Advocate Claims Insurance Claim News

Nearly 1 million General Electric coffee makers sold at Walmart are being recalled after dozens of reports of overheating, smoking, burning and fires.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which announced the recall Thursday, said Walmart has received 83 complaints about the GE-branded coffee maker, including three reports of minor burns to consumers’ bodies.

The reports of property damage include a significant kitchen fire and damage to countertops, cabinets and a wall, said the CPSC.

The recall involves about 900,000 GE 12-cup digital coffee makers sold exclusively at Walmart stores nationwide.

Read Full Article at ClaimsJournal.com »

With weather forecasters calling for a worse-than-average 2010 Atlantic basin hurricane season, the Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) is advising property owners on the most effective ways to protect their homes and businesses from hurricane damage.

IBHS is also trying to dispel some common myths about hurricane preparedness.

Forecasters predict 15 named storms to form in the Atlantic basin between June 1 and November 30, with eight expected to be hurricanes and four developing into major hurricanes (Saffir/Simpson category 3-4-5) with sustained winds of 111 mph or greater. The prediction is based on the premise that El Nino conditions will dissipate by this summer and that anomalously warm tropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures will persist.

IBHS is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization supported by the property insurance industry. Here’s what IBHS wants property owners to know:

Facts:

1. A new, well-installed roof is one of the best forms of protection available

If your shingle roof cover needs to be replaced, do it now, while there is still enough time for the shingles to heat up and seal properly before a storm threatens. Be sure to remove older material down to the roof sheathing and have the deck re-nailed. Spend a little extra to provide a secondary water barrier (in some areas, insurance discount may be available if you re-nail and/or install an approved secondary water barrier so check with your insurance company) and have a high wind-rated roof cover installed. IBHS has detailed guidance available to help you specify a quality installation.

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Angry that your insurance company isn’t moving as fast with that claim check as you’d like? Or maybe the adjuster’s offer is less than you need to cover your losses? Perhaps you need your own adjuster.

Public adjusters assume all of the duties necessary to get your claim processed, including making an inventory of the loss and presenting your case to the insurance company. A good public adjuster has experience in the industry and will understand your contract and the company’s responsibilities right down to the fine print. In exchange, a public adjuster receives a percentage of your claim.

“For the most part, people like using (a public) adjuster because they like the idea that someone is working on their behalf versus someone working on behalf of the company,” says P.J. Crowley, vice president of the Insurance Information Institute.

Read Full Article at BankRate.com

TALLAHASSEE — State Rep. Rick Kriseman is a reluctant expert on property insurance.

A fire torched his home. His previous Florida-based insurer faltered. His rates jumped 90 percent in the last year.

And now the St. Petersburg Democrat is sounding an alarm about legislative efforts to revamp the system to benefit property insurers at the expense of customers.

“We are making major decisions that have serious impacts on our citizens without full vetting, and that’s when bad policy comes out,” Kriseman said.

The convoluted issue is often one of the last to coalesce in the Legislature, but this year appears especially murky with Gov. Charlie Crist’s possible veto looming over the negotiations.

Read Full Story at TampaBay.com

By Julie Patel, Sun Sentinel

Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said today that Olympus Insurance Co. must beef up its claims paying reserves and resolve accounting issues by May 7 or face suspension.

In an order to the company, McCarty said the company doesn’t have enough money to pay claims if more than one major hurricane were to strike this year. He said the company said it was profitable but his office estimates a $7 million loss last year for the company, which knocks its claims-paying reserves down to $14 million. Regulators said the company must straighten out the accounting discrepancies and attempt to have its parent company provide money to beef up its reserves.

In addition, the company told regulators it would pay a 22 percent to 29 percent fee to its affiliate for acting as its managing general agent — or MGA — but McCarty said his office found the company was paying closer to 34 percent.

Read Full Story at SunSentinel.com »

Florida insurance officials have moved to shut down Northern Capital Insurance Co. after concluding that the firm is insolvent.

The Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) made an official request to the state’s Department of Financial Services (DFS) to initiate delinquency proceedings on Wednesday. Northern Capital CEO Wayne Fletcher and company directors signed an order consenting to the state’s action on Feb. 25.

