It Figures
26,595
A total of 26,595 policies have been selected to be removed from Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. (Citizens) by ASI Lloyds, Imperial Fire & Casualty Insurance Company, Occidental Fire & Casualty Company, Southern Fidelity and non-Incentive Program insurer Americas Underwriting Agency. The four insurance companies participating in the Insure Louisiana Incentive Program and another insurer have started the process of depopulating Citizens. Approximately 144,000 property insurance policies remain. The Louisiana Department of Insurance reported that ASI will remove 2,193 policies from Citizens; Imperial – 2,284; Occidental – 5,796; Southern Fidelity – 16,010 and Americas – 312. Parishes with the largest number of policies selected for take out from Citizens are: Jefferson – 5,470; Orleans – 3,692; St. Tammany – 3,682; Iberia – 1,286; Vermillion – 963 and St. Mary – 915.
$507.5 Million
In a 5-3 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court in June reduced the record $2.5 billion in punitive damages award against Exxon Mobil Corp. for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska to $507.5 million. A U.S. Court of Appeals previously lowered the original $5 billion awarded by the trial court to $2.5 billion. Some 32,000 commercial fishermen, Alaska natives, property owners and others harmed by the nation’s worst tanker spill were plaintiffs. Reuters reported that in first quarter 2007 it took Exxon Mobil less than two days to earn $2.5 billion in revenue. Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer dissented. Breyer wrote that he would have upheld the $2.5 billion award. The 1989 spill contaminated more than 1,200 miles of coastline, closed fisheries and killed thousands of marine mammals and hundreds of thousands of sea birds.
$356.2 Million
Man’s best friend is sinking its teeth into homeowners insurance costs. Dog bites now account for one-third of all homeowners insurance liability claims, costing $356.2 million in 2007, up 10.5 percent from the previous year, according to the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.). An analysis of homeowners insurance data found the average cost of dog bite claims increased by 11.5 percent in 2007 to $24,511. Since 2003, the cost of these claims has risen nearly 28 percent. However, the actual number of claims paid by insurers has remained relatively stable over the past three years at about 14,500.