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IJ Video Highlights

Consolidation Nation

Later this year the New York State Department of Insurance will complete its merger with the state’s banking department to become the New York State Department of Financial Services. Some worry the merger will make the reglation of insurance a little more complicated. But Dick Poppa, president and CEO of the New York Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers, says the new department’s mammoth size might make the business of insurance more efficient.

Podcast Highlights

Growing Opportunities for Insurance Industry’s Women

Although men still outnumber women in the property/casualty insurance industry, many meaningful opportunities exist for women in the business, says Barney & Barney Principal Trindl Reeves. With more than 20 years of experience under her belt, Reeves – who recently received an award for her efforts to promote professional growth for women executives – shares the traits that can make women successful leaders in insurance, in this podcast interview.

Agent-Customer Conversations Offer New Insight into Sales Process

Simulating conversations between an insurance agent and a customer during the selling process seems to be providing property/casualty insurers with a more in-depth understanding of successful, and perhaps, not so successful communications strategies. Bronwen Clark, qualitative manager for CMI, an Atlanta-based marketing research organization, discusses CMI’s own research model involving simulated agent-customer conversations and how the findings may be changing the way P/C insurers communicate.

In a Reader’s View

High Cost of Class Actions

Ask any insurance professional today and most will say litigation costs are out of control for both plaintiffs and defendants. As lead counsel to the plaintiffs in the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. employment discrimination lawsuit tossed out by the United States Supreme Court late last month, Seller’s law firm, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, dedicated about $5 million in attorney hours and spent $2 million on experts and discovery in the decade-long case.

The court found the claims filed by as many as 1.5 million women against the retail giant were too varied to permit class certification. The court did not rule on the merits of the plaintiffs’ claims and left the door open for smaller, narrower groups of plaintiffs who could pursue other class actions. But so far, Cohen Milstein has not seen any return on its investment. The business of class action lawsuits has won the firm hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years for antitrust, civil rights, product liability, securities fraud and employee discrimination cases. Read the story online.

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Topics Lawsuits New York Agencies Property Casualty