurance Premium Differences for Individual Coverage: Sexist or Actuarial?
Posted on October 31, 2008Health Insurance Companies charge higher Premiums to women than to men for the same Individual Coverage. Health Insurance Companies say that (1) women go to the doctor more than men (that is what the Health Insurance Companies say) and that...
Credit Rating Companies Rated "Conflicted" by Congress.
Posted on October 30, 2008Credit rating companies are under fire for inherent conflicts. Credit raters are paid by the companies whose credit they rate. See generally Gretchen Morgenson, "House Panel Scrutinizes Rating Firms" p. B1, col. 6 (New York Times Nat'l Ed., Business Day...
Federal Insurance Programs lose money ... On Investments, Not Claims!
Posted on October 29, 2008Does the headline sound familiar? It should. Insurance Companies in the so-called private sector -- now flooded with Federal Taxpayer money -- are losing Billions upon Billions of Dollars in their alleged financial market operations including their choices of investments,...
Regime Without Change: "Bailout" Money Quietly Distributed, No Taxpayer Benefit.
Posted on October 29, 2008Part Three of Three Parts. It is pretty clear that many of the people who made bad investment decisions are also clueless aout Insurance. Some of those people are in the current Federal Govenment, and some are in the private...
Regime Without Change: "Bailout" Money Quietly Distributed, No Taxpayer Benefit ...
Posted on October 28, 2008Part Two. "Too many pigs for the trough." Abraham Lincoln, rephrased slightly for 21st century p.c. The Bailout Law provides Mr. Henry Paulson, the current Treasury Secretary, with a lot of unbridled power. Naturally, many so-called "interest groups" are lining...
MORE new "Insurance" ... And Not By Act of Congress, Either.
Posted on October 27, 2008There are many things emerging in reports about the credit fiasco, that cause surprise to one degree or another. For present purposes, suffice it to say that one surprise is the accepted role that "new" kinds of "Insurance" seems to...
Regime Without Change: "Bailout" Money Quietly Distributed, No Taxpayer Benefit.
Posted on October 26, 2008Part One. "Societiies in which the few are allowed to fatten themselves without limit on the labor of many are not just; they aren't even particularly productive for very long." Tim Rutten, "Greenspan's Blind Spot/The Former Fed Chief Didn't Bank...
Florida Public Housing Authorities Self-Insurance Funds Law in 2008.
Posted on October 24, 2008Florida has a new law that allows any two or more "public housing authorities" to band together in a "self-insurance fund" to cover both Property Insurance and Casualty Insurance Claims, if among other things: The fund has "annual normal premiums"...
A.I.G.: A Taxpayer Money Sieve?
Posted on October 24, 2008A.I.G. reportedly has already used up 75% or $90,300,000,000.00 of a $123 Billion Federal Reserve line of credit backed by the Federal Taxpayer. It reportedly was not supposed to be used up this fast. E.g., Carol D. Leonnig, "AIG Has...
Health Insurance Coverage: Limiting Costs by Not Paying Medical Mistakes.
Posted on October 23, 2008"We believe that what gets measured is what gets done." Scott Serota, President and CEO, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, quoted by Elizabeth Olson, "A Plan to Improve Health Care and Limit Costs" p. B2, col. 1 (New York Times...
Bust Times, Bad Results: Insurers of Corporations Face Exposure, Risk.
Posted on October 22, 2008It is reported that poor corporate results, even bankruptcy, may not deter lawsuits against failed and failing corporations. Instead, their Liability Insurance Coverage may be at risk from claims by shareholders against the insured corporations. Jonathan D...
Fallling Economy, Rising Lawsuits Mean More D & O Claims.
Posted on October 21, 2008A falling economy has brought corporate bankruptcies, job layoffs, and Government investigations. Reportedly, "[i]insurance companies [are] the top target for litigation ...." Lindsay Fortado, "U.S. Company Lawyers Expecting Litigation Surge, Survey Says" (Bloomberg...
Recoupment and Restitution of Gotten Gains: State Demands Return Money.
Posted on October 20, 2008New York State reportedly allows "creditors" to sue for damages in cases in which a company pays money but "did not get adequate value in exchange." On behalf of Taxpayers in New York, the State Attorney General is pursuing the...
Credit Default Swaps: Transparency, Insurable Interest ... Two Good Remedies.
Posted on October 20, 2008Independent audits provide transparency to bring the risks of Credit Default Swaps into the sunshine, and into the view of those footing the bills be they shareholders or Taxpayers. See Ari Levy, "AIG Former Auditor Warned About Derivative Valuation in...
Beware the SEC: They Plan to "Regulate" Credit Default Swaps.
Posted on October 19, 2008"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Mom, again. The current regime occupying the Securities and Exchange Commission now reportedly wants to regulate Credit Default Swaps. See Christopher Cox, "Swapping Secrecy for Transparency" p...
Mental Health and Substance Abuse Insurance Coverage: The Bailout Law.
Posted on October 17, 2008The newly enacted bailout law contains new provisions that affect the issuance of employer-based Health Insurance, but only some plans, not all. These particular provisions were reportedly added as a "sweetner". They helped to make voting for the bailout bill...
"Let's Go To The Spa!": The Sun King Runs AIG!
Posted on October 16, 2008An AIG decision to spend over $441,000.00 at the spa was hooted down in the United States Congress and in much of the popular press as a bad idea. See, e.g., Michael Janofsky, "Lehman, AIG Chiefs Should 'Man Up,' Stop...
THE new FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE: Small Banks, Small Businesses hoya!
Posted on October 15, 2008The number of banks closing their businesses so far in 2008 is the highest since 1993: 15. An additional 117 banks are classified by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as a "problem". (The FDIC declines to name them.) In response,...
Credit Default Swaps Insurance: The Never-Ending Story.
Posted on October 14, 2008"First the house of Lehman fell. Now the insurance bill is coming due." Mary Williams Walsh, "Insurance on Lehman Debt is the Industry's Next Test" p.B1, col. 6 (Business Day Section, New York Times Nat'l Ed., Saturday, October 11, 2008)....
Credit Default Swaps Continued: The Credit Default Insurance Debacle.
Posted on October 13, 2008Avoiding regulation of Credit Default Swaps as the Insurance they are was never an end in itself. One of the consequences of Insurance Regulation in every State is a requirement that the Company maintain reserves to pay future claims. This...
Battles Continue Over a FEDERAL Insurance Regulator: Another "Heckuva Job".
Posted on October 11, 2008The CEO of the largest direct Life Insurance Company in the U.S., Northwestern Mutual, was quoted in a recent newspaper interview as venturing a prediction that the Federal Government is ripe to enact a new "regulatory regime" for the Insurance...
New Federal Insurance Plan? What New Federal Insurance Plan?
Posted on October 10, 2008There are reports that the bailout bill provisions, or rescue regulations, recently passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by Mr. Bush include a new kind of Federal "Insurance". Lori Montgomery and Paul Kane, "Bush Enacts Historic Financial....
Sector Snapshot: INSURANCE on 10.09.08.
Posted on October 09, 2008Available financials on the Insurance Sector do not show such a good picture. Companies with some of the most solid reputations in the sector are in the least desirable (lower left) performance quadrant. Brokers seem to be the exception that...
Some Establishment White People Blame Blacks, Hispanics for Credit Crisis.
Posted on October 08, 2008No regulation, and deregulation of Wall Street were not the actual causes of the national financial failure, according to some proponents of a new conspiracy theory that would have you believe that it was caused instead by "minorities" who received...
Bad News on the Doorstep, AIG: "One More Step" ....
Posted on October 07, 2008.... After Announcing it Had Already Used Up 75% of its Federal Loan Money Without Selling the Assets the Loan Money Was Supposed to Buy Time to Sell. AIG held a conference call on Friday, October 3, 2008. It does...
"Florida Hurricane Focus Shifting Risk to Private Sector," State Senator.
Posted on October 07, 2008A Florida State Senator recently wrote an interesting letter to the editor as it were, rejecting Florida State Government participation in Florida Catastrophe Insurance in favor of a National plan. It is worthwhile reading: Jeremy Ring, Florida State Senator, "With...
AIG Bailout Draws Congressional Hearings.
Posted on October 06, 2008The Chair of the United States House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform reportedly will start holding Hearings in the week to come after this post, on the Federal Government's, i.e., Mr. Paulson's and Mr. Bernanke's "bailout of...
Munis: "Where is the Insurance?"
Posted on October 02, 2008Local government bond issues, called "munis," are facing tough times during this credit debacle. States and Local Governments are having a hard time borrowing money. Bond issues have reportedly been delayed or cancelled that would have brought revenue to housing...
"Leave Insurance Regulation to Competent People," Florida Insurance Commissioner Says.
Posted on October 01, 2008Responding to the announced desires of Treasury Secretary Henry "The Hammer" Paulson to take over Regulation of Insurance Companies from the States which have always done it, Florida's Insurance Commissioner says that it should be left to the States where...
"The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008": well, never mind!
Posted on September 30, 2008The bill pending before the House of Representatives was defeated on Monday, 09.29.08, but some sort of relief similar to that bill, "The Emergency Economic Stablization Act of 2008," is still anticipated in Washington. See Joel Achenbach and Ashley Surdin,...
"The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008".
Posted on September 29, 2008The three-page (some say two-and-one-half page) outline of Treasury Secretary Henry "The Hammer" Paulson for a takeover of the national economy, has become a 110-page pdf for a bailout of the national economy. It is soon to be voted on...
Barely Plans, Bear Stearns, Bailout: "Where's The Insurance?": updated.
Posted on September 27, 2008More words have appeared and should be added I supposed to the one-page "fact sheet" of unknown Republican Members of Congress, posted here on Friday, 09.26.08: See Edmund L. Andrews, "House Republicans Support A Plan That Would Insure Troubled Mortgages"...
Barely Plans, Bear Stearns, Bailout: "Where's The Insurance?"
Posted on September 26, 2008An unspecified number of Republican Members of Congress are reportedly working from a "fact sheet" on a plan that "calls for a mortgage-backed security insurance fund". Alison Vekshin and James Rowley, "House Republicans Undercut Bush on Rescue, Slow Talks (Update...
Florida Insurance Commissioner Cites State Farm On $120 Million in Discounts.
Posted on September 26, 2008The Florida Insurance Commissioner has ordered State Farm Florida to provide credits or refunds amounting to $120 Million. This is not linked at all to State Farm's rejected Property Insurance Premium Increase request. Jennifer Liberto, "$120M Refund on Way" (St...
Credit Default Swaps: Unregulated Insurance, Cause of Bankruptcies, Bailouts.
Posted on September 26, 2008One of the more respected business reporters in the nation reported recently that credit default swaps are the root cause of every bailout decision. Gretchen Morgenson, "Fair Game/Your Money at Work, Fixing Others' Mistakes" p. 1, col. 2 (New York...
"Post-Claims Underwriting Rescission," revisited.
Posted on September 25, 2008Another Health Insurance Company in California has settled "Post-Claims Underwriting Rescission" allegations with a regulatory agency. Health Net Inc. reportedly agreed with the California Department of Insurance to these provisions addressing such allegations in connection with Health Insurance Policies issued...
