Latest Homeowners Headlines
All the headlines from our Homeowners Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Jury Favors La. Homeowner in Katrina Damage Suit Against State Farm
Nov 9 2007 // A jury on Nov. 7 sided with a south Louisiana couple in the first federal trial in Louisiana against State Farm Insurance Cos. over Hurricane Katrina damage. An attorney for plaintiffs Michael and Judy Kodrin and a State...
Houses Passes Federal Disaster Insurance Measure Opposed by Bush
Nov 9 2007 // A day after a similar bill was introduced in the Senate, the House of Representatives passed federal legislation to help hurricane and disaster-prone states make property insurance more readily available to residents...
Fireman’s Fund Offers to Rebuild Wildfire Homes “Green”
Nov 7 2007 // In response to the Southern California wildfires that burned in late October, Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. is responding with an innovative green upgrade for affected policyholders. The company said it will rebuild...
N.H. Court: Home Insurance Exclusion Applies in Babysitter Molestation
Nov 7 2007 // A New Hampshire couple sued for negligence after their son molested children they were babysitting does not have coverage under their homeowners policy that has a sexual molestation exclusion, the New Hampshire Supreme...
Sens. Clinton, Nelson Introduce Homeowners Defense Act to Address Cats
Nov 7 2007 // Senators Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla., have introduced the Homeowners’ Defense Act of 2007 to address the growing problem of the availability and affordability of natural disaster insurance, a...
Transitions … from judge to regulator, from regulated to competition
Nov 4 2007 // Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner Nonnie Burnes has taken on the minefield of private passenger auto insurance, overseeing a transition from a highly-regulated rating system to one under which insurance companies are to...
Small market share insurers file 2.5% decrease
Nov 4 2007 // 10 Mass. caps auto hikes at 10% Because the shooter was in an uninsured car, says N.J. court 12 Driving the transition An interview with Mass. Commissioner Burnes N1 Survey reports drop in new lawsuits Actions filed...
10 Calif. DOI partners with CAL FIRE
Nov 4 2007 // Groups aim to prevent fire losses during height of wildfire season 10 Hawaii approves 19.3% workers’ comp decrease NCCI recommended 16.8 percent drop 10 Calif. approves AAA’s 6.5% auto rate reduction Carrier...
Satisfied buyers of homeowners coverage obtain additional products
Nov 4 2007 // Homeowners insurance policyholders who subscribe to at least one additional policy with their insurer tend to be more satisfied than those who only have a homeowners insurance policy, according to the J.D. Power and...
Homeowners insurers not earning cost of capital despite modest rate increases
Nov 4 2007 // The countrywide prospective return on equity for the homeowners line of insurance for 2007 is 7.0 percent, up from 5.4 percent in 2006, according to an analysis by Aon Re Global, a unit of Aon Corp. The year-over-year...
Top 20 California Homeowners Insurance Groups in 2006
Nov 4 2007 // ($ in millions) Company Name Written Premium Market Share 1 State Farm (Ill.) 1,436.03 21.78% 2 Zurich Ins. Group (Farmers Ins. Group) 1,118.12 16.96% 3 Allstate Ins. Group 887.88 13.47% 4 California State Auto...
News Currents
Nov 4 2007 // Catastrophic wildfires sweep across Southern California Industry estimates insured losses at more than $1.5 billion and rising Insured losses are continuing to accumulate from Southern California wildfires that burned in...
States under cover
Nov 4 2007 // Natural catastrophes — and the affordability and availability of property insurance in disaster-prone areas — have been on center stage in coastal states from the Northeast to the Gulf Coast. This fall, the...
Liberty Mutual to Re-quote 3,305 Dropped Coastal Home Policies in N.Y.
Nov 1 2007 // Some 3,305 coastal residents in New York whose homeowners insurance policies had not been renewed by Liberty Mutual partly because they did not have other policies with the company – such as life or automobile...
Fla. Stiffens Standards for Home Mitigation Program Inspectors
Oct 30 2007 // Nearly six months after expanding statewide, the My Safe Florida Home (MSFH) program is increasing standards for participating wind inspection firms, in a continued effort to improve the quality of inspections provided for...
S.C. Insurance Deptartment Announces Home Mitigation Program Grants
Oct 29 2007 // Fourteen South Carolina homeowners received grants of up to $5,000 each to help strengthen their homes against the high winds associated with hurricanes and other natural disasters. The S.C. Safe Home Grant Program was...
Private Insurers Find Way to Grow in Florida Homeowners Market
Oct 29 2007 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation signed Consent Orders allowing four companies to assume a total of 173,000 policies from the Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state’s insurer of last resort. American...
Lack of Funding Halts Buyout of Homes in Okla. Superfund Site
Oct 26 2007 // The panel in charge of a federally funded buyout of homes located within the Tar Creek Superfund Site in Oklahoma has stopped making offers to homeowners because of a lack of funding, an official said. The Lead-Impacted...
Fitch: Calif. Wildfires May Be Largest U.S. Wildfire Insured Loss Ever
Oct 25 2007 // Insured losses from wildfires continuing to spread in Southern California could likely become the costliest catastrophe insured loss event in 2007 and may potentially become the costliest wildfire catastrophe insured loss...
Homeowners Insurers Not Earning Cost of Capital Despite Rate Increases
Oct 24 2007 // The countrywide prospective return on equity for the homeowners line of insurance for 2007 is 7.0 percent, up from 5.4 percent in 2006, according to an analysis by Aon Re Global, a unit of Aon Corp. The year-over-year...
