Registration
is now open for the 2010 AAIS Main Event executive
conference, April 11-13 at the Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort & Spa
in Fort Myers, Fla.
Reserve your hotel
room separately, using the code provided. The hotel
deadline is March 15.
The highlight of the conference will be a
presentation by AAIS staff on AAIS's initiative to develop and implement
by-peril rating.
Greg Jaynes, chief actuary, Deborah
Summerlin, vice president of insurance lines, and Susan Luecke,
assistant vice president for personal lines, will describe how by-peril
rating can be used in selecting and pricing risks.
They will describe the upcoming AAIS Homeowners
rating plan, the first to include by-peril rating, and discuss
considerations for implementing it in other lines.
The theme of the conference is "Harnessing Data
for Results," and it also includes the following:
-
A series of outside experts addressing practical
considerations in implementing rigorous data-based decision making
in underwriting and rating;
-
The annual "Politics and Products" session,
featuring Charles Chamness, president of the National
Association of Mutual Insurance Companies;
-
A separate inland marine track on April 13; and
-
Roundtable discussions, where attendees can
exchange ideas with their peers and AAIS staff.
Details on the conference program were provided in a
special AAIS Advisory sent earlier
this week, and are available online at
www.AAISonline.com.
If you have questions about the Main Event, contact
Joseph Harrington, AAIS director of corporate communications, at
joeh@AAISonline.com, or by
calling 800-564-AAIS, ext. 217.
AAIS has released an initial
report on the sources and implications of Chinese drywall claims.
The report is the latest in AAIS's series of reports on
"Emerging
Issues and Exposures," researched and written by Kirk Hansen,
AAIS director of education.
The importation of
drywall from China during the housing boom of the mid-2000s has led to claims
of ailments and corrosion of metals due to chemicals released from the
drywall.
To date, homeowners insurers generally
appear to be protected from liability due to standard policy provisions
excluding coverage for loss arising from latent defects and pollutants.
There is little, if any, case law on this topic, however.
A bigger question is the extent of liability for carriers that insured
artisans and contractors who installed potentially defective drywall.
Complicating this question is that several manufacturers of the
drywall, including a Chinese government-owned company, have not responded to
summonses from U.S. courts.
The report will be
updated in the coming weeks and months. To contact Kirk, write to
kirkh@AAISonline.com, or call
800-564-AAIS, ext. 247.
The Indiana insurance
department has approved a revised state amendatory endorsement and
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorists Coverage endorsement under the AAIS
Personal Umbrella Program.
The endorsements,
effective April 1, 2010, bring coverage under the program in that state
into compliance with a
2009 Indiana law. The law specifies that auto
insurance for a vehicle is to provide primary coverage for injury to a
passenger over the passenger's insurance. Also, the law specifies that
the coverage is to apply on a pro rata basis.
AAIS
will be taking similar filing action under its farm and commercial
umbrella programs in coming weeks. AAIS umbrella programs are filed on
an advisory basis; companies need to take independent filing action to
adopt them.