Credit Default Swaps to be REGULATED as INSURANCE -- FINALLY!
Posted on September 23, 2008"'Regardless of how we got in this, we are in it. And we shall succeed!' Why, not even a burglar could have said that better." Mark Twain. The Governor of New York has drawn howls of opposition from Wall Street...
Credit Rating Companies Revisited.
Posted on September 23, 2008Credit Rating Companies like Moody's Investors Service are at it again. They are threatening to downgrade the credit ratings of two formerly large Bond Insurance Companies, Ambac and MBIA. See Jody Shenn and Christine Richard, "Ambac May Delay New Insurer...
Federal Insurance Guarantee for Money-Market Funds.
Posted on September 22, 2008The current controllers of our Federal Tax Monies have proposed an undefined plan to guarantee or totally insure Money-Market Funds. Whether the plan is ill-defined remains to be seen, for the plan is not a plan, yet. It is the...
Credit Market Crisis and Iraq Invasion "Solutions": The Selling Continues.
Posted on September 22, 2008"When a hammer is the only tool you have, every problem looks like a nail." Henry "The Hammer" Paulson wants his three-page "plan" enacted now, without interference on behalf of protecting people who are going to lose their homes and...
Credit Market Crisis, And Invading Iraq: The Final Solutions.
Posted on September 21, 2008"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Mom. "There is a crisis. We must give the administration the authority now to do what they decide to do in the future." "Only bold action taken right...
Fannie, Freddie Failures -- Fiduciary?
Posted on September 19, 2008The fired CEOs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will not be receiving the full amounts of their multi-million dollar separation payments, it is reported by Zachary A. Goldfarb, "No 'Golden Parachutes' for Fannie, Freddie's Ex-Chiefs" (Washington Post Online, Monday,...
More on "Credit Default Swaps" and Other Financial Finagling.
Posted on September 19, 2008In Wall Street's never-ending coverup of mechanisms for greed, one of the stonewallers of choice is the little understood "credit default swap". Here is an insightful explanation in a newspaper report which addresses the failing financial fortunes of "the credit...
AIG, Failure Previously Unimagined, Insurance and Credit Default Swaps.
Posted on September 18, 2008AIG employees were playing with fire. Not all AIG employees. Not the people who knew about Insurance. No, the burning bozos were people who manifestly did not know about Insurance. They knew about greed. They lit credit default swaps that...
AIG Insurance Seems Solid, Federal Takeover Caused by Financial Failure ...
Posted on September 17, 2008... AIG Run Into Ground by Pursuit of Greed, Deliberately Hidden Complexities. The headlines this morning tell the morning tale: Hugh Son and Erik Holm, "Fed Takes Control of AIG With $85 Billion Bailout (Update 1)" (Bloomberg.com, Wed., September 17,...
"AIG, OMG!"
Posted on September 16, 2008"It's too big to be allowed to fail!" This time representatives of large investors with lots of money tied up in huge financial houses are saying that about AIG. See Hugh Son, "AIG Credit Rating Cut Threatens Quest For Funds,...
Insolvency and Insurance Guaranty Associations On the Brain ...
Posted on September 16, 2008.... Because of AIG, for Crying Out Loud! Knowledge helps drive away fear. Here is a link to the National Organization of Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Associations' web site: www.nolhga.com. There you can find information on subjects such as...
Catastrophe Model Companies Estimate Damages, Provide Basis to Evaluate Themselves.
Posted on September 15, 2008Companies marketing Computer Models of Catastrophes have now opened a new line of potential profit for themselves. They have become estimators. Their estimates of Catastrophe Claims (not including Uninsured Damages) from Hurricane Ike in Texas vary as widely as the...
Association Directors and Officers.
Posted on September 12, 2008Automatic renewal provisions in management contracts reportedly may not be a good thing for Directors and Officers of Homeowner and Condominium Associations. Association Directors and Officers who agree to such provisions reportedly may be opening themselves up to claims that...
Renter's Insurance Protection a Rate Bargain.
Posted on September 11, 2008As the housing market tubes ever downward, more people in this country rent their homes rather than purchase them. Like Homeowners, Renters have Insurance needs. However, unlike most Homeowners, certainly in Florida for example, most Renters pay bargain Premiums for...
Documents to Have at Hand Before the Hurricane.
Posted on September 10, 2008Hurricanes and other potential Catastrophes have a lot of similarities. One of the many things they have in common is preparing for them by gathering together the papers that will be handy to have on hand if there is a...
Regulation vs. Rampant Runaways: Which is Repugnant?
Posted on September 09, 2008Regulation by government officials may be a good thing. Perhaps a very good thing in some cases. If not most cases. Regulators familiar with a regulated industry often have knowledge about better practices than those pursued as an apparent result...
Reinsurance Rates, Writedowns, and Catastrophe Claims -- or Not.
Posted on September 07, 2008The Reinsurance industry is in good shape reports Moody's Investors Service. Reinsurance rates drop when there are fewer Hurricanes or other Catastrophe Claims, in basic terms, and increase when there is more demand for Reinsurance such as in years when...
Rate Hike Appeal, Re-Hearing Denied.
Posted on September 05, 2008In 2006, State Farm Florida received a 52.8% Premium Rate Increase for its Florida Property Insurance Policies. In 2007, State Farm Florida reportedly agreed to a 9% Premium Rate Reduction for those same Florida Property Insurance Policies. In 2008, State...
Bond Insurance Companies May Not Pay Out on Auction-Rate Bonds ....
Posted on September 04, 2008.... Auction-Rate Bond Marketers Are Buying The Bonds Back Rather Than Pay Potentially Much Greater Penalties in Proceedings Pursued by State Regulators. One-time sellers of Auction-Rate Bonds are buying them back rather than face paying penalties. Regulators of the sellers...
California Quakes and Small Business Preparedness: Shake Out 11.13.08.
Posted on September 03, 2008Safety of employees trumps data preservation. Securing property so it does not shake out the door, window or unannounced openings in your place of business. Such things will help prevent unnecessary Insurance Claims, which even when covered hardly compensate for...
Condominium Associations Insurance, Other Dues And Assessments.
Posted on September 02, 2008Insurance Premiums for Condominium Association Insurance Policies are paid either from Owners' dues or from assessments on the Owners. Dues and assessments are paid to the Condominium Association. The Association remits the Insurance Premiums to the Insurance Companies...
After Katrina Came Gustav: Reduced CatClaims Coverage Spawns CatClaimsResponse Units.
Posted on September 01, 2008Hurricane Gustav will be met with special Catastrophe Response Claims Units from Insurance Companies that have reduced CatClaims Coverage on the Gulf Coast. Erik Holm, "Insurers Preparing for Gustav With Rapid-Response Claims Teams" (Bloomberg.com, Saturday, August 30, 2008)...
Hurricane Gustav Follows Hurricane Katrina Path Three Years Later.
Posted on August 31, 2008On August 29, the people of New Orleans observed the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's lethal landfall in their City. On August 30, it was reported that New Orleans was evacuating before Hurricane Gustav lands upon them. "These are nervous...
Mortgage Insurance, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: And Lots of Money.
Posted on August 29, 2008Insurance Companies are players in the Mortgage arena. Their roles in that venue are addressed by Renae Merle, "Mortgage Insurers' Losses Mount/Problems Feed Fears That Squeeze on Loans" (washingtonpost.com, Thursday, August 14, 2008). Here are some of the roles which...
Automobile Insurance: Driving Down, Premiums Up.
Posted on August 28, 2008Why have Automobile Insurance Premiums gone up while driving has gone down? Insurance Companies report that although it is a fact that drivers in this country drive fewer miles now than they did in the past, the reduction in driving...
Rate Hike Rejection in Florida.
Posted on August 27, 2008State Farm's previously reported rate hike request of 47.1% across Florida has been rejected. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation issued its order of denial, as expected by many. Reportedly, State Farm now has three available options. Which one, or...
"Fay, You Are No Hurricane": But Claims are Coming in.
Posted on August 27, 2008There are a significant number of Claims and more to come from the passage of Tropical Storm Fay over Florida, as reported by Julie Patel, "13,847 Claims Filed After Fay" (South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com, Wed., August 27, 2008), Claims are coming...
An Online Social Network for People in Health Insurance Net.
Posted on August 26, 2008A virtual health clinic is reportedly in the beta stage, i.e., under development in an experiment being launched by WellNet Healthcare in August, 2008. Kendra Marr, "A Social Network for Your Doctor, Pharmacist and Insurer" (washingtonpost.com, Saturday, August 16, 2008)...
Subprimes Sneeze, Credit Card Consumers Chilled, Insurance Catches Cold.
Posted on August 25, 2008Insurance Industry illnesses from the credit fiasco come in a couple of ways. One is that more Claims are made on more types of Insurance Policies -- Mortgage, Credit, for examples -- than these Insurance "products" may have been designed...
"Fay, You Are No Hurricane": More Effects Than Claims Alone.
Posted on August 24, 2008Tropical Storm Fay has more effects than leaving behind many Claims. Reportedly, Property Insurance Companies have a "no-bind" practice or procedure in response to any National Weather Service Watch or Warning that is issued in Florida for a Tropical Storm...
"Fay, You Are No Hurricane": Check All Risks, Commissioner Says.
Posted on August 22, 2008Tropical Storm Fay is not (yet?) a Hurricane. Fay has definitely caused property damage and loss of life, too, however. The Florida Insurance Commissioner reportedly said that, as a result, "the damage will be covered by the all-perils portion of...
Condo Costs: Need to Know.
Posted on August 21, 2008Condominium Associations may not need to tell buyers what their Insurance Premiums will come to, or perhaps even what buyers can expect to pay in special assessments this year or next. This newspaper report recommends that you do your homework...
"Fay, You Are No Hurricane" -- So, No Effect on Premiums?
Posted on August 19, 2008Hurricanes caused hidden damage in Florida in 2004 and 2005. They caused Premiums to rise because they caused the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund and Citizens Property Insurance, for example, to require higher assessments. See Tom Zucco, "Fay Unlikely to Cause...
Florida Office of Insurance Regulation Putins Allstate Insurance.
Posted on August 18, 2008For nearly a year, Allstate Insurance Company and its subsidiaries resisted investigations by the Florida Insurance Commissioner into its Reinsurance arrangements, its unauthorized Catastrophe Models that consistently predicted greater damage -- and thus the 'need' for greater Premiums -- than...
Premiums Rise for Long-Term Insurance.
Posted on August 17, 2008John Hancock is reportedly joining Genworth in seeking Premium Rate Increases for some existing Long-Term Insurance Policies. Kimberly Lankford, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, published as "Long-Term-Care Insurance Rates Are Set to Increase" at washingtonpost...
Collateralized Debt Obligations, Credit Default Swaps, And Credit Insurance, Continuation ....
Posted on August 14, 2008.... Part 3: What Is The Prognosis? Merrill Lynch's recipe for settlements of CDO indemnity obligations may be "a template for Wall Street, Bank of America Corp. analysts said." John Glover, "Merrill CDO Deal May Be Model, Bank of America...
Expert Witnesses, Reasonableness of Conduct and Other Business/Law/Financial Issues.
