What’s new: In brief (February 24, 2005)

Florida is the second state this week to introduce legislation to prioritize asbestos and silica lawsuits. Republican representative Joe Pickens has put forward House Bill 1019 which would require claimants to meet specific medical criteria in order to have their claims move forward. The bill is intended to give priority to those actually suffering illness from asbestos or silica exposure while still preserving the rights of those exposed to file claims at a later date should they become ill. Texas introduced similar legislation this week.

U.S. broker Hilb Rogal & Hobbs has said it will continue to collect profitability-based contingent commissions, while discontinuing the acceptance of volume-based contingent commissions. In a statement with its yearend 2004 results, HRH says it collected $42.4 million in contingent and override commissions with 81% from contingency agreements “which are generally influenced by underlying claims experience and maintained at the local office level”, and the rest from volume-based national override agreements. “Effective for business written on or after January 1, 2005, these national override agreements, which were paid quarterly when earned, reverted into industry standard contingency agreements, which will be paid and recorded annually beginning in early 2006,” the company states.

Guest speaker Glenn Planert will try to get everyone “motivated about insurance” when he speaks to the March 15 dinner meeting of the Toronto Insurance Women’s Association. More on TIWA’s event can be found at www.tiwa.org.