Rough Notes
The effect of rulings that came down just as Los Angeles area residents were recovering from the devastating 2025 wildfires A California trial court ruled for the insurance company, reasoning that the wildfire residue that had been literally wiped aw...
Posted: Apr 17, 2025
INSURANCE-RELATED COURT CASESDigested from case reports published onlineCOURT DECISIONS Insureds fail to use thousands in insurer payments A wildfire occurred near the home of Hovik Gharibian and Caroline Minasian. Although debris entered the home an...
Posted: Apr 01, 2025
INSURANCE-RELATED COURT CASESDigested from case reports published onlineCOURT DECISIONS No coverage for inherent diminished value Jeffrey Cubberley and Philip Seaver filed suit against The Commerce Insurance Company, seeking declaratory relief for al...
Posted: Apr 01, 2025
INSURANCE-RELATED COURT CASESDigested from case reports published onlineCOURT DECISIONS Did title policy cover the use of gates? In August 2016, Roger and Therese Hutchinson purchased rural property in Madison County, Montana, which included an easem...
Posted: Apr 01, 2025
The solution to dealing with stress in today’s whitewater world of work At a time when we need to be getting stronger at handling stress, people seem to be growing increasingly fragile. By Kimberly Paterson, CEC Today’s business environment is in a c...
Posted: Apr 01, 2025
Prevention-first strategies in a rising premium market By Randy Boss, CRA, CRM, MWCA, SHRM-SCP The commercial auto market is at a crossroads, with rising claims, increasing premiums, and disruptive new risks; yet every challenge presents an opportun...
Posted: Apr 01, 2025
Approaches to consider to introduce a new engagement model and strengthen agency culture This year, independent agencies have a great opportunity to be involved and continue to enhance their community engagement and impact. By Bill Ross With 2024 wel...
Posted: Apr 01, 2025
Strategies for connecting with people who already want to hear from you Even if you’re the best producer in the world, cold calling puts you at a disadvantage. You’re starting the conversation as an outsider. By Carolyn Smith, APR, TRA Let’s get one...
Posted: Apr 01, 2025
Product that addresses challenges of severe weather events gains traction By combining parametric with traditional property insurance, insurance professionals can offer clients a more robust risk management strategy … . By Dustyne Bryant, CIC, CISR I...
Posted: Apr 01, 2025
Creating high-quality commercial submissions for underwriters When it comes to commercial account submissions, there’s no such thing as too much information. By Cheryl Koch, CPCU, ARM, AAI, ACSR, AFIS, and Mary Belka, CPCU, ARM, ARe, RPLU, CIC When i...
Posted: Apr 01, 2025
Employee engagement goes deeper than having employees who are happy and believe in an organization After you’ve asked for input, always acknowledge it. It’s so important to let people know they’ve been heard. By Kari Glennon If you’re an insurance ag...
Posted: Apr 01, 2025
Strengthening good relationships leads to exponential growth for this Ohio agency By Dennis H. Pillsbury When Matt Simon, CIC, CPCU, took over leadership of Hill & Hamilton, Bellefontaine, Ohio, in 2020, he was assuming the presidency of a succes...
Posted: Apr 01, 2025
Iowa-based young pro develops and expands agency’s public entity practice “I think it’s one thing to be good at insurance and know coverage forms, but the reality is, we want to be applicable to the things our clients are concerned about and [know th...
Posted: Apr 01, 2025
What lies ahead for construction firms through the rest of this year By Mark Wooditch It doesn’t take a crystal ball to foretell what construction industry professionals—and their insurance and risk management partners—might expect over the balance o...
Posted: Apr 01, 2025
Claims trends and risk management best practices for summer youth camps By Christopher W. Cook This writer never went to summer camp growing up, although I vaguely know about what happens there through other media. I recall that Ernest P. Worrell, pl...
Posted: Apr 01, 2025
Putting AI-powered automation to work, Gaya streamlines data and speeds the commercial quoting process By Lori Widmer What started as an idea by a student with a need became an AI-driven software company serving the insurance industry. In 2021, Carl...
Posted: Apr 01, 2025
As risks cross over into more than one business area, professionals need to respond to a complex web of exposure By Lori Widmer If 2025 will be remembered for anything, it could be that it became the year that ushered in the need for organizations to...
Posted: Apr 01, 2025
A persistently hard market makes for hard choices By Joseph S. Harrington, CPCU “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.” That’s a famous French phrase for “the more things change, the more they remain the same.” If you want to appear sophisticated...
Posted: Apr 01, 2025
Increasingly popular benefits product will come into play in wildfire aftermath By Len Strazewski Swirling Santa Ana winds driving several California wildfires have killed more than 20 residents and destroyed $30 billion in property, and by the end o...
Posted: Apr 01, 2025
Leveraging face-to-face relationships with potential insurance clients When you are giving the rundown of coverage, do so by using examples of incidents that anyone can understand. … [R]eal-world scenarios that you can walk a prospect through to exp...
Posted: Mar 24, 2025
What role can they play in property insurance? Separate wildfire deductibles could be critical in securing coverage for a peril that is location-specific yet popping up all across the continent. By Joseph S. Harrington, CPCU If they work for windsto...
Posted: Mar 20, 2025
INSURANCE-RELATED COURT CASESDigested from case reports published onlineCOURT DECISIONS Barging in In 2014, Swalling Construction Company, Inc., entered into a charter agreement with Pool Engineering, Inc., for a freight barge. Swalling obtained insu...
Posted: Mar 04, 2025
INSURANCE-RELATED COURT CASESDigested from case reports published onlineCOURT DECISIONS Must insurer pay for resulting loss exception? The Gardens Condominium purchased an all-risk policy from Farmers Insurance Exchange in 2002. This version of the p...
Posted: Mar 04, 2025
The current interpretation of the McCarran-Ferguson Act is only a specter of the law’s original intent The belief that McCarran-Ferguson is just an antitrust exemption for the insurance industry is just another clever humbug. By Kevin P. Hennosy Marc...
Posted: Mar 04, 2025
Key strategies agencies can deploy For independent insurance agency owners, it’s likely the best time in the past decade to execute a local merger and acquisition (M&A) strategy. By James Graham, CVA Elevated, albeit historically normal, capita...
Posted: Mar 04, 2025