February 27, 2015 TOTALly worth the effort If your car is damaged in an accident to the point where repairs would cost more than the car is worth – it’s a “total loss.” Your, or the other driver’s insurance company, is supposed to offer you the actual cash value of your car.…
February 26, 2015 Nonprofit sues FEMA for records on disputed Sandy settlements A nonprofit organization that helps disaster victims file insurance claims has sued the Federal Emergency Management Agency, saying it ignored requests for documents related to disputed settlements from superstorm Sandy. United Policy Holders filed the federal lawsuit on Wednesday, accusing FEMA of violating the Freedom…
February 25, 2015 Good news for insured losses: 2014 was a relatively quiet year Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC, a global risk and reinsurance specialist, today released its annual Global Catastrophe Review, which reports that insured losses in 2014 were at the lowest level seen since 2009. According to the report, significant insured losses in 2014 totaled approximately $33…
February 24, 2015 The policyholder’s view on the Restatement of Liability Insurance With spring just around the corner, things at the American Law Institute (“ALI”) are heating up. The ALI is a Philadelphia-based group of law professors and lawyers that draft consensus treatises called “Restatements” on various areas of law. These treatises are oft-cited and taught in law schools…
February 24, 2015 Letter to American Law Institute regarding allocation rules in the draft Restatement (formerely Principles) of the Law of Liability Insurance “The default rule [in allocation cases] should be “all sums” or joint and several liability, and that the burden for contribution and subrogation should be on the insurer, not the policyholder. Without a doubt, the law should encourage the timely availability of insurance funds to…
February 24, 2015 Freedom of Information Act Request to DHS FEMA – WYOs and IAs On February 23, 2015, UP submitted a third Freedom of Information Act request to FEMA for information on the National Flood Insurenace Program. In this request, UP sough information on the contracts between Write-Your-Own insurers and Independent Adjusters in order to determine how payments and…
February 23, 2015 Long-Term Care Insurance: Costs Are Up but Vary Widely By ANN CARRNSRates for long-term care insurance, which can help pay for care in your own house or in a nursing home, rose this year an average of nearly 9 percent, a new industry report finds.Still, rates vary greatly depending on the insurer and the…
February 19, 2015 Lawyers, FEMA in talks to settle Sandy insurance appeals By JOE RYAN joe.ryan@newsday.com After months of deadlock, lawyers for hundreds of homeowners suing over flood insurance claims from superstorm Sandy said they made significant progress in talks Tuesday with federal officials to design a broad framework to settle the cases.The attorneys spent more than…
February 19, 2015 Insurance Commissioner notifies insurers to cease illegal pricing SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones today issued a notice to all property and casualty insurers doing business in California advising them that so-called “price optimization” in ratemaking is unfairly discriminatory and violates the law.Price optimization is used by insurers to set rates based…
February 17, 2015 Hurricane Sandy Victims Say Damage Reports Were Altered When Frank Johnston’s insurance carrier rejected his claim that flooding from Hurricane Sandy had severely damaged the foundation of his Fire Island home, the company cited an engineering report that seemed to establish his problems were “unrelated” to the storm, and were caused instead by…
February 12, 2015 Did you not appreciate how an insurer depreciated your stuff? You’re not alone… If you file an insurance claim for property that’s been destroyed, your insurer will value it in one of two ways: Replacement Cost Value (RCV) or Actual Cash Value (ACV). ACV is also known as “depreciated value” because it is based on the age and…
February 6, 2015 How the other half lives The people United Policyholders serves, is in close touch with and advocates for are the ones that fuel the insurance system by buying the products. Their/our perspectives are what we know. Checking in on the other half of the system – the people who run…
February 5, 2015 The largely unregulated service plan industry is booming in South Carolina A new type of junk mail has been showing up in South Carolinians’ mailboxes over the past year. The one thing that makes it stand out from the pile of coupons, scams, and credit card offers? The logo of a public utility company, bought and…
February 2, 2015 Insurers Superbowl 49 ad BLITZ rankles In case you missed Lindsay Lohan careening onto the curb just inches away from two dazed school boys to promote Allstate’s Esurance brand, or Nationwide’s more serious but controversial point about avoidable accidents – once again, insurance ads were front and center during yesterday’s Superbowl.…
February 2, 2015 Divorce and auto insurance: Splits boost cost If your marriage or domestic partnership ends, get ready for a possible hike in your car insurance premium. People often get discounts of up to 5 percent just for being part of a couple, says Jim Armitage, an insurance agent in Arcadia, Calif. That’s because…
January 26, 2015 UPwardly Mobile Insurability “Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like a mobile home. But if you want to protect it, you need to have the right insurance.” Dana Dratch • Bankrate.com. We saw just how true this is at an emergency shelter for San Mateo, California residents who’d been…
January 26, 2015 N.Y. opens criminal probe into rejected Sandy claims New York’s attorney general has opened a criminal probe into accusations by Hurricane Sandy victims that insurance companies rejected claims for flood damage to their properties based on falsified engineering reports, a person familiar with the matter said.New York homeowners have filed at least three…
January 22, 2015 Just asking about an insurance claim can make your rate go up By: Jonnelle Marte, The Washington PostMost people know that filing frequent insurance claims can lead to a spike in what they pay for coverage.But many probably don’t realize that just asking an insurance agent about a potential claim can also affect rates — even if…