Latest Catastrophe Headlines

Industry Voices Concerns Over National Insurance Catastrophe Plan

Dec 19 2005 // Role of Government, All-Perils Policy Among Sticking Points Cited by Insurers Industry representatives generally support state regulators’ efforts to craft a comprehensive plan for natural catastrophes but take issue...

Congress Passes TRIA Renewal; Legislation Sent to President’s Desk

Dec 18 2005 // Congress approved the Terrorism Risk Insurance Revision Act of 2005 late last week after reconciling differing versions passed in both the House and the Senate. The legislation now moves to the President’s desk for...

Dec 18 2005 // Five Major Hurricanes Expected in 2006 Seventeen named storms could strike the Atlantic basin next year, with nine developing into hurricanes, if predictions by William Gray and Philip Klotzbach of Colorado State...

Calif. Court Rules in Favor of Earthquake Policyholders

Dec 18 2005 // An insurance broker was a representative for the California Fair Plan Insurance Co. with regard to the Northridge earthquake revival statute, which gave policyholders another year to file lawsuits against their insurers in...

States Urged to Prepare for Catastrophes by Enforcing Smarter Land Use

Dec 18 2005 // The country needs to consider where and how it builds if it is to avoid the worst effects of another Hurricane Katrina or Sept. 11 attack, according to experts at the recent National Conference of Insurance Legislators...

Disaster Recovery Aid Surpasses $564.6M for Hurricane Rita

Dec 18 2005 // Families and individuals who suffered damage from Hurricane Rita have received more than $564,654,596 in assistance from state, federal, local and voluntary agencies. These agencies are working in partnership to continue...

Industry Voices Concerns Over National Insurance Catastrophe Plan

Dec 18 2005 // Industry representatives generally support state regulators’ efforts to craft a comprehensive plan for natural catastrophes but take issue with elements of the draft proposal that was aired during the recent meeting...

Meeting Today’s Challenges and Preparing for Tomorrow’s

Dec 18 2005 // Several pressing public policy issues remain to be debated in the Gulf region and across the country. At the forefront is the question of how we, as a nation, will finance losses from future mega- catastrophes. Weather...

News Briefs

Dec 18 2005 // MISSOURI Insurer to Pay $8 Million: State Farm Insurance has been ordered to pay more than $8 million to a tow truck driver and his sister-in-law who were acquitted of insurance fraud after being accused of faking the...

Industry Voices Concerns Over National Insurance Catastrophe Plan

Dec 18 2005 // Industry representatives generally support state regulators’ efforts to craft a comprehensive plan for natural catastrophes but take issue with elements of the draft proposal that was aired during the recent meeting...

Insurance Commissioners Push Framework for National Cat Program

Dec 18 2005 // Insurance regulators, on the heels of the National Catastrophe Insurance Summit in Burlingame, Calif., in November, are peddling the framework for a national catastrophe insurance program they say would protect U.S....

Dec 18 2005 // Carriers View Gulf States As ‘Tough Place to Do Business’ More than 100 insurance and risk management executives and industry analysts attending a Future Focus conference in Charleston, S.C. predicted that...

Editor’s Note: Opportunity Knocks

Dec 18 2005 // As 2005 draws to a close it marks the end of the second tumultuous year for the industry. After the multiple hurricanes of 2004, everyone was hoping 2005 would be calmer, but we ended up having an even more catastrophic...

Historic Hurricane Year Puts the Spotlight on Federal Flood Insurance

Dec 18 2005 // Hurricanes Katrina and Rita affected the Gulf Coast as some of the strongest storms to hit the United States during the last 100 years, causing widespread devastation and flooding. In mid-January the country saw more than...

Meeting Today’s Challenges and Preparing for Tomorrow’s

Dec 18 2005 // Weather forecasters predicted that the 2005 hurricane season could be more active than normal, but no one thought it would produce 26 named storms and the most destructive storm on record-Hurricane Katrina. Katrina tested...

News Briefs

Dec 18 2005 // House Passes Terrorism Insurance Bill: Legislation that will extend the 2002 Terrorism Risk Insurance Act for an additional two years passed the House of Representatives floor by a vote of 371 to 49. The Senate already...

Preparing for Worst, Cat Modelers Say More Destruction Ahead

Dec 18 2005 // Florida has survived eight hurricanes in 15 months, but more destruction is coming, according to risk modeling companies and economists speaking at the National Catastrophe In-surance Summit in Burlingame,...

News Briefs

Dec 18 2005 // FLORIDA State Farm of Florida 8.6 Percent Rate Request Approved The Florida Department of Insurance approved an average statewide premium rate hike of 8.6 percent for State Farm of Florida, the largest insurer of homes in...

Munich Re Study Cites Changes in Atlantic Hurricane Risk

Dec 16 2005 // A report prepared by Dr. Eberhard Faust, who heads Munich Re’s Climate Change Research Department, points to some significant changes in the hurricane risk factors in the North Atlantic. Munich Re notes: “The...

Sen. Lott Suing State Farm for Hurricane Katrina Damages to His Pascagoula, Miss. Home

Dec 16 2005 // U.S. Sen. Trent Lott is suing his insurance company over his beachfront Pascagoula home, which was leveled by Hurricane Katrina. The law office of Lott’s brother-in-law, high-profile plaintiff’s Richard...