News Briefs
MASSACHUSETTS
All Signs Point Down: Massachusetts auto rates will be going down in 2006, although by how much is not yet known. Insurance Commissioner Julianne Bowler received her third recommendation, this one calling for a 5.4 percent reduction in rates, from the State Rating Bureau, the consumer arm of the Division of Insurance. After months of public hearings, she will decide among that 5.4 percent rate cut recommendation, a filing for a smaller 0.1 percent reduction submitted by the industry itself, and a gigantic 18 percent rate cut proposal urged by Attorney General Tom Riley.
In related news, the Massachusetts Division of Insurance approved a modification in the way high risk private passenger auto business written by exclusive representative producers is distributed among the state’s insurance companies. Commissioner Julianne Bowler has signed off on a revised Rule 13 submitted by the board of Commonwealth Auto Reinsurers. However, in addition to green-lighting the ERP redistribution, Bowler is requiring that the shifting of ERP business take into consideration the quality or loss ratios as well as the quantity of risks for which each insurer is responsible. Bowler ordered CAR to recalculate the loss ratios of all ERPs before reassigning the business to carriers.
Civil Unions Begin: The Connecticut legislature approved a bill legalizing civil unions for same sex couples in April, and Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell signed it into law. The new law, which contains a clause defining marriage as only between heterosexual couples but extends the same legal rights to gay couples, went into effect on Oct. 1. The state insurance chief has said all health plans, with the exception of self-insured policies, must treat civil union partners as they would spouses. But Rep. Michael Lawlor (D-East Haven), a sponsor, said the law does not specifically require private employers to provide health insurance to same-sex partners. Bonnie Stewart, vice president for the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, said employers should just follow the rule that, “if you offer it to married couples, yes, now you have to offer it to a civil union couple.”
Workers’ Comp Cut Weighed: Workers’ compensation carriers have filed for a slight 2.3 percent reduction in loss costs in Rhode Island beginning in January. The Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation has scheduled a hearing for Nov. 16 on the proposal, which was submitted by the National Council on Compensation Insurance.
This past January, loss costs were reduced 20.2 percent. Prior to January, workers’ comp rates in the state had not changed since 1998, when the state approved a 9.4 percent to 10.5 percent rate reduction. While the industry made a filing in 2001, lawmakers prohibited consideration of the filing at that time. Since then, the state has changed its law to mandate that all employers with three or more employees, who had been excused from the mandate, be required to purchase coverage.
NEW YORK
Boating Laws Under Scrutiny: The laws governing boating in New York and elsewhere are coming under closer scrutiny after the capsizing of a tour boat killed 20. Warren County Sheriff Larry Cleveland said it appeared the boat flipped over so fast on Sept. 30 that no one had time to put on life jackets. In New York, boats have to carry one jacket for every passenger, but there’s no law saying they have to put it on. The National Association of State Boating Laws Administrators says requiring adults to wear life jackets-as is required for children in 48 states-is a debate that has raged for years.
The Lake George Park Association and the local sheriff’s department, which regulate most safety rules on the lake, said they will reconsider rules mandating life jacket use and minimum crew size, said James Hood, a spokesman. Gov. George Pataki said the state’s boating laws would get a close look, but he also said, “We have among the toughest boating laws in America.”
NEW JERSEY
Court Redefines Stadium Liability: Departing from the traditional rule that stadium owners have only a limited duty of care, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that a fan who was struck by a foul ball at a baseball game can sue the ballpark owner for negligence. In Masonave v. The Newark Bears Professional Baseball Club, the court weighed whether baseball stadiums owe a duty of care to their patrons to protect against harm from foul balls. The court decided the standard varies depending on where in the stadium the fan is when injured. The plaintiff was injured by a foul ball as he stood buying refreshments on the mezzanine at Riverfront Stadium, home of minor league baseball team The Newark Bears.
The Supreme Court held that an “owner or operator of a stadium must provide protected seating to those who would seek it on an ordinary basis and provide screening in the most dangerous sections of the stands.” The stands include the stairs as well as the areas immediately adjacent to the stands. As for all other areas of a stadium, the court continued, the proper standard of care is the business invitee rule, under which the operator “owes a duty of reasonable care to guard against any dangerous conditions” that he or she either knows about or should have discovered.