Posted on August 13, 2008Do you pay your Expert Witnesses $1,000 an hour? Summaries in the newspapers of recent studies reflect that Expert Witnesses often charge that much. Here is a handy link here. This report uses many of the studies as resources. It...
Past Fears, Uncertain Future Drive Florida State Hurricane Warnings.
Posted on August 12, 2008Predictions of the future can be very uncertain. Sometimes perceived future dangers, for example, are based more on past fears than present facts, perhaps. It is reported that the Florida "state meteorologist" (did you know that Florida has one of...
Unidentified Claim Practices Settlement by Life Insurer -- Update.
Posted on August 11, 2008This Updates a Previous Post. The unidentified claim practices settlement by a Life Insurance Company will remain unidentified if it is left up to the parent Life Insurance Company, apparently. The parent Company in question is Healthmarkets, Inc. It is...
Federal Disasters Declared, Catastrophe Models Unspecified But Described As Consistent.
Posted on August 10, 2008During his two terms as president, Mr. Bush has issued 422 declarations of disaster. That is described as more than President Bill Clinton and far more than President Ronald Reagan, also two-term presidents. The largest number of Mr. Bush's disaster....
Rate Rejection Redux.
Posted on August 08, 2008This Updates a Previous Post. Florida Farm Bureau's 2007 Premium Rate Increase was rejected in 2008. FFB's 2007 Premium Rate Hike Request was for a 26.8 % increase. FFB also requested a Premium Rate Increase in 2008, upping the ante...
Unidentified Claim Practices Settlement by Life Insurer.
Posted on August 07, 2008In 2007, these three Life Insurance Companies reportedly took back over $115,000,000.00 or over $115 Million from Floridians who paid them Premiums: 1. MEGA LIfe and Health; 2. Mid-West National LIfe, and 3. Chesapeake Life. Each is reportedly a subsidiary...
Collateralized Debt Obligations, Credit Default Swaps, And Credit Insurance, Continuation ....
Posted on August 06, 2008.... Part 2: Devalue, Destroy, or Divest. Ambac Financial Group Inc., a Bond Insurance Company that ventured into the dangerous land of Collateralized Debt Obligations and hoisted packages of subprime mortgages in exchange for real money, agreed with Citigroup Inc...
The Limits of FDIC Coverage, Explained.
Posted on August 06, 2008????The way in which the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation calculates its Insurance limits are explained in this comprehensive and timely article by Helen Huntley, Times Personal Finance Editor, "Decoding FDIC Limits" (St. Petersburg Times Online, Friday, August 1, 2008)...
FFB Raises Rejected Rate Request.
Posted on August 04, 2008In 2007, Florida Farm Bureau requested a Premium Rate Increase of 26.8% in Florida. In early July, 2008, FFB exhausted its appeals of the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation's denial of that request. In late July, 2008, FFB asked for...
Collateralized Debt Obligations, Credit Default Swaps, And Credit Insurance, Continuation ....
Posted on August 03, 2008.... Part 1 -- What Are These Things? Collateralized Debt Obligations and Credit Default Swaps belong to a group collectively labeled "toxic securities" in the media. See "Merrill CDO Sale Not As Good As It Looks: Analyst," a Reuters report...
Renter's Insurance a Small Market, Insurance Study Finds.
Posted on August 01, 2008Renter's Insurance markets in Florida are the subject of a study recently conducted by Allstate and by Opinion Research Corporation. Reportedly, more than 2,000,000 or 2 Million Floridians rent their homes, whether apartments, houses, or townhouses. The Allstate-Opinion survey reportedly...
Homeowner's Associations and Condominium Associations: Professionalism, Business ... And Insurance.
Posted on August 01, 2008Boards of Directors of Condominium Associations, and of Homeowner's Associations and of other similar Community Associations, have a hard job. Their many obligations and expectations are explored by Kay Senay, Forum Publishing Group, published online on Thursday, July 31, 2008...
Pitfalls of Investing in Certain Property Insurance Companies.
Posted on August 01, 2008Some of the pitfalls of investing in certain Property Insurance Companies are generally explored by Florida Sun-Sentinel reporter Julie Patel, who offers a specific example to illustrate some of the issues in her Web Log, "House Keys," found at http://weblogs...
Securitization and the "New" Insurance, No Assurance.
Posted on July 31, 2008"Securitization" includes, in basic terms, bundling securities and selling them. Previous posts in this space have addressed one of those "securitization" vehicles, collateralized debt obligations, which are not regulated as "Insurance," and their virtually identical resemblance to regulated Credit Insurance...
The Expense of Medical Malpractice: Insurance, Lawsuits, and Pain.
Posted on July 30, 2008Reportedly, South Florida has the most expensive Medical Malpractice Insurance Premiums in the nation. Many consequences or effects are explored in companion articles by Bob LaMendola, "South Florida Malpractice Victims Have Fewer Options" (South Florida Sun-Sentinel...
Policy Limits Concept Continues for Deposit Insurance ... or Not?
Posted on July 29, 2008Put another way, should the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation face liability without limit? Since the FDIC is funded by Taxpayer money, that question really becomes, should Taxpayers face liability without limit to protect everyone's savings deposits? These and similar questions...
Thanks for the Insurance and Your Service, Citizen Douglas!
Posted on July 29, 2008Thursday, July 31, 2008 is the last day that Mr. Bruce Douglas will serve as the Chair of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. Reportedly, Citizens is the largest Homeowner's Insurance Company in the United States that operates as an arm of...
Federal Officials Take Over Banks Rather Than Pay Insurance Claims.
Posted on July 28, 2008The Federal Deposit Insurance Company has exercised power not to pay depositors insurance claims, by instead taking over the banks where the depositers had their money. The banks will now be run by another bank entirely, apparently as a gift...
Catastrophe Claims Strip Homeowner's Insurance Coverage, Lift Premiums.
Posted on July 25, 2008Since about the time of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Homeowner's Insurance Policies and other kinds of Property Insurance Policies have been adversely affected by Catastrophe Claims. Coverage provisions have been narrowed and new Exclusions have been added...
Insurers Cry "Catastrophe" From Tornado Claims: Allstate, Travelers Claim Hits.
Posted on July 24, 2008Travelers Companies, reportedly the second largest Commercial Insurance Company in the United States, recorded its third decline in Quarterly profits in a row due to "the record number of tornadoes in the second quarter." Andrew Frye, "Travelers Net Income Drops...
Update on "Post-Claims Underwriting" vs. "Rescission" by Health Insurance Companies.
Posted on July 23, 2008On Tuesday, July 22, 2008 the Governor of California signed a bill into law that prohibits Health Insurance Companies from awarding bonuses to their employees based on canceling or rescinding a Policyholder's-Patient's Health Insurance Coverage. Lisa Girion, "Schwarzenegger Signs Ban...
"Post-Claims Underwriting" or "Rescission": Feds, States, Cities Battle Health Insurers.
Posted on July 23, 2008The State of California's Department of Managed Health Care has reached an agreement with two of the larger Health Insurance Companies in California, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, to resolve complaints investigated by the Department about the Companies' alleged "post-claims...
Increasing Risk, Increasing Insurance Role.
Posted on July 22, 2008Current market conditions strongly reflect significant risk. In this situation, Insurance Coverage Issues and Claims are inevitable. They are coming. They are coming under all sorts of Insurance Policies. These Insurance Coverage Issues and Claims will in turn trigger many...
Where is the Help for Homeowners?
Posted on July 21, 2008This is the question asked in a Letter to the Editor of The Boston Globe by Ms. Sharon Smith of Portland, Maine, published on Sunday, July 20, 2008. In the whirl that surrounds issues and events connected with Homeowner's Insurance...
California Contemplates Car Coverage For Miles.
Posted on July 18, 2008A new plan to base Automobile Insurance Premium Rates on the number of miles a Policyholder actually drives is being gassed up by a combination which includes some Insurance Companies, environmentalists, and California State legislators. Here is how it would...
Lenders and Insurance: Tied Together.
Posted on July 17, 2008There are those that wonder what Insurance has to do with Banks and Foreclosures and the continuing bad Market Conditions. Many banks and other lenders took back risky mortgages as collateral. The mortgages are now increasingly in default, and even...
Florida's Largest Property Insurance Company Requests 47.1 Percent Rate Hike.
Posted on July 17, 2008State Farm is reportedly Florida's largest insurer of private property. As such, it has faced many more Catastrophe and other Property Insurance Claims than it could have anticipated. On account of such Claims, It has reportedly requested a Premium Rate...
Mortgage Insurance Claims Anticipated to Raise the Roof.
Posted on July 16, 2008The amazing fall from grace and profitability of Mortgage Insurance Companies is detailed in this report using information reported by Fitch Ratings: Josh P. Hamilton, "Record Mortgage Insurer Claims Haven't Reached Peak, Fitch Says" (Bloomberg.com, Wed...
Property Insurance Premium Florida Price Comparisons.
Posted on July 13, 2008Courtesy of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, here is a computer-assisted comparison of Property Insurance Premium Rates for different Counties in Florida. This is a public service. Feel free to use it and use it and use it again. Please Read...
Credit Default Swaps: The New Credit Insurance.
Posted on July 10, 2008Ask the Bond Insurers. Credit default swaps are "financial instruments" of a special nature. They "are privately traded insurance contracts that let people bet on companies' financial health." Gretchen Morgenson & Vikas Bajaj, "MBIA Debt is Setting Up a Quandary"...
CatClaims Spawned by 80 Percent More Tornadoes.
Posted on July 10, 2008Compared to the entire Second Quarter in 2007, so far in the Second Quarter of 2008 there have been 1,100 reported tornadoes in the United States, according to the National Weather Service. This figure represents an 80% increase over 2Q...
Medicare, Health Insurance, and the American Medical Association.
Posted on July 09, 2008The American Medical Association recently held its annual meeting. One of the physicians' reports released at the 2008 A.M.A. annual meeting reported the following facts about physicians' payments received from Health Insurance Companies and from Medicare...
Conflicts of Interest Added to Judicial Review of ERISA Denials.
Posted on July 06, 2008Most if not all ERISA plan administrators for participating employers are also the ones who pay the benefits available under the ERISA plan. Employers have an interest in paying the smallest lawful amount of beneifts, and it bears repeating that...
"Guide to Getting Help With Health Insurance" Issues.
Posted on July 03, 2008Ever wonder what to do when you or someone you represent was facing a major Health Insurance Issue? There is an excellent guide written by Lisa Girion, "A Guide to Getting Help With Health Insurance Problems" (Los Angeles Times Online,...
"Knee High by the Fourth of July": Crop Claims, CatClaims ....
Posted on July 02, 2008.... Claims Rise Higher and Faster Than Crop Prices. Recent newspaper articles reflect that an increase in Crop Prices has brought an increase in the number of Crop Insurance Policies sold, but that the number of CatClaims from Tornadoes is...
Surplus Lines Insurance Companies And Insurance Brokers.
Posted on July 01, 2008"This case hinges upon seemingly age-old questions surrounding the proper contours of the agency relationship between an insured and a purported insurance broker -- questions for which our prior precedent provides useful guidance." Download Essex_Insurance_Co...
FHA Waives Waiting Period, Offers Mortgage Insurance on Foreclosed Homes.
