Latest Property Headlines
All the headlines from our Property Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Bermuda’s SAC Re Adds 4 to Property Reinsurance, Finance, Risk Management Teams
Nov 1 2012 // S.A.C. Re Ltd. has filled several key management posts in its property reinsurance, finance and risk management teams. Kathleen Reardon has joined Bermuda’s SAC Re as chief underwriting officer for Property, and will...
Verisk Insurance Solutions Enhances Foreclosure Alert Product
Oct 24 2012 // Verisk Insurance Solutions – Underwriting, a unit of Verisk Analytics has added an enhancement to its Foreclosure Alert that identifies if a property has previously been in foreclosure at the point of sale....
Florida Approves More Policy Takeouts at Citizens; Also OKs Commercial Rate Hikes
Oct 23 2012 // Florida regulators announced that two property insurance companies have been approved to take out up to 100,000 policies from the state-backed insurer in December, adding to the 210,000 policies already slated for removal...
AIG Settles, Will Pay California Life Beneficiaries $25-$30M
Oct 22 2012 // AIG Insurance Co. will pay an estimated $25 to $30 million owed to California beneficiaries of life insurance policies, and an $11 million settlement payment. California Controller John Chiang began auditing AIG’s...
Florida Gov. Scott Troubled by Firings at Citizens Property Insurance
Oct 22 2012 // A move by Florida’s largest property insurer to dismiss employees responsible for investigating wrongdoing drew criticism last Thursday from Gov. Rick Scott. Scott, in a strongly-worded letter to the president of...
OSC Launches Tenant Protection Program for Rental Property Owners
Oct 22 2012 // OSC, an insurance and risk management services and products provider for large and small financial institutions, has launched a Tenant Policy Offering (TPO) protection program for owners of rental properties. TPO pairs...
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...
