What’s new: In brief (February 15, 2005)

The Co-operators has teamed up with the Infant & Toddler Safety Association (ITSA) and the Ontario Ministry of Transportation to produce a “Booster Seat Guide” and DVD to educate the public on the use of child booster seats in vehicles. Only 11% of children who should be in a booster seat (i.e. those from ages 4-9, over 40 pounds), actually are? Too often “forgotten children” who have outgrown their child safety seat are placed in adult seat belts which do not fit. And, booster seats will soon become mandatory in Ontario for children up to age 8 or up to 80 pounds with a standing height of 4’9″. The video has sections for both children and adults, and is available free of charge by contacting community@cooperators.ca.

Elliott Special Risks Ltd. has become Canada’s first fully accredited Lloyd’s broker, following its provisional accreditation as such in 2002. The status means Elliott can trade directly with the Lloyd’s market without having to go through a London-based intermediary. Elliott has offices in Montreal and Toronto, and acts as a wholesaler specializing in commercial liability insurance.

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has fined 91 insurers at total of US$1.1 million for filing late affidavits following last year’s four Atlantic hurricanes and Tropical Storm Bonnie. The affidavits would testify insurers had either settled claims or had begun negotiations toward settling disputed claims resulting from the storms. Ironically, the fines follow one week after the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation requested insurers not file for rate increases as a result of the record-setting storms until at least May, 2005, after Florida CFO Tom Gallagher announced he would seek a rate freeze in the state.