Posted on June 30, 2008The Federal Housing Administration is modeling parts of a new law that previously passed the House of Representatives and is apparently awaiting action in the Senate. The FHA reportedly adopted a narrowly focused new policy to last one year. Under...
Credit Ratings Equality Foreshadows No More Bond Insurance.
Posted on June 27, 2008Unnamed "investors and analysts" see no need for Bond Insurance whatsoever if a credit ratings company rates Municipal Bonds by the same assessments that it uses to rate Corporate Bonds, it is definitely reported by Michael McDonald, "Moody's Muni Ratings...
Earthquake Shakes Up Some Insurance Coverage Expectations.
Posted on June 26, 2008A newspaper report about Insurance Coverage and Catastrophe Claims following the Sichuan earthquake in China, highlights issues important to people in the United States who face the real possiblity of having to make Catastrophe Claims. Concentrating on two types of...
Health Insurance Coverage for Anorexia or Bulimia?
Posted on June 25, 2008Can anorexia or bulimia be covered under Health Insurance Policies? They can if the Legislature mandates Coverage. There is an act that recently reached the desk of the Governor of Illinois, which would reportedly make Illinois the 17th State to...
Different Business, Different CatClaim Preparations.
Posted on June 24, 2008Different businesses get ready for Catastrophe Claims in different ways, it is reported in "Getting Ready for Storms is Major Job For Big Businesses" p. C1, col. 5 "Central Florida Business" Section (Orlando Sentinel, Friday, June 13, 2008), published online...
Some Issues to Explore in Obtaining Individual Health Insurance Coverage.
Posted on June 23, 2008Applying for individual Health Insurance Coverage presents at least two issues addressed by David Lazarus, "Consumer Confidential/Gender Can Cost You in Individual Health Insurance" (Los Angeles Times Online, Sunday, June 22, 2008). One issue in applying for individual Health Insurance...
ERISA Plan Administrators' Conflict of Interest Now in Plain View.
Posted on June 20, 2008In a landmark opinion released yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States changed the factors to review in employee challenges to adverse disability benefit decisions. The High Court ruling was by an overwhelming vote, 6 to 3. From now...
Crop and Flood Losses Bring Claims to Midwest.
Posted on June 19, 2008Several of the larger Crop Insurance Companies in the United States are Wells Fargo, Ace Ltd., and Deere & Co. Jeff Wilson, "Corn-Crop Losses Widen as U.S. Midwest Fields Flood (Update 1)" (Bloomberg.com, Tuesday, June 17, 2008). Wells Fargo &...
To and From Each According to Their Abilities.
Posted on June 18, 2008The idea of underperforming corporate executives giving back some or all of their pay, in exchange for the opportunity that exists now of receiving enormous bonuses and other payments when the corporation performs well financially (and now, actually, even if...
Munis to Receive Equal Credit Rating Treatment?
Posted on June 17, 2008The credit of Municipal Bonds may soon be rated the same exact way that the credit of Corporate Bonds has always been rated. This may mean that there is no longer a need for Bond Insurance. See Vikas Bajaj, "Moody's...
Health Insurance Mandates in Massachusetts Change Some Behavior, Not All.
Posted on June 16, 2008Massachusetts has required universal purchase of Health Insurance Coverage or the Commonwealth will impose severe penalties on the intentionally uninsured, in basic terms. A new study by the Urban Institute reportedly discloses that even the fear of potential penalties under...
Level of Insurance Coverage Levels the Playing Field.
Posted on June 13, 2008Disputes between Insurance Companies and their Policyholders is nothing new. In California, for example, there is a dispute brewing about who is responsible for maintaining levels of Insurance Coverage necessary to provide the money to rebuild after recent wildfires there,...
Bond Insurance Companies Ratings Drop.
Posted on June 12, 2008As previously posted here, MBIA was the No. 1 Bond Insurance Company. Ambac Financial stood in at the No. 2 position. Until recently, perhaps. Their respective credit ratings have both been downgraded below the rating that has always been necessary...
... And Now, On To Everyone's Business Preparing for Catastrophe.
Posted on June 11, 2008Good advice for preparing for CatClaims that everyone can put to use is found in "Preparation Eases the Aftermath," published on Friday, June 6, 2008 by the Los Angeles Times Online, found at www.latimes.com. Among the good advice given there...
Foreclosed Properties in Florida May Mostly be Empty.
Posted on June 10, 2008What Does This Mean to Insurance Coverage? Foreclosure is miserable. The awful effects of foreclosure proceedings on many of the human beings involved in them are detailed in the anecdotes reported by Damien Cave, "In South Florida, Eviction Spares Few,"...
Small Business Planning for Catastrophe (Heaven Forbid).
Posted on June 09, 2008Some things that small businesses can include in their planning for CatClaims are addressed very well by Joyce M. Rosenberg, Associated Press, "Disaster Planning for Small Businesses," May 26, 2008, available online at www.latimes.com. The first order of small business...
Katrina: A Catastrophe Continues.
Posted on June 06, 2008No Homeowner's Insurance. No homes. Soon, no place to stay. Katrina: A Catastrophe mishandled by some of the people currently in charge of the Federal government, continues. See Jenny Jarvie, "Displaced by Katrina and Edged Out of FEMA Trailer Parks"...
Flip-Flopping Premium Hikes Rejected in Florida.
Posted on June 05, 2008Hartford reportedly at first "voted" against Premium Rate Hikes by announcing it would reduce Premiums by 13.6% effective 06.01.08, then it "voted" for Premium Rate Hikes by asking for a 39.6% Premium Rate Hike effective in 09.08. Following a new...
When Jack Nicholson Talks About Catastrophe, Florida Listens.
Posted on June 05, 2008No, not that Jack Nicholson. The Jack Nicholson who is identified as the manager of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund. Reportedly, bonds will be issued by the "Cat Fund" to pay for still-unpaid CatClaims from Florida's 2005 Hurricane Season, together...
Credit Default Swaps: The New Credit Insurance?
Posted on June 04, 2008Credit default swaps are a hard thing to understand. It almost seems as if those who use them benefit by not describing them in language that can be readily understood by other people. The more a person learns about credit...
Some Health Insurance Companies Demand Sterlization ....
Posted on June 03, 2008.... Before They Will Even Consider Covering Women Who Have Had a Caesarean. Insurance Companies willing to issue private Health Insurance Policies, i.e., Policies that are not employer-based and that do not depend on a group of employees, but are...
Vioxx Decision Shows Limits of Expert Witness Testimony.
Posted on June 02, 2008"An expert's bare opinion will not suffice to support a jury's verdict." Download Merck_Co. v. Ernst (Tex. 14th Ct. App. Case No. 14-06-00835-CV, Opinion Filed May 29, 2008)..txt at page 15 of 20. In this recent Texas appellate decision, the...
Insurance and Foreclosure.
Posted on May 30, 2008The rising tide of foreclosures carries with it many consequences. One of the unfortunate effects is the likely falsehood that homeowners are abandoning their homes. It appears that speculators are abandoning houses that were vacant when they got them...
Subprime Harms Homeowner's Insurance.
Posted on May 29, 2008The subprime credit crisis has reached out to the Insurance industry. In California, many people claim that Homeowners Insurance Companies lost lots of money in subprime investments and are trying to make it up for their losses by charging policyholders...
Current Federal Government Overpays $140 Million to Health Insurance Companies ....
Posted on May 28, 2008.... While Unsuspecting Retired Federal Workers Pay An Additional $60 Million to Health Insurance Companies for Health Insurance Coverage That Duplicates Exisiting Federal Health Coverage. Over 200,000 retired Federal employees are paying $60 Milllion in unnecessary Premium money to Health...
Health Insurance Proposals of Democratic Presidential Candidates.
Posted on May 23, 2008Confused or unaware like me, perhaps, about the Health Insurance Proposals that are offered by the remaining presidential candidates? Here is a summary and analysis of the two Democratic candidates' Health Insurance plans that is easy to understand and informative,...
Useful Web Sites for Health Insurance Information?
Posted on May 22, 2008If you are interested in sources for Health Insurance information, here are some untested "Websites for Health Insurance Education and Research" published by the Los Angeles Times Online (www.latimes.com, Sunday, May 18, 2008).. Please Read The Disclaimer.
"The scope of OIR's investigation ...."
Posted on May 21, 2008".... cannot be limited by Allstate's unilateral actions." Page 17 of the attached Official Opinion Denying Rehearing by Florida's First District Court of Appeal in Download Allstate_v. Office of Insurance Regulation (Fla. 1st DCA Case No. 1D08-0275, Opinion Filed May...
Preparing for Hurricane Insurance.
Posted on May 20, 2008Dennis Wall, Chair of the Insurance Law Committee, will speak at the Orange County Bar Association Center in Orlando, Florida about Preparing for Hurricane Insurance, on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 from Noon to 1:00 P.M. The Orange County Bar Association...
Florida O.I.R. Lifted Suspension of New Allstate Policies...
Posted on May 20, 2008... The Same Day Florida's First District Court of Appeal Denied Rehearing of its Opinion Upholding O.I.R.'s Order Suspending New Allstate Policies. Press reports published on Saturday, May 17, 2008 made it appear that the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation...
Hurricane Regulation in Florida: Allstate Swayed To Produce Documents.
Posted on May 19, 2008Allstate lost its motion for rehearing of a Florida appellate court ruling that upheld a ban on Allstate issuing new Policies in Florida until Allstate provided documents subpoenaed by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. That was on May 14,...
Credit Crisis Hikes Hurricane Force.
Posted on May 19, 2008The credit crisis has reportedly already hit Hurricane Insurance like, well, like a Hurricane, even before the first 2008 Hurricane hits. The credit crisis, and the related and overwhelming number of houses that are either in foreclosure now or are...
Country-wide Head Scratching Over Increase in Property Insurance Premiums.
Posted on May 18, 2008Across the United States, not only are Property Insurance Premiums increasing but the information on which those increases are based just is not getting to the Policyholders whose Premiums are increasing. Whether intentional or not, it is not a coincidence...
Restoration of Rescinded Health Insurance Policies by Settlement Agreement.
Posted on May 16, 2008It is reported that previously posted events concerning rescission and cancellation of at least some Health Insurance Policies in California have partly come to an end, by Lisa Girion, "1,200 People to Have Canceled Healthcare Coverage Restored" (Los Angeles Times...
Bond Brokers, Banks Heavy Local Tax Burdens.
Posted on May 16, 2008Bond brokers could not sell the auction-rate bonds that they advised States, Counties, Cities, Hospitals, Schools and other bond-issuing local governments to issue and now taxpayers are paying credit banks on Wall Street penalties because the local governments are getting...
"Preparing For Hurricane Insurance".
Posted on May 15, 2008You are cordially invited to a presentation about "Preparing For Hurricane Insurance". DENNIS WALL will present a lively discussion of major Insurance Coverage Issues. The cost is free: Events The Insurance Law Committee of the Orange County Bar Association will...
As You Prepare for Hurricanes, Include Preparing for Hurricane Insurance
Posted on May 14, 2008On May 12, 2008 a conference was scheduled to begin in Fort Lauderdale to begin Preparing for Hurricanes. See Ken Kaye, "Hurricane Season Preparations Begin: Pros Gather in Fort Lauderdale/Rescue Workers, Government Officials, Forecasters Hope to Stir State Into Action"...
