Latest Property Headlines
All the headlines from our Property Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Falling Trees: Act of God or Covered Event?
Oct 22 2012 // Another Atlantic hurricane season is nearing its official end on Nov. 30, but the peak activity period of August to October is largely complete. While it has been an active season in terms of named storms, only a few have...
Attorney: Catastrophic Weather Slamming Oklahoma Property Market
Oct 22 2012 // Property insurance claims in Oklahoma totaled $1.6 billion in 2011, according to one attorney familiar with the property insurance market in that state. Much of that was the result of catastrophic weather conditions that...
Louisiana Supreme Court Reduces Insurer Citizens’ Late Payment Penalty
Oct 19 2012 // The Louisiana Supreme Court has relieved the state’s property insurer of last resort of the burden of paying a $125,000 penalty for late payment of a claim settlement stemming from Hurricane Gustav in 2008. Instead,...
3 Reasons Florida’s Citizens Loan Plan Is Bad Idea
Oct 15 2012 // It’s been years since a major hurricane has hit Florida, and the good news for Floridians is that property insurers are filing applications to write policies in the state again. But there’s a plan being hatched...
Texas Supreme Court Takes Up Contractual Liability Issue, Again
Oct 14 2012 // One of the most fascinating aspects of writing about insurance litigation is that often issues that we discuss seem to be “finally” decided, only to reappear again. For instance, previously for Insurance...
Attorney: Violent Weather Slamming Oklahoma Property Market
Oct 11 2012 // Property insurance claims in Oklahoma totaled $1.6 billion in 2011, according to one attorney familiar with the property insurance market in that state. Much of that was the result of catastrophic weather conditions that...
U.S. Insurers Say Fraud Costs on the Rise: Survey
Oct 9 2012 // Forty-five percent of insurers estimated that insurance fraud costs represent 5-10 percent of their claims volume, while 32 percent said the ratio is as high as 20 percent. This is according to a survey of U.S. insurers...
Slow and Steady: Optimism Good for Surplus Lines Market in 2012
Oct 9 2012 // Despite catastrophic events in 2011, low investment yields and competitive pressures, surplus lines specialists — especially market leaders — generated healthy operating profits and returns on both revenue and...
Police Say Louisiana Stolen Property Website Helping Owners
Oct 8 2012 // A new website launched last month by the Opelousas Police Department to help the rightful owners to recover their stolen property is producing results. Police Chief Perry Gallow told The Daily World he personally returned...
Studies: More Than 2 M California Homes Exposed To Wildfires; Hundreds of Thousands in West at ‘Very High Risk’
Oct 8 2012 // More than 2 million homes in California face “extreme wildfire hazards,” over 400,000 of which are in Los Angeles County, according to a study from an insurance industry group. A separate study shows at least...
Texas Supreme Court Takes Up Contractual Liability Issue, Again
Oct 8 2012 // Justices to Consider Questions Posed in Ewing Construction v. Amerisure One of the most fascinating aspects of writing the Legal Beat Column is that often issues that we discuss here seem to be “finally”...
Report Points to Insurance Industry’s Vulnerability to Climate Change
Oct 8 2012 // A report out late last month urges the insurance industry to act to protect itself and the community against the increasing frequency of extreme weather due to climate change. In short, the report, its authors and those...
There Must Be Coverage Somewhere
Oct 8 2012 // Your client, a tenant in a local strip mall, signs a five-year lease with an option to renew. The lease contains the following language: Lessor shall pay property insurance premiums on the leased premises including the...
Tax Group Sues to Block Calif. Firefighting Fee
Oct 7 2012 // A taxpayer group, joined by plaintiffs throughout California, has filed a lawsuit seeking to block a fee that is being assessed on more than 800,000 property owners to raise money for fire prevention. The Howard Jarvis...
Austin, San Antonio to Share $400K to Fight Intellectual Property Theft
Oct 5 2012 // United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas Robert Pitman announced that the San Antonio Police Department and the Austin Police Department will each receive $200,000 in federal grant money to combat the...
North Carolina Insurers Seek 17.7% Increase in Homeowners Rates
Oct 4 2012 // North Carolina homeowners could see their first rate increase in four years as the state’s rating bureau called for a statewide average 17.7 percent increase in loss cost rates. The North Carolina Rate Bureau filed...
P/C Insurers’ Profits Jump in First Half as Catastrophe Losses Drop
Oct 4 2012 // U.S. property/casualty insurers’ net income after taxes jumped to $16.4 billion in first-half 2012 from $4.8 billion in first-half 2011, with insurers’ overall profitability as measured by their annualized rate...
Sinkhole Hits Businesses, Home Values in Rural Louisiana
Oct 2 2012 // Dennis Landry’s bed and breakfast was in the middle of a record business year before a sinkhole prompted authorities to tell 150 households in the towns of Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou in Louisiana to evacuate. Soon...
ISO Enhances Wind Rating Program for Underwriting, Pricing Wind Exposure
Oct 1 2012 // ISO has launched its Enhanced Wind Rating Program, a commercial property rating program designed specifically to address the wind peril. ISO is a member of the Verisk Insurance Solutions group at Verisk Analytics. The...
Allied World Europe Launches Corporate Property Line of Business
Oct 1 2012 // Allied World Europe has launched its Corporate Property line of business. The unit will target a range of European domiciled companies writing lead, co-insured and layered programs. Richard Nathan, Vice President, European...