As a result, agents and policyholders are being advised to cancel their Northern Capital policies and seek new coverage immediately. Unearned premium will be refunded to policyholders. If customers cannot get replacement coverage from a private insurer, they are eligible to apply for coverage with state-backed Citizens.

OIR said it anticipates that DFS will petition the court to order Northern Capital into receivership. If the company is ordered into liquidation all policies will be cancelled no later than 30 days from the date of the liquidation order. Based on the insurer’s financial statements, liquidation appears to be a strong possibility, according to OIR.

Read Full Story at Insurance Journal »

Wake up and good morning. Remember when Florida’s elected leaders used to stand up against the property insurance industry’s relentless drumbeat that higher rates were the only answer to “fixing” this state’s crumbling homeowners’ insurance problems? Even after what is four-plus years with no hurricanes, the insurance industry’s mantra is unchanged: We are not charging enough and woe to Florida when a big hurricane hits.

In the war of attrition, it’sFlorida insurance industry: 50. State government: 0. Even Gov. Charlie Crist, who built part of his “I want to be your governor” campaign on fighting property insurance demands for more, more, more has mentally moved on. And state legislators, increasingly pro-business, are too busy introducing measures to weaken state insurance regulation and give insurers more leeway in charging what they want. Welcome to government by attention deficit disorder.

Which makes for an interesting historical backdrop to an analysis by the South Florida Sun Sentinel. The newspaper found that while Florida property insurers press state legislators to allow them to raise rates without regulator approval, citing losses in recent years, many are funneling fees and payments to unsupervised affiliates — money that could have been used as reserves against claims from storms. Here’s the key detail:

“A Sun Sentinel review of 26 Florida-based insurers found that the companies collectively reported a $87.8 million drop in claims-paying reserves last year and a $206.9 million underwriting loss, incurred when premiums don’t offset expenses.

“Yet, all but four paid a total of nearly $300 million last year to managing general agents, or MGAs, that were affiliates.”

The affiliates provide legitimate services to the Florida insurer — to a point. Critics say some of these payments are inflated. And once these funds end up with an affiliate, they can easily be funneled to the parent company which can do whatever it wants — including paying these funds out to shareholders as dividends.

Read Full Story at TampaBay.com »

Consumer advocates call for more scrutiny as insurers report losses and request rate hikes

By Julie Patel, Sun Sentinel

Florida property insurers are pressing state legislators to allow them to raise rates without regulator approval, citing losses in recent years. But consumer advocates and regulators question the legitimacy of the losses after four hurricane-free years in Florida.

One key issue: fees paid by some insurance companies to affiliates – most with the same executives and shareholders. Critics say these payments may be inflated and instead could be used to bolster reserves.

A Sun Sentinel review of 26 Florida-based insurers found that the companies collectively reported a $87.8 million drop in claims-paying reserves last year and a $206.9 million underwriting loss, incurred when premiums don’t offset expenses.

Read Full Story at SunSentinel.com »

By Paige St. John

A Florida property insurer that bought hurricane protection from its own Bermuda company has been ordered to attempt to recover the money, following a Herald-Tribune report about the transaction.

State regulators gave Homeowners Choice Property and Casualty 21 days to seek the return of more than $9 million it paid last year to Claddaugh, an offshore affiliate. Regulators could suspend Homeowners’ insurance license if it does not comply.

The insurer and Claddaugh are owned by Homeowners Choice Inc., a publicly traded holding company.

The self-insurance agreement was among $1.9 billion in self-dealing transactions by Florida property insurers detailed by the Herald-Tribune in stories appearing two weeks ago.

Read Full Story at HeraldTribune.com »

By Jeff Harrington, Times Staff Writer

After rebuffing an acquisition bid by one Tampa Bay company, home insurer 21st Century Holding Co. has gone on the offensive in the bay area.

Lauderdale Lakes-based 21st Century said Tuesday it has signed an agreement to buy Homewise Holdings Insurance, a Tampa-based insurer with about $38 million in written premiums in 2009.

Read Full Story at SunSentinel.com »