The issue not addressed is that carriers are held to incredibly onerous “bad faith” statutes backstopped by ultra-sympathetic jurors, making it nearly impossible to defend a position if there is a demand on the table. Even worse if repped by an attorney more than a year or two out of law school. $1M liability limit… doesn’t matter! Bad faith takes the lid off of the policy limit. How would you respond to a known outcome versus virtually unlimited liability? Um… you just settle, even if the insured had nothing to do with the loss. There is no level of rate that covers that exposure…
It’s true. One can underwrite risk of physical loss, but how is one to underwrite the risk of a debauched legal system?
I left Florida the year after Andrew, having grown up and started my career there. I just didn’t think any insurer could profit and maybe even survive the hurricanes and the litigation industry too. I was right.
This headline is 100% absolutely true.
The issue not addressed is that carriers are held to incredibly onerous “bad faith” statutes backstopped by ultra-sympathetic jurors, making it nearly impossible to defend a position if there is a demand on the table. Even worse if repped by an attorney more than a year or two out of law school. $1M liability limit… doesn’t matter! Bad faith takes the lid off of the policy limit. How would you respond to a known outcome versus virtually unlimited liability? Um… you just settle, even if the insured had nothing to do with the loss. There is no level of rate that covers that exposure…
It’s true. One can underwrite risk of physical loss, but how is one to underwrite the risk of a debauched legal system?
I left Florida the year after Andrew, having grown up and started my career there. I just didn’t think any insurer could profit and maybe even survive the hurricanes and the litigation industry too. I was right.