Declarations – South Central

A Cause for Concern

“A rate increase of this magnitude is troubling. This is the largest single rate increase filing from a major carrier that we have seen in years.”

–Texas Office of Public Insurance Counsel Executive Director Deeia Beck responds to a Sept. 7, 2012, filing by State Farm Lloyds of Texas for a 20 percent statewide average homeowners’ rate increase. Beck said she’s concerned by the company’s recent non-renewal of some coastal area homeowner policies and the continued multi-year litigation over policyholder refunds. State Farm Lloyds is the largest writer of homeowners insurance in Texas.

Just Lucky

“We were just lucky this time that the entire road didn’t get washed out.”

–Henri Boulet, executive director of Louisiana’s LA 1 Coalition, a group of government and industry groups that wants more of the state’s Highway 1 to be elevated. Hurricane Isaac’s storm surge covered portions of the highway with three feet of water, closing it for 78 hours. The road is the only route to Port Fourchon, the oil and gas hub that serves 90 percent of deepwater petroleum operations in the Gulf of Mexico.

Rate Gains

“We continue to be successful in achieving rate gains.”

–Travelers Cos. CEO Jay Fishman, speaking at a Barclays financial services conference, said insurance rates rose in the third quarter of 2012 for both businesses and individual customers. Business insurance rates are up an average of 7.7 percent so far in the third quarter, against gains of 7.2 percent in the previous quarter. Homeowners and personal auto rates are also up, Fishman said.