Florida Deductibles and Hurricanes.
Posted on May 13, 2008Many people hold Homeowner's Insurance Policies and other Property Insurance Policies that have one deductible. That one deductible is large, in general terms, because it is written to address Hurricane Claims and all other kinds of claims on the policy...
Preparing for Catastrophe.
Posted on May 12, 2008In Florida, the 2008 Hurricane Season begins officially on June 1st. Now is a good time to prepare. See generally Michael Maharrey, "Businesses Need Storm Plans, Too" (St. Petersburg Times Online, Friday, May 9, 2008). You are invited to also...
Credit Raters Disregard Parent's 70 Percent Underwriting Loss AAA ...
Posted on May 09, 2008... the Loss is by One of the Owners of Moody's, the Rating is For One of the Owner's Subsidiaries. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. owns some 20% of Moody's, one of the big 3 rating companies which rated Bond Insurance companies...
New Federal Court Decision: No Privilege Log, No Privilege.
Posted on May 08, 2008"Failure to produce a privilege log is sufficient grounds to deem the privilege waived." Honda Lease Trust v. Middlesex Mutual Assurance Co., 2008 WL 349239 *3, *4 (D. Conn. February 6, 2008)(subscription required). This is a Bad Faith case, involving...
And A Little Child With Autism Shall Lead Them ...
Posted on May 07, 2008... A Story Continued in Florida. Autism Insurance Coverage is now mandated by the Florida Legislature. The Florida Governor is expected to sign the legislation. Although the new law does not mandate Insurance Coverage for any other disability besides autism,...
Stop the Bleeding. Please.
Posted on May 06, 2008There is an unmet need in this country. It concerns Insurance. Proposals are needed. That is the unmet need of which I wrote just now. Why unmet? Since 2001, there are 158 Million employees enrolled in Group Health Insurance plans...
Risk Management Skills in the Service of Better Insurance Coverages.
Posted on May 05, 2008Risk management skills are not frequently found among smaller policyholders and groups of policyholders. Risk management skills in the service of better insurance coverages are needed, and are increasingly in demand, across the nation. That point is made, together with...
Planning For Fiduciary Duties in Finances and Insurance.
Posted on May 02, 2008A recently published newspaper report discusses what the reporter variously breaks into groups as "investment advisers," "stockbrokers," and "financial planners or consultants", in Alina Tugend, "Personal Business/Shortcuts/Pick a Planner Who Can Spell 'Fiduciary'" p...
Battling for Premiums Coast to Coast, Allstate Appeals, Again.
Posted on May 01, 2008Fresh from its unsuccessful fight for higher Florida Premiums, Allstate reportedly is set now to also appeal a California Judge's ruling to lower its Insurance Premium Rates there. Tom Zucco, "Allstate Fights Judge's Decision -- in California" (St. Petersburg Times...
Debt Securities Albatross Causes Drowning Insurance Results.
Posted on April 30, 2008Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. reportedly lost 83% in 1Q 2008 profit due to its investment losses. Hartford has also already reportedly lost 18% of its share value in 2008. These plunging financial results are blamed on the universal writedown...
Totally Overtreated.
Posted on April 30, 2008The State Health Access Data Assistance Center at the University of Minnesota has just released a study comparing two things in the past 5 years: Earnings and Health Insurance Premium contributions by the employees reporting those earnings. Lisa Girion, "Workers'...
Credit Raters Examined!
Posted on April 29, 2008Many specifics and lots of broad implications about the workings of credit rating corporations including their roles in Insurance are discussed in Roger Lowenstein, "Triple-A Failure," p. 36 (New York Times Sunday Magazine, April 27, 2008). One thing is hardly...
Insurance Regulation Lowers Premiums.
Posted on April 28, 2008"Optional" No Insurance Regulation And Premiums Skyrocket. Automobile Insurance Regulation over the last two decades has been studied exhaustively by the Consumer Federation of America. Its study has just been released: Download ConsumerFederationofAmerica...
California State Government Department Reviews Health Insurance Policy Rescissions ...
Posted on April 25, 2008... And It's NOT the California Department of Insurance Performing this Review. The California Department of Managed Health Care, responding to numerous accounts of cancellations and rescissions of Health Insurance Policies in California after Claims were made, announced that it...
Title Insurance: Pricing, Products Coverage Confusing to Many.
Posted on April 25, 2008Title Insurance Policies, including Premiums and various Products' Insurance Coverage, are examined in Binyamin Appelbaum, "Title Insurers Face Criticism Over Pricing/Do You Really Need an Owner's Policy?" (Boston Globe, Sunday, April 13, 2008). In Massachusetts, as in many States or...
Federal Administration, Big Insurers Want Price Hike Options Before 2008 Hurricanes.
Posted on April 24, 2008The current Federal government proposal to take over regulation of Insurance Premiums by not regulating Insurance Premiums at all is supported by the two largest U.S. Insurance Companies, Allstate and State Farm. Reported by Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, "Insurers Are at...
Big Advertising Budgets May Portend Big Premiums for Fewer Insurers.
Posted on April 24, 2008The Liberty Mutual takeover of Safeco has inspired a new prediction: Bigger may be better. Okay, not so new. Property and Casualty Insurance Companies may consolidate more frequently now in order to advertise more and more and more, it is...
Bond Insurance Companies Pull Down Citigroup Financial Results.
Posted on April 23, 2008Citigroup lost $5,100,000,000.00 or $5.1 Billion in 1Q2008. Since the first day of 2008, Citigroup has also announced 13,200 related job eliminations. In the 1Q2008, Citigroup further reported downgrading $6,000,000,000.00 or $6 Billion on subprime mortgages and another $1...
Premium, Claim, Rescission of Health Insurance in California: Lawsuit.
Posted on April 22, 2008Hyping the Health Insurance Company bottom line by canceling or rescinding Policies after a Premium is collected and a Claim for benefits is made, are conduct that is frowned upon in California. The Los Angeles City Attorney has filed a...
Healthcare Cost Managers Reportedly Benefit Exclusive Distributors of Life-Saving Drugs ...
Posted on April 21, 2008... Themselves. Employers hire Healthcare Cost Managers, companies which reportedly contract to help employers manage their Health Insurance programs "and get medicines at the best available prices." Milt Freudenheim, "The Middleman's Markup/Benefits Managers Earn Profits With Exclusive Rights on Specialty...
Excess, Credit Conditions, and Insurance.
Posted on April 18, 2008"Like at the end of the Gilded Age and the Roaring Twenties, we are going the other way. We are clearly in a period of excess, and we have to swing back to the middle or the center cannot hold."...
Balderdash to Insurance Regulation by The Feds ....
Posted on April 17, 2008.... Whether or Not These People Say Katrina Was So Good, They Want to Do It Again. Ms. Leigh Ann Pusey, identified as "the senior vice president for government affairs" at an Insurance trade group identified with the current administration,...
Co-Payments For Drugs That Have No Alternative.
Posted on April 16, 2008Health Insurance Companies are reportedly introducing a new and higher co-payment into their plans. Policyholders who require expensive drugs that have no available generic will be paying a high percentage of the drugs' cost under these plans. There will no...
Federal Insurance Regulation is to Regulation ...
Posted on April 14, 2008... What FEMA is to Katrina Disaster Relief. The people currently in charge of the Federal government propose a choice on Insurance: Insurance Companies can choose either to continue to be regulated by the States, or they can choose to...
Hurricane Predictions From Colorado: Better Results From Flipping Coins ...
Posted on April 11, 2008... And These People Flip Your Coins -- They Use Taxpayer Money to Fail. The Hurricane predictions from Colorado are out again, if anyone other than the people funding them are interested. (Who would turn to the Rocky Mountains to...
Claim Handling Should Not Be Shame in the Making.
Posted on April 11, 2008Some adjusters at certain Insurance Companies are reportedly overzealous in referring their Companies' Policyholders to Social Security if the Policyholders file for Health Insurance benefits or Worker's Compensation Insurance or similar Insurance benefits...
Forecast: The Katrina of All Insurance Regulation.
Posted on April 11, 2008The people currently in charge of the Federal government want to regulate something: Insurance. The Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America reportedly object. Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, "Main St. Fighting Treasury Blueprint" (washingtonpost.com, Friday, April 11, 2008)...
Subprime Insurance Claims Worldwide, Not Limited to U.S.
Posted on April 10, 2008Brit Insurance is reportedly the largest Insurance Company in Lloyd's. Andrea Felsted, Insurance Correspondent of The Financial Times, "Companies - UK: Brit Insurance Sets Aside 60m to Cover US Subprime Claims" (ft.com, Tuesday, March 11, 2008). Brit received "25 notifications...
Can You Hear Me Now? Cellphone Insurance Disclosure Issues.
Posted on April 09, 2008In an online newspaper article reportedly taken from a web log, the Washington Post reports that wireless carriers AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile have reached an agreement changing Cellphone Insurance Disclosure practices in Maryland: Kim Hart, "Loud and...
McKinsey Report Released.
Posted on April 08, 2008After many long battles, Allstate reportedly has released the famous McKinsey Report. It has allegedly guided its claims handling practices balanced against its production of profit. Erik Holm & Josh P. Hamilton, "Allstate Releases McKinsey Records Sought by Critics (Update...
Florida Administrative Law Judges Rule: Rate Rejections Reaffirmed.
Posted on April 07, 2008Florida Farm Bureau joined Hartford Insurance as the first two recipients of rulings in which the Insurance Companies challenged the rejection of Premium Rate Increases they requested. The decisions in these two proceedings mark the first time that a new...
Florida Court Upholds Allstate New Business Suspension Until Documents Produced.
Posted on April 07, 2008Florida's First District Court of Appeal issued its Opinion on Friday, April 4, 2008 upholding an Order suspending Allstate's authority to transact new business in Florida: Download Allstate_v. Office of Insurance Regulation (Fla. 1st DCA Case No. 01D08...
Auto Lines Line Up Profit Hikes.
Posted on April 06, 2008Many Auto Insurance Companies reportedly have been seeking to raise Premiums in 20 States or more. In the $160 Billion Automobile Insurance Industry, the 4 largest Automobile Insurance Companies ranked by Premiums charged are currently State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance...
And the Title (Insurance) Belongs To ... Who, Exactly?
Posted on April 06, 2008Title Insurance can be a confusing thing. It is certainly not unknown, because it is reportedly a part of "virtually every real estate transaction," but it is certainly confusing to many people in many respects. To some degree, participants in...
Make a Buck for Citizens in Florida: Auto Insurance Too?
Posted on April 04, 2008At least one concerned Florida citizen has written a letter to the editor regarding what that citizen perceives as attempts by various Insurance Companies to circumvent legal requirements put in place in 2007. That year, in a Special Session of...
"Civic-Facility Bonds" Defined.
Posted on April 04, 2008"Civic-Facility Bonds" appear to be a type of Municipal Bond issued by "industrial development authorities". Sadly, they can include "auction-rate debt," it is reported by Darrell Preston & Linda Sandler, "Horace Mann Yields Surge as Schools Stuck by Auctions (Update...
What For O Bond Insurance?
