What is TIRSA? The Title Insurance Rate Service Association (TIRSA) is an organization licensed by the New York State Department of Financial Services that provides guidelines for the pricing and availability of title...more
Yemeni-based Houthi forces have attacked more than two dozen vessels transiting the Red Sea since the October 7, 2023, start of the current Israel-Hamas conflict, leading to a surge in marine war insurance premiums. Houthi...more
Life insurance is a very important part of many people’s long-term plans because it provides a way for families to ensure the financial well-being of their loved ones after they’re gone. However, life insurance is a highly...more
We keep hearing about how difficult it is for our clients to get property insurance these days, both for homes and businesses in Northern California’s wildfire-prone areas. Which, of course, is most of Northern California. ...more
In the construction industry, resilience generally refers to a building’s or infrastructure element’s ability to avoid, mitigate, absorb, or recover from physically destructive events, with an eye toward overall longevity. ...more
The softening D&O market has continued into 2023, with 91% of our clients experiencing a cost reduction in their renewal in the first half of the year. Self-insured retentions have also continued to fall. The soft market is a...more
After being squeezed out of the R&W insurance market in 2021, deals in the healthcare services sector have regained interest from insurers and are seeing lower rates and greater competition....more
In recent years, especially through 2019 and 2020, the cyber insurance market in the U.S. has seen significant growth. Middle-market companies have been actively requesting cyber insurance policies with low rates and broad...more
Two Recent Decisions Throw Cold Water on Investors’ Ability to Get Their Premiums Back on Policies Deemed Void Ab Initio - In the latter half of 2022, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the Delaware Supreme Court—two...more
On February 3, 2023, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri granted MetLife’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim in Collins et al v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. In granting MetLife’s...more
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) Board had a busy Tuesday. In addition to the release of an ANPR on Resolution Requirements for large banking organizations that we also write about this week, the FDIC Board...more
In Cost of Insurance Litigation, Courts Continue to Disagree Over the Meaning of the Key Contractual Provision - If you see a movie that is “based on a true story,” how close to the story are you expecting the movie to be?...more
A federal judge has dismissed a putative class action case brought by a plaintiff asserting ERISA violations against The Prudential Company of America (“Prudential”) and Tufts University (“Tufts”), stemming from premium rate...more
The Oregon Department of Forestry recently released a new interactive wildfire risk map for every tax lot in the state – over 1,800,000 parcels in all. The mapping effort is part of the comprehensive wildfire response...more
On May 25, 2022, in Grossman v. GEICO Cas. Co. (No. 21-278), the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court’s dismissal of an attempted class action by two automobile policyholders alleging that GEICO...more
A possible settlement agreement has fallen through in a suit between CalPERS and a group of policyholders over a 2013 proposed 85 percent rate hike. The agreement would have covered approximately 60,000 policyholders....more
In this report, we identify the emerging trends that are impacting insurance for the tech sector, with a specific review of the property, general liability, and workers’ compensation (WC) coverage areas. The big takeaway?...more
Though the market remains difficult amidst claims costs and underwriting issues, we are cautiously optimistic and see opportunities for you to improve your insurance portfolio in 2022. Join Woodruff Sawyer experts Carolyn...more
The last few years have been a reckoning for the insurance industry and just when we thought insurance buyers might feel relief, COVID-19 entered the picture and extended challenging market conditions into 2021....more
On September 1, 2021, Texas SB 1367 went into effect, exempting certain lines of commercial property and casualty insurance from rate and form filings, as summarized below. In other words, Insurers are no longer required to...more
With more frequent and more severe ransomware attacks against health care platforms and vendors and the increasing use of telemedicine, it is critical to understand how to proactively defend your organization using robust...more
In its recent decision, Villanueva v. Fidelity National Title Company, --- P.3d ---, No. S252035, 2021 WL 1031874 (Cal. Mar. 18, 2021), the California Supreme Court rejected an expansive view of the immunity afforded to title...more
Amid the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine became a vital resource for physicians and patients alike. Even with a potential “new normal” on the horizon, telemedicine is here to stay. But with the expansion of...more
The New Hampshire Supreme Court recently ruled that New Hampshire’s regulation that places certain caps on long-term care insurance premium rate increases exceeds the Insurance Commissioner’s rulemaking authority and,...more
On February 18, 2021, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announced a revision to proposed regulations regarding the use of affinity groups in insurance rating. The commissioner will hold a virtual workshop on the...more