Latest Homeowners Headlines

All the headlines from our Homeowners Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Fla.’s Citizens Insurance Seeks 2% Policyholder Surcharge

Sep 18 2006 // All Florida homeowners with insurance will likely pay a little over 2 percent extra on their premium when they renew to help bail out the state-backed insurance company for people who can’t get coverage from private...

State Farm Dropping Some Coastal Policies in Texas

Sep 18 2006 // State Farm has announced that it will not renew coverage for 6,000 personal and commercial policyholders along the Texas coast starting next year. The state’s largest insurer said Sept. 14 that it will not renew...

La. Gov. Looking at Whether to Plug State Dollars Into Citizens

Sep 14 2006 // Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Sept. 12 that she’ll consider a partial state bailout for Louisiana’s insurer of last resort, which borrowed $1 billion to pay off claims after hurricanes Katrina and...

Judge: Landowners Cannot Sue Forest Service Over Lost Homes

Sep 14 2006 // Bitterroot Valley, Mont., residents who allege their homes were destroyed by a backburn that got away from firefighters cannot sue the U.S. Forest Service over their losses, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge...

Fla. Considers Standards for Home Insurers’ Mitigation Discounts

Sep 12 2006 // Florida home insurance companies may have to spell out standardized premium discounts homeowners would get for certain home improvements under a recommendation discussed Thursday by a state panel. The Property and Casualty...

Miss. Weighs Tax Break for Modular Homes to Speed Rebuilding

Sep 11 2006 // A group of Mississippi lawmakers last week quizzed some makers of modular homes about the quality and construction of their products. But after hours of discussion, legislators left the Capitol without making...

Mass. AG Reilly Opposes FAIR Plan’s 12% Rate Hike

Sep 10 2006 // Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly has decided to appeal Insurance Commissioner Julianne Bowler’s order allowing the state’s insurer of last resort — the FAIR Plan — to raise home insurance premiums...

Conn. Officials, Insurer Agree to 90-Day Moratorium on Shutter Rule

Sep 8 2006 // Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Susan F. Cogswell announced that Andover Insurance Company has agreed to suspend for 90 days the implementation of a department decision allowing the company to cancel the policies of...

Flooded Pa. Homeowners Blame Spillover from N.Y. City Reservoirs

Sep 7 2006 // New York City’s thirst for drinking water is clashing with Anthony Harlacher’s desire not to be flooded. Harlacher, who has endured three major floods in two years, is spending tens of thousands of dollars to...

Shutter Diplomacy: Conn. Regulator Plans Coastal Insurance Forum

Sep 7 2006 // Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Susan Cogswell plans a public forum on Sept. 21 to air concerns over availability of property insurance in the state’s coastal areas. The forum is being called following reports of...

State Farm Files for Double-Digit Homeowners Rate Decrease

Sep 6 2006 // California’s largest homeowners insurance company has requested at 10.6 percent reduction in homeowners’ insurance rates for its 1.2 million policyholders in California, according to the Department of...

A year later, insurers report 95% of Katrina claims settled in La. and Miss.

Sep 4 2006 // One year after Hurricane Katrina, the insurance industry says that nearly 95 percent of homeowners insurance claims have been settled in Louisiana and Mississippi, insurance companies have paid billions in storm damage...

Hurricane Katrina, a year later, another perspective

Sep 4 2006 // The Midwest is not affected by hurricanes or hurricane seasons because obviously our only coastal regions involve the Great Lakes, not oceans. The central region of this country does have its own natural disasters in the...

One year later, insurers report 95 percent of Katrina claims in La. and Miss. settled

Sep 4 2006 // One year after Hurricane Katrina, the insurance in-dustry says that nearly 95 percent of homeowners insurance claims have been settled in Louisiana and Mississippi, insurance companies have paid billions in storm damage...

One year later, insurers report 95 percent of Katrina claims in La. and Miss. settled

Sep 4 2006 // One year after Hurricane Katrina, the insurance in-dustry says that nearly 95 percent of homeowners insurance claims have been settled in Louisiana and Mississippi, insurance companies have paid billions in storm damage...

Premium hearings

Sep 4 2006 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation recently held public hearings on insurance rate increases submitted by First Home Insurance Company (73.4% homeowners; 43.8% dwelling/fire), Metropolitan Casualty Insurance...

Editor’s Note: A long way to go

Sep 4 2006 // While significant problems persist-severe damage to public infrastructure and reduced populations continue to present challenges-the billions of dollars in claims paid to date are helping fuel an increase in residential...

Figures

Sep 4 2006 // 95 The percent of homeowners insurance claims that have been settled in Louisiana and Mississippi one year after Hurricane Katrina, according to the Insurance Information Institute. The I.I.I. estimates that more than...

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita spawn legislation, bulletins in Miss. and La.

Sep 4 2006 // Hurricanes Katrina and Rita exposed many misconceptions and misunderstandings that consumers had, or claimed to have had, with respect to their insurance coverage for hurricane related damage. The aftermath of these two...

First post-Katrina court decision a victory for insurers

Sep 4 2006 // On Aug. 15, 2006, a decision was handed down in the first post-Katrina insurance lawsuit to go to trial. Because there are thousands of lawsuits raising the same claims with millions, if not billions, of dollars at stake,...