Posted on April 04, 2008The two largest public pension funds in the United States are both reportedly in California: the California Public Employees Retirement Fund and the California State Teachers' Retirement System. Together they hold $415,000,000,000.00 or $415 Billion in assets...
"And A Little Child With Autism Shall Lead Them" Continues.
Posted on April 03, 2008Florida Governor Charlie Crist and former quarterback Dan Marino reportedly have endorsed plans to mandate Health Insurance Coverage for autism, a subject previously and repeatedly posted here. See Linda Kleindienst & Josh Hafenbrack, "Gov. Charlie Crist Backs Mandatory Insurance For...
More On "Socialized Risk, Private Gain?"
Posted on April 03, 2008In a March 21, 2008 post on Insurance Claims Bad Faith Law Blog at www.insuranceclaimsbadfaith.typepad.com, this question was asked in response to a newspaper editorial that contained the assumption that certain corporate executives would not have to disgorge allegedly ill-gotten...
A.I.G. Alleges Former Officers and Directors Breached Fiduciary Duties.
Posted on April 02, 2008American International Group has reportedly sued other people for alleged Breach of Fiduciary Duties. The seven defendants in the case, filed by A.I.G. in the New York State Supreme Court, are all former A.I.G. Officers and Directors including A.I.G.'s former...
Insurance For Small Businesses: Resources for the Recommender.
Posted on April 02, 2008In a useful article filled with brief explanations and handy resources, Joyce M. Rosenberg, in an Associated Press Story, "Insurance Often Overlooked by Small Firms/Coverage That Goes Beyond Property and Liability Risk Might Come in Handy" (Los Angeles Times Online,...
Anti-Concurrent Cause Exclusion Blows.
Posted on April 01, 2008Frustrated by the famed Anti-Concurrent Cause Exclusion by which damages caused in part by an Excluded Peril and in part by a Covered Peril are totally excluded from Coverage, some Members of Congress propose adding "wind" coverage to the National...
Property Insurance and the Florida Legislature: Reforms or Risks?
Posted on March 31, 2008Property Insurance is a focus of the 2008 Florida Legislature. This is not always to the good, according to an editorial on the subject in an influential Florida newspaper, "Insurance Risks Still Looming" (St. Petersburg Times Online, Thursday, March 27,...
Irag. Katrina. Recession. Now, Insurance?
Posted on March 31, 2008One of the few things that the people currently holding power in the Federal Government want to regulate is something new: Insurance. A proposal to regulate Insurance on a national scale is hidden in the 'reforms' proposed by the current...
The Ten Percent Rule, Rules!
Posted on March 29, 2008"If it is too complicated for most of us to understand in 10 to 15 minutes, then we probably shouldn't be doing it." Christopher Whalen of Institutional Risk Analytics, quoted in Nelson D. Schwartz & Julie Creswell, "What Created This...
Bond Insurance Continues On?
Posted on March 29, 2008Dexia, SA is rushing in where angels fear to tread: the inferno of Bond Insurance. Fabio Benedetti-Valentini & Christine Richard, "Dexia Picks Up Bond Insurance Market Share; Buffett Enters Fray" (Bloomberg.com, Friday, March 21, 2008). Dexia is billed as the...
Bond Insurance Continues On?
Posted on March 28, 2008Dexia, SA is rushing in where angels fear to tread: the inferno of Bond Insurance. Fabio Benedetti-Valentini & Christine Richard, "Dexia Picks Up Bond Insurance Market Share; Buffett Enters Fray" (Bloomberg.com, Friday, March 21, 2008). Dexia is billed as the...
The Ten Percent Rule, Rules!
Posted on March 28, 2008"If it is too complicated for most of us to understand in 10 to 15 minutes, then we probably shouldn't be doing it." Christopher Whalen of Institutional Risk Analytics, quoted in Nelson D. Schwartz & Julie Creswell, "What Created This...
Credit Raters' Degrees of Separation Affect Bonds and Bond Insurers.
Posted on March 27, 2008The three major credit raters in the United States have responded to concerns recently expressed by State and Local Governments issuing so-called Municipal Bonds. The credit raters have each responded differently to concerns that Municipal Bonds are set on an...
Let Coverage (and a Smile) be Your Umbrella.
Posted on March 27, 2008The problem with Umbrella Insurance Policies is not that Policyholders do not buy them. The Premiums are way lower on average than the Premiums charged for the same amount of Primary Insurance Coverage. Rather, the problem with Umbrella Insurance Coverage...
Bond Insurance on Auction-Rate Bonds, Too?
Posted on March 26, 2008Among the revelations emerging from the financial fiasco is that Insurance Companies reportedly have "issued policies guaranteeing so-called auction-rate bonds." Mike Boehm, "Mortgage Crisis Hits Cultural Institutions" (Los Angeles Times Online, Friday, March 21, 2008)...
Merrill Lynch Sues Bond Insurance Company: Writedowns vs. Control Rights?
Posted on March 25, 2008Merrill Lynch sued XL Capital Assurance, a unit of Security Capital Assurance, in Federal Court for allegedly failing to honor "seven credit guarantee contracts". One of the speculative reasons for the lawsuit is Merrill Lynch's apparently well-founded fear that it...
Storm Clouds in Florida: Legislature Divided Over Rollback, Writedowns.
Posted on March 25, 2008The current credit crunch and crisis, problems with issuing and insuring the payment of Bonds, and at least one of the questioned credit rating corporations used in the Insurance industry, have recently made appearances together in the Florida Capitol...
"Credit Default Swaps": The New "Insurance"? When Cometh Outraged Regulation?
Posted on March 25, 2008Recently, informed and respectable journalists have taken to referring in shorthand to "credit default swaps" as "insurance". See, for example, Gretchen Morgenson, "Fair Game/In the Fed's Cross Hairs: Exotic Game" p. 1, col. 2 "Sunday Business" Section (New York Times...
Municipal Bond Insurance Replacements: The 10 Minute Test.
Posted on March 24, 2008The financial adviser to Jefferson County, Alabama suggests that "'long-term, fixed-rate debt on everything'" is the way to go for at least one Municipal Bond issuer. Michael B. Marois, "Alabama, California Failures Expose Muni 'Dark Side' (Update 2)" (Bloomberg...
California Commissioner Cuts Allstate Auto Premiums.
Posted on March 24, 2008In a move echoed in other areas such as Florida, the California Insurance Commissioner reportedly has ordered Allstate to cut Premiums on Automobile Insurance by 15.9%. That would reduce Premiums by about $133.00 a car and it would be twice...
"Bailout Nation."
Posted on March 20, 2008"'We are Bailout Nation.'" William A. Fleckenstein, quoted by Gretchen Morgenson in "Rescue Me: A Fed Bailout Crosses a Line" p. 1, col. 1 "Sunday Business" Section (New York Times Nat'l Ed., Sunday, March 16, 2008). For those who reflect...
Health Insurance Coverage Issues Include Availability.
Posted on March 20, 2008Coupling the availability of Health Insurance Coverage to employment leaves many people without Coverage. Many are forced to buy Health Insurance on their own. This is not an easy thing to do. Many ramifications of employer-based Health Insurance Coverage are...
Bear Collapse Makes Premiums Bullish.
Posted on March 19, 2008Investment banks like Bear Stearns are having a hard time even getting anyone to listen to sales pitches about credit default swaps, let alone buy into them. In the current credit crisis, more traditional forms of Insurance are gaining in...
Credit Crisis and Insurance, Part 2: Mortgages and Bonds.
Posted on March 18, 2008The Credit Crisis and Insurance, Continued: Part 2. There have certainly been financial crises before. The major thing that makes the current credit crisis different is that this one comes from an infection of the system. The old tools used...
Credit Crisis and Insurance, Part 1: The Background.
Posted on March 17, 2008Up the Republic! Insurance Policies at risk in the credit crisis potentially include Mortgage Insurance and Bond Insurance Policies. Their role, and the role of Claims upon those Policies, requires a little background, what we lawyers like to call a....
Florida Select Comments on Property Insurance.
Posted on March 17, 2008Erin Go Bragh! The work of the Florida Senate Select Committee on Property Insurance Accountability is finished. Here is a pdf file containing the Report they submitted on March 13, 2008 to the President of the Florida Senate: Download select_committee_reccos...
Bye, Bye Bond Insurance Companies?
Posted on March 14, 2008At least for Municipal Bond Insurance. The market for Municipal Bond Insurance is way down. Demand has dropped like a stone. Issuers of so-called Municipal Bonds (which include Counties, States, Hospitals, and other government groups authorized to issue bonds rather...
Premiums Increase More Because Road Safety, or Traffic? True, False?
Posted on March 14, 2008True! A study published by the American Automobile Association provides evidence that "roadway safety," i.e., accidents, cost much more than traffic congestion. The cost of accidents, says the AAA study, is 250 percent greater than the cost of "traffic tie-ups"...
Credit Raters Told to Rate Credit. Period.
Posted on March 14, 2008Credit rating companies may soon have to use one system to evaluate the credit of every group that issues bonds, whether the group is a public body like a Municipality, or a private corporation. One reason for one system is...
Mortgage Investors Have No Scratch, Mortgage Insurers Will Have Claims.
Posted on March 13, 2008"The core of the problem remains soaring home loan defaults." Walter Hamilton & Tom Petruno, "Stocks Slide on Fears of Loan Defaults" (Los Angeles Times Online, Friday, March 7, 2008). Note: Have you noticed, too, that links to the Los...
Scouting for Automobile Insurance Companies.
Posted on March 12, 2008Here is a list with contact information of many Automobile Insurance Companies operating in the broad area surrounding Boston, Massachusetts. The source is given as the Massachusetts Insurance Department. What a lengthy list of potentially valuable resources...
Shopping For Alternative Home and Property Insurance.
Posted on March 12, 2008Surplus Lines and Condominium Windstorm Self-Insurance Trusts are reported by Julie Patel, in "South Floridians Turn to Alternative Home Insurance" (South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com, Monday, March 10, 2008). This report is a potentially useful survey of alternatives for Homeowner's and other...
Negative Evaluation? Fire the Evaluators or Tell Them to Quit
Posted on March 11, 2008The leaders of MBIA are telling Fitch Ratings to take a hike. As you will recall, MBIA used to be the largest Bond Insurance Company in the United States because of its AAA credit rating, which MBIA officials jeopardized when...
Credit Raters Get Paid to Require Insurance on Municipal Bonds ...
Posted on March 10, 2008But Corporate Bonds Get Higher Ratings Even Though Corporations Default 100 Times More Often And When Governments Default on "Municipal" Bonds, Investors Usually Receive Some or All of their Money Back, Which They do Not Usually Get Back in Corporate...
"Diminished Value" Automobile Insurance Coverage Claims.
Posted on March 10, 2008"Diminished value" Automobile Insurance Claims are claims for Insurance Coverage for the diminished value of an auto that has been in accident and has had to be repaired. They are discussed as the cutting edge of a new wave of...
DNA Tests, Privacy, and Health Insurance.
Posted on March 07, 2008Many applicants for and Policyholders holding Health Insurance Policies are reportedly paying the costs themselves, or just plain not having expensive DNA tests, because they are so afraid that DNA tests may disclose genetic predispositions to disease, for example...
