Monthly Archives: <span>June 2020</span>

6-in-10 Homes in High-Risk Flood Zones Lack Flood Insurance

As the Atlantic hurricane season gets underway, a new report analyzing 100 of the largest U.S. cities shows where homeowners face the greatest financial risk and exposure to flooding. According to the personal financial website ValuePenguin.com’s analysis, there are only …

Oklahoma Court: Home Warranty Contract Is Insurance; Forced Arbitration not Allowed

A home warranty contract is an insurance contract. That’s the conclusion of the Oklahoma Supreme Court in a case in which the plaintiffs challenged a mandatory arbitration provision in a home warranty contract, maintaining such provisions are not legal under …

Lexington Insurance Wins Texas Battle of Hurricane Harvey Deductibles

In a case of competing deductibles, a federal appeals court has sided with an insurer and against the owner of two Houston office buildings, holding that a larger windstorm deductible applied to flood damage caused by Hurricane Harvey rather than …

Building a Post-Pandemic Construction Market

The construction industry is one segment of the economy that could emerge from the pandemic stronger. That’s good news for construction insurance experts. But moving forward comes with a few challenges as contractors adjust to jobsites in a COVID-19 world. …

What’s New Today in Producer Compensation?

What makes a good and motivating producer compensation model does not need to be rocket science. The key is to pay what the agency can afford to pay and for what the firm is providing the producers. Lastly, the plan …

Umbrella or Excess Liability: What’s the Difference?

Do I need an umbrella policy or an excess policy? Is there a difference and does anyone care? There are a few reasons that an insured may need (or want) more liability coverage than certain policies will provide. The limits …

People & Places

National Everest Insurance announced changes to the Commercial Casualty leadership team. Four underwriters across the country have been appointed leaders for the Northeast, South, Midwest and Southwest regions. Frank Engle has been appointed vice president and regional leader for the …

How COVID-19 Will Change Insurance Sales

An agent who is a client of mine asked me, “Do you really think any business owner is truly happy with their agent or insurance company today?” Good question. Having to tell the public over and over and over, “There …

Autonomous Car Makers at Odds With Insurance Industry Study Claiming Low Estimate of Crashes

Companies working on self-driving vehicles have criticized an insurance industry study suggesting that only a third of all U.S. road crashes could be prevented by driverless cars, arguing that the study has underestimated the technology’s capabilities. The study by the …

Social Networks May Not Help in Disasters

How social networks function in states of emergency could pose more risk than help, according to a new study. Hirokazu Shirado, an assistant professor in Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute, conducted experiments to show that social networks, such as …