Articles by R.J. Lehmann

The L&E Blog on Insurance Journal presents the work and viewpoints of The International Center for Law & Economics. R.J. Lehmann is editor-in-chief and senior fellow of the International Center for Law and Economics.

Fraud Costs Michigan Drivers $220M a Year

Auto insurance fraud costs Michigan drivers more than $220 million a year, Secretary of State Ruth Johnson announced while unveiling a set of 17 legislative and regulatory anti-fraud recommendations offered by the Fighting Auto Insurance Rip-offs (FAIR) Task. Johnson convened …

A Decade After Charley, Florida’s Still Paying the Bill

Tomorrow, Aug. 9, marks the ten-year anniversary of the formation of Hurricane Charley. The third named storm of the 2004 hurricane season, Charley did $13 billion of damage, nearly all of it in Florida. But the bad news for the …

Lyft’s Insurance Move a First Step Toward Regular TNC Coverage

Even as it faces new regulatory headaches in New York, transportation network company Lyft is making news this week with a major announcement today that should quiet at least some of its vocal critics: the company has begun offering primary …

Arthur Could Strike Around the Fourth in Morehead City

Ahead of the Independence Day holiday weekend, the U.S. East Coast is preparing for Tropical Storm Arthur, the first named storm of the 2014 season. Formed yesterday off the east coast of Florida, Arthur has strengthened to a strong tropical …

Reinsurers Starting to Drop their Terrorism Exclusions

As property insurers lock up their July 1 reinsurance renewals, many are finding a bonus surprise above and beyond the soft pricing environment – the terrorism exclusions that have been standard in reinsurance contracts for the past decade are, in …

Will the NFIP Survive this Year’s Hurricane Season?

This Sunday, June 1, marks the start of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season. And though experts are predicting a relatively quiet one this year, our dutiful representatives in Congress have done their darnedest to ensure that it would take just …

Africa Can Tap Global Reinsurance Markets; Why Not Florida?

In what can only be taken as an exceedingly encouraging sign for emerging markets around the world, an African Union-created agency has established the continent’s first-ever catastrophe insurance pool, offering coverage to the nations of Kenya, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger and …

House Republicans Offer Road Map for the Future of Terrorism Insurance

Having previously played (and arguably, lost) two prior rounds of legislative “chicken” with the insurance industry, congressional conservatives are making it known that, this time around, they’re quite serious about a radical reworking of the 12-year-old Terrorism Risk Insurance Program. …

Congress Should Help, Not Hinder, Private Terror Insurance Markets

Earlier this week, I took part in what I found to be a lively and enlightening panel discussion on the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, the now-12-year-old federal program that provides a $100 billion reinsurance backstop for terrorism-related claims in the …

Fla Cat Fund Missing Out on Best Reinsurance Market Ever

Coming into 2014, we had modest expectations of the potential for significant property insurance reform in Florida. Given that it is an election year – and one featuring the return to prominence of our old friend Charlie Crist, that notorious …