Directors And Officers Insurance Claimed to Cover Inflated Stock Settlement.
Posted on March 06, 2008Directors or Officers of a corporation located in Florida reportedly assert that a nearly $7 Million settlement of a lawsuit accusing it of securities fraud involving inflated Stock prices, will cover the claim. Richard Burnett, "Lawsuit is Settled For $7...
Health Insurance Issues for Unemployed "Tweeners", Ages 50 to 64
Posted on March 06, 2008Individual Health Insurance Policies offered to "Tweeners," which is my term for people who are aged 50 to 64 and are in between employment (which they once had, but do not have) and retirement (which they have never had and...
Bankruptcy Sanctioning Standards Ironically Spare Mortgage Lender Bad Faith Sanctions ....
Posted on March 06, 2008... But Do Not Spare It a Reprimand, in a 72 page Decision by a Federal Judge. The complete story of the United States Trustee's Complaints against practices of lenders-litigants in Bankruptcy Court trying to get their money back at...
Alternatives in Abundance to Municipal Bond Insurance at Risk.
Posted on March 06, 2008There is no end to alternatives, it seems, to keeping or putting Municipal Bond Insurance Policies at risk. The problem comes from some Bond Insurance Companies needing to raise capital to keep their AAA credit ratings. (They gleefully undertook obligations...
California Health Carrier Called on to Prove Cancellation Improvements Claims.
Posted on March 06, 2008Rescission or cancellation of Health Insurance Policies is a hot button Insurance Issue in California at the present time. There are accusations that Health Insurance Companies rescind or cancel Policies improperly because they have been presented with expensive claims for...
Health Care and Health Insurance: Employers in an Unemployed Country?
Posted on March 05, 200871% of Health Insurance Policyholders in the United States hold Health Insurance Policies through their place of work. One of the things that is likely to be decided in 2008 is whether to continue to base Health Insurance on employment....
As AIG Goes, So Goes The Market?
Posted on March 05, 2008AIG scored the worst loss in its existence. Wall Street fell. Vikas Bajaj & Michael M. Grynbaum, "Drumbeat of Grim Reports Sends Markets Tumbling/Big Loss For Insurer--Dow is Down 315 as Consumer Confidence Falls" p. A1, col. 5 (New York...
Latest "Sector Snapshot: Insurance"!
Posted on March 04, 2008The New York Times "Sector Snapshot: Insurance," published on Saturday, March 1, 2008, can be linked here. Follow the link to the "Sector Snapshot" and (hopefully) it will take you all the way there. Some Multi-line Casualty Insurance Companies appear...
What to do When the Coverage is Gone ... Some Suggestions.
Posted on March 04, 2008If you are nonrenewed, as happened to me and my Family within the year after Hurricane Charlie passed through Central Florida, you should act immediately to replace your nonrenewing Homeowner's or other Property Insurance Coverage. That is a no-brainer, as...
Property and Casualty Insurers Poll Insurance Interest in Florida.
Posted on March 04, 2008A January poll of 800 people paid for by the Property and Casualty Insurers Association of America reportedly resulted in high interest among Floridians in Insurance. The poll results were recently released, and reported, on the eve of the 2008...
Oracle of Omaha Predicts Insurance Downturn, Too.
Posted on March 03, 2008Mr. Warren Buffett, dubbed "the Oracle of Omaha" by admirers in the investing community, is quoted as having this to say about what to expect from Market Performance and Insurance Companies in 2008: Mr. Buffett also warned of lower profits ahead for the insurance industry, which has benefited from two years without major disasters...
Hurricanes, Roofs, and Premium Discounts: Lawsuit in Florida.
Posted on March 03, 2008The Florida Legislature passed legislation that made an "unrefusable" offer to many Florida Homeowners. If the Homeowner replaced the Home's roof with a so-called Hurricane-safe "hip" roof, then the Homeowner would be eligible for a price break on Premiums for Homeowner's Insurance...
Autism Costs, Insurance Considered.
Posted on February 29, 2008This post updates "And A Little Child With Autism, Shall Lead Them": See posts here on September 26, 2007 and December 30, 2007. The costs of therapy for autism reportedly range between $40,000...
Foreclosures, Credit Flameout: Federal Role Alternative to Bond Insurance Risk?
Posted on February 29, 2008Vague suggestions of the current Federal Government taking some kind of positive action as an alternative to State Bonds being put at risk and to increasing State interest payments, are being floated by Governors of various States including New Jersey, New York and the State of Washington...
UPDATE: Cancer, Chemotherapy, Cancellation and Punitive Damages in California Arbitration.
Posted on February 29, 2008A previous post in this space addressed an Arbitration Award in a California Arbitration. The Arbitration of the Insurance issues apparently including Good Faith and Fair Dealing or not, was demanded by the Health Insurance Company, Health Net Inc...
Foreclosures, Credit Inferno: More Alternatives to Bond Insurance at Risk.
Posted on February 28, 2008So-called "bailouts" of homeowners by local governments take different forms. Some are not "bailouts" at all. In the absence of positive action by the current Federal Government (remember Katrina? and Rita?), other governments such as the City of Seattle and the States of Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Ohio already have various programs underway in the face of the present credit inferno...
Credit Woes Worsen, Debt Deepens, Capital Outgo ... Goes Out.
Posted on February 27, 2008Apropos of the dawning realization that the current credit woes go way beyond Bond and other Insurance Companies and subprime mortgages, it is reported that the average first mortgage debt now exceeds the average price of a home. It is also reported that there was one other time in the recent history of the United States that such a large part of its population owed more on their homes than their homes are worth...
Credit Inferno Engulfs Bond Insurance Ratings, Changes in the Making.
Posted on February 27, 2008Credit concerns may not have begun with Bond Insurance Companies. But credit concerns have surely spread to them. The concerns are a result of the Bond Insurance Companies dabbling far afield from Municipal Bonds, for which the Bond Insurance Companies came into existence...
Continued Creative Alternatives to Bond Insurance At Risk.
Posted on February 27, 2008Bond Insurance Companies are losing high credit ratings reportedly because they foolishly signed on to insure or guarantee subprime mortgage loans and other credit creatures they obviously did not understand very well. Taking the teeth from foreclosures will increase market confidence...
"Review Insurance Policies Now" Says Orlando Newspaper.
Posted on February 26, 2008Good advice with related links in this newspaper article published in the Orlando Sentinel, February 22, 2008, by Greg Groeller, "Review Insurance Policies Now". Every Policyholder and their Agents and Brokers holding every kind of Insurance Policy can benefit from following the good advice published by this linked newspaper article...
Cancer, Chemotherapy and Cancellation = Punitive Damages in California.
Posted on February 25, 2008In an Arbitration in California last week, an Award was entered against a Health Insurance Company for over $9 Million. $8.4 Million of the award is an assessment for Punitive Damages. The Health Insurance Company, Health Net Inc...
Another Homeowner's Insurance Company "Leaves" Florida.
Posted on February 25, 2008It is reported that the largest "private" Property Insurance Company in the State of Florida, State Farm, has told the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation that it will not issue new Homeowner's Insurance Policies. State Farm will apparently remain on the risk to the thousands of Floridians from whom it collects Automobile Insurance Premiums, in addition to soliciting new Automobile Insurance business in Florida...
Louisiana Supreme Court Has Final Word on Louisiana Flood Exclusions ....
Posted on February 22, 2008... Not the 9 Supremes in Washington, D.C. On February 26, 2008, the Louisiana Supreme Court is scheduled to hear Oral Arguments in cases involving so-called Flood Exclusions and Anti-Concurrent Cause Exclusions in Homeowner's and other Property Insurance Policies...
Bond Insurers Back to the Future to Save ... What, Exactly?
Posted on February 22, 2008MBIA is one of the several Bond Insurance Companies presently in credit ranking turmoil as a result of its own sojourn in the subprime debacle. MBIA has hit upon a solution to its problems. It has reportedly rehired the Chair and CEO that ventured into subprime territory...
Allstate and the State: Subpoenas, Catclaim Models, Reinsurance ... and Premiums.
Posted on February 22, 2008The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (Insurance Department) has filed an administrative Complaint against Allstate. The object is to force Allstate to provide documents previously demanded by subpoenas served on Allstate by the State...
Eighth and Ninth Alternatives to Bond Insurance Placed At Risk.
Posted on February 21, 2008And Especially if Bond Insurance is Placed at Risk. The options just keep presenting themselves. Many investor groups, angered by steep drops in the prices of shares held by investors, are going to hold officers and directors accountable for their bad decisions, it is reported by Tomoeh Murakami Tse, "Economic Downturn Emboldens Shareholder Activists" (Washington Post Online, Tuesday, Feb...
The "reasonable and customary" Charge For Out-of-Network Providers ...
Posted on February 20, 2008... A Guide for Policyholders and Health Insurance: Is "reasonable and customary" a Way for Health Insurance Companies to Keep Policyholders In Network? Three-quarters of Health Insurance Policies provided through the American workplace allow Policyholders to obtain medical treatment from healthcare providers who are 'not on the plan'...
If Overinsured Means Overtreated, Underinsured Means ... Not Treated?
Posted on February 20, 2008"Do these findings mean that patients without insurance are being diagnosed too late, or that insured patients are being excessively diagnosed?" Dr. H. Gilbert Welch of Dartmouth, quoted in Kevin Sack, "Study Finds Cancer Diagnosis Linked to Insurance" p...
Health Insurance, Service, Premiums ... and Florida?
Posted on February 19, 2008The New York Attorney General has reportedly started investigations into allegations that Health Insurance Companies are steering Policyholders toward only medicalcare providers who are "in network" because the Health Insurance Companies allegedly pay even less than they might owe under the Policy toward the costs of "out of network" providers...
State Insurance Takeover: Seventh Alternative to Bond Insurance at Risk.
Posted on February 15, 2008Government takeover is a seventh alternative to putting Bond Insurance at risk: If [Bond Insurance Company] MBIA and [New York State Insurance Superintendent] Mr. Dinallo remain at odds over whether the company needs to do anything, the dispute could end in court, legal experts say...
Reorganization: A Sixth Alternative to Putting Bond Insurance At Risk.
Posted on February 15, 2008Reorganization is a sixth alternative to putting Bond Insurance at risk. Current talk about reorganizing Bond Insurance Companies centers on splitting the very safe, but very endangered, Municipal Bond Insurance business into a separate corporation...
Health Insurance Companies, Service Quality, Higher Medical Costs ... Higher Premiums?
Posted on February 15, 2008Investigations on both Coasts are taking place into issues affecting people who are sick and people who are healthy. The investigated issues include Premiums charged by Health Insurance Companies, and the medicalcare costs those Companies make their Policyholders pay when their Policyholders have the audacity to seek the medical care of providers who are "out of network"...
Another Alternative, But Vague So Far: "Recapitalization".
Posted on February 15, 2008"Recapitalization" is a vague word. It is being used to describe another alternative to putting Bond Insurance at risk. It apparently involves providing downgraded Bond Insurance Companies with unspecified amounts of money in exchange for unspecified conditions which may include separating Muncipal Bond Insurance operations from their "riskier activities"...
Hurricanes, Climate Change and Warming Seas.
