Declarations

Nothing Doing

“Doing nothing is not an option.”

—Texas Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, said efforts to improve the state’s troubled windstorm insurance system are “way off track” in the Texas Senate. Fraser, author of Senate legislation intended to address the issue, said a compromise remains elusive and warned the state could be on the hook for $68 billion if legislation does not pass. The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association serves as a last resort for wind insurance along much of the Gulf Coast. It took a huge financial hit with last year’s Hurricanes Ike and Dolly.

Coverage or No Coverage?

“Texas mandates liability insurance for drivers but if ordinary Texans are unprotected from those who speed or run red lights, but intend no harm to others by doing so, then Texas is replete with non-coverage notwithstanding its mandatory-coverage requirement.”

—Justice Don R. Willett in a written opinion of the Texas Supreme Court, which ruled in Greg Tanner and Maribel Tanner, et al v. Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Co. that the insurance company must pay a family’s claim for their child who was critically injured by a truck that was fleeing from police. The child’s parents, Greg and Maribel Tanner, sued the speeder, who was insured by Nationwide Mutual. The company claimed motorist Richard Gibbons violated his policy by being involved in a high-speed police chase that was certain to end in a wreck. The Supreme Court denied Nationwide’s reliance on the “intentional act” exclusion in its policy, stating that the company didn’t prove “as a matter of law that Gibbons believed his conduct was substantially certain to injure the Tanners.”

Near Bottom

“Over the next quarter, our view points toward a continuing favorable market with the realization that we are at —or very near —the bottom of the pricing cycle.”.

—Mark Moreland of Lockton’s Risk Management team on the casualty insurance market, noting that most casualty buyers have still seen favorable renewals, but that may soon change.

Threatened Coasts

“Our coasts are threatened, there are reasonable steps to counter those threats, and we as a nation are not yet taking them. … Evidence shows we can reduce our risks and our costs by 50 percent or more.”

—Statement from the Resilient Coasts Blueprint, which outlines policy changes and common sense actions that could reduce economic losses from future storms and rising sea levels by as much as half along U.S. coastlines. The initiative is endorsed by a coalition of insurers, public officials, risk experts, builders and conservation groups.