Posted on February 14, 2008The magazine "Nature" provides this news summary of a recent U.K. report on Hurricanes, Climate Change and Warming Seas. The news summary is by Quirin Schiermeier, "Stormy Weather/Experts Still Divided on the Link Between Climate Change and Hurricanes" (www...
Rating Companies Under Fire.
Posted on February 13, 2008Credit rating companies also are under the gun. Such credit rating companies as Fitch Ratings, Standard & Poors (S & P), and Moody's once ranked Bond Insurance Companies highly, then lowered the Bond Insurers' credit ratings precipitously...
Municipal and Other Bond Insurance Issues Affect Government Budgets.
Posted on February 13, 2008Many issues affect the issuance of municipal and other local government Bonds at the present time. The rapidly descending financial ratings of some Bond Insurance Companies is only one of those issues. Declining tax revenues is another, major issue...
Banks, or Buffett and Berkshire? Balking Bond Insurers Prodded.
Posted on February 13, 2008The recent offer by Mr. Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway to provide alternative financing to a bailout of the Bond Insurance Companies was requested by the same State Insurance Superintendent who is attempting to arrange a bailout with private funds provided by banks...
A Fourth Alternative to Bond Insurance at Risk.
Posted on February 13, 2008Mr. Warren Buffett has made an offer to three Bond Insurance Companies, Ambac, FGIC, and MBIA. The offer does not appear to be "reinsurance," as has been widely reported. Instead, the offer appears to be for a "novation" or a new contract...
Another, Third Alternative to Bond Insurance at Risk.
Posted on February 13, 2008Reinsurance is another alternative to having Bond Insurance Policies and their Coverages currently at risk. The current risk is not due to pending claims but instead to falling credit ratings of some Bond Insurance Companies. The Bond Insurance Companies that issued the existing Policies also made other investments that have gone south...
Bond Insurance No Assurance.
Posted on February 12, 2008Counties, universities and hospitals issue bonds to raise revenue. They and other bond-issuing entities reportedly have a default rate of one-tenth of one percent, or 0.1 percent. Compard to the subprime collapse, that is astronomically good for investors...
Florida to Fund Reinsurance Less, Promoting Private Re and Rise in Premiums.
Posted on February 12, 2008The Chief Financial Officer of Florida has a reported plan to "force insurers to purchase more insurance from the private market," rather than from the State of Florida. (Previous reports reflected that the large insurers were not purchasing their Reinsurance from the State because their parent corporations purchased Reinsurance for them, on the so-called private market...
Get a Financial Grip, Joe!
Posted on February 11, 2008Bloomberg estimates that investors in bonds backed by now-worthless securities which were foolishly guaranteed by Municipal Bond Insurance Companies stand to lose $200 Billion or $200,000,000,000.00. People at the Bond Insurance Companies who decided to deal in subprime securities were experienced instead in issuing Insurance Policies for Municipal Bonds...
Health Insurance Regulating Spreads Foul Odors, Sickness.
Posted on February 08, 2008Penny wise, pound foolish? Cutting corners on regulations that some Health Insurance Companies would otherwise have to obey, may result in foul odors and the stench of sickness, or worse, according to the facts reported by David Dietz, Gary Cohn & Darrell Preston, "Bribed Regulators Deceiving FBI Roil U...
Corps of Engineers Causes Flooding, Immune From Responsibility.
Posted on February 08, 2008Hobbled by immunity conferred in the year of the Great Depression, a Federal Judge in Louisiana issued a ruling on January 30, 2008 that complaints against the Army Corps of Engineers did not state claims upon which relief could be granted in Federal Court...
Computer Models Authorized and Unauthorized Used for Premium Rate Increases.
Posted on February 07, 2008Some Homeowner's and other Property Insurance Companies have requested rate hikes in Florida using unauthorized computer models to project and predict huge Hurricane losses in the next few years. These requested rate hikes, based on unauthorized, unknown computer models have all been denied to date...
Selling Shares Another Alternative to Bond Insurance Not at Risk.
Posted on February 07, 2008Another alternative to putting Bond Insurance at risk -- as well as an alternative to continually downgraded credit ratings -- is to sell shares to capitalize, i.e., to put money back into the corporate coffers including the unfortunately depleted coffers of the Bond Insurance Companies...
Broker Fraud Claims Reported Alternative to Bond Insurance At Risk.
Posted on February 07, 2008There are many potential remedies that do not involve claims on Bond Insurance Policies to protect the investment of local governments' Taxpayer Funds. City, county and other local government bonds were supposed to be protected by the Taxpayers' purchase of Bond Insurance...
Bond Insurer Broke, But Dazzles Bull Market Bozos.
Posted on February 07, 2008MBIA was a large Bond Insurance Company until recently. MBIA's stock price now is down 80% from what it was a year ago. Its Fourth Quarter 2007 results include a $2.3 Billion or $2,300,000,000.00 loss. Its 4Q results -- reported by MBIA itself -- also include a "write down" of $3...
Results Are In, Testimony to Continue.
Posted on February 06, 2008After 2 days of testimony under oath by Insurance Company representatives, the Florida Senate has learned that the Insurance Companies view their rate hikes as justified. Julie Patel, "Insurance Companies in Florida Used Loophole in Law to Bypass Required Rate Savings/Companies Used Loophole to Justify Increases" (South Florida Sun-Sentinel...
The Testimony Begins in Florida!
Posted on February 05, 2008At last, representatives of Allstate and Nationwide testified under oath yesterday in Florida. The scene was a Hearing Room in the Florida Senate in Tallahassee. The people asking the questions were members of the Florida Senate Select Committee on Property Insurance Accountability...
Allstate and the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation.
Posted on February 05, 2008Here is a summary and the status of Allstate's appeal from an order of the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation which sanctioned Allstate for failing to produce documents subpoenaed by the OIR for a Hearing in January: On Jan...
Ambac and Bond Insurance Bailouts: Timing Isn't Just Everything ....
Posted on February 04, 2008.... It's The Only Thing. Ambac was the first Bond Insurance Company in the United States. That is a fact. Until recently, Ambac, incorporated under Wisconsin law, was the second largest Bond Insurance Company in the U...
Testimony Scheduled in Florida.
Posted on February 03, 2008Testimony from officials of major Property Insurance Companies has been scheduled for two days in February in Florida, it is reported by Tom Zucco, "Insurer's Top Exec Ready to Speak Up" (St. Petersburg Times Online, Saturday, Feb...
Insurance Questions Before Catastrophes.
Posted on February 01, 2008If possible, the time to address Insurance Questions for Catastrophes is before a Catastrophe happens. Many kinds of different Coverages, with links provided to useful resources, are addressed in this very good single-source-resource newspaper article: by Renae Merle, "Covered For Catastrophe?" (washingtonpost...
Rescission of Health Insurance Policies in California.
Posted on January 31, 2008Rescission is a word used to describe cancellation in California. In the law, including apparently in California, "rescission" is a claim or cause of action available to Insurance Companies. Rescission is only available when persons applying for Insurance make a material misstatement in the application...
"It's NOT the Subprime Collapse, Silly!": Allstate Reports 4Q Results.
Posted on January 30, 2008Allstate reports that in the Fourth Quarter of 2007, "unrealized losses from mortgage and asset-backed securities" cost it $502 Million or $502,000,000.00. Allstate had to "write down" $82 Million on those investments...
Condominiums Windstorm Self Insurance.
Posted on January 29, 2008In a little-noticed Insurance development in 2007, the Florida Legislature wrote laws that began to allow condominium associations and others to form self-insurance trusts. In basic terms, participants in the new trusts pool their resources to provide a fund for the payment of certain damage claims...
The Role of Insurance Costs in Rebuilding New Orleans.
Posted on January 27, 2008Leslie Eaton is a New York Times newspaper reporter who has covered the Gulf Coast after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita with insight. She has turned what can be confusing statistics into useful analyses more than once. Here is another informative report, as of Sunday, January 27, 2008 by Leslie Eaton, "So Many Places to Live, But So Far Out of Reach/New Orleans Faces a Housing Challenge" p...
Mississippi Hot Air Recycled by HUD Late on a Friday Afternoon.
Posted on January 26, 2008Remembering that Insurance Companies have declined to pay many Homeowner's and other Property Insurance Claims resulting from Hurricanes along the Gulf Coast, and that Courts in some decisions have ruled in favor of some of the Insurance Companies' positions, these developments in Mississippi are of interest: Congress authorized $5,500,000,000...
Bond Insurers, Balloons About Mortgages, Bailed Out?
Posted on January 24, 2008By any measurement the people who ran Bond Insurance Companies did a dumb thing. For as long as they kept to what they knew, which is Insurance for municipal bonds, they received large profits and faced little risk. Apparently they got bored...
Allstate Provides some Documents to Florida.
Posted on January 24, 2008Slow Drip, Drip, Drip of Documents Planned While Appeal is Decided. The so-called McKinsey Report on insurance behavior in handling claims and increasing profits was among many, many documents subpoenaed by the State of Florida from Allstate...
Bond Insurance Companies Blew It.
Posted on January 23, 2008"They lost their way out of greed." Joshua Rosner, quoted on Bloomberg.com, Tuesday, January 22, 2008. The sad story of many Bond Insurance Companies overreaching their limits is capsulized in these few sentences:By chasing the higher profits of CDOs while underestimating the risks, the bond insurers jeopardized their basic business: insuring municipalities against default...
QBE Insurance Group "Protects" Itself With "Derivatives Hedges".
Posted on January 23, 2008The good news to add to the headline of this post is that QBE reports that its major financial portfolio does not include "direct investments" in subprime mortgage schemes or CDO's in the United States. The bad news is -- besides as the above headline indicates, that QBE actually states that it is "'substantially protected through derivatives hedges'" -- that QBE in addition admits that it has "indirect investments" in those downgraded securities in the United States because it has investments in banks...
Number 3 Auto Insurer Reports Progressively Plunging Profits, Premium Income.
Posted on January 23, 2008Progressive Corporation, the number 3 Auto Insurance Company in the United States behind State Farm and Allstate, reports that its 4Q profit in 2007 fell 41%. Its share price has fallen 21% in a year. It is the first of the 10 largest Insurance Companies in the U...
"Sector Snapshot" -- Insurance.
Posted on January 23, 2008The New York Times "Sector Snapshot" for Insurance has just been published. Here is a link to the Business Section where it appears Online: Sector Snapshot, Insurance, New York Times Business Day - Online. Once you are linked to the Business Section of The New York Times, go to The Times' "Sector" interactive graphic and click on the hyperlink...
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Can a former employee use photographs of jobs completed whie working for me in marketing material for a new business?
There are several issues here
1. Sub contractor started up a compe...
Is a child fathered out of wedlock by an American diplomat to a foreign women on foreign soil entitled to US Citizenship by jus sanguinis?
This is a very tough situation your friend is in. It is difficult to know the ex...
Did I harass someone?
Oh, yes. This can be taken in as so many things, especially since you had testif...
What role does financial means determine which parent gains custody?
was(am) a single male that gained custody of my daughter when she was three. Thi...
My father died and left my mother $200,000 (life insurance) My Mother died 2 years later leaving my sister and I with both about $75,000 each. (including house/vehicles/belongings which I never got). We were supposed to
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