On Aug. 24, 2002, Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida with a devastating force. That morning my agency at the time, Pennekamp and Soto, received thousands of serious and complicated claims. Among them were 17 insureds who were unfortunate enough to be part
As the curtain came down on the 109th Congress, the Big “I” was there, fighting for regulatory reform, new natural disaster legislation and a terrorism risk insurance backstop. Big “I” President Alex Soto testified before a subcommittee of the House Ju
I stood before the MP3 players at Best Buy, staring blankly at the store display like a kindergartner trying to solve a Sudoku puzzle. After blocking the aisle for an hour, a store clerk with a junior mohawk approached. “Dude, can I, like, help ya or s
By: Volume 103, No. 10
The For many agencies, it’s the difference between red ink and black ink on the balance sheet. Producer compensation will be the most important issue during my presidency. I did a calculation two years ago when New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer anno
The Virtual University “Ask an Expert” service recently fielded the following inquiry: “My question has to do with additional insureds. I have had discussions with agents who believe that the wording in the ISO CGL policy pertaining to an ‘insured contrac
In high school physics, I learned Newton’s third law of motion: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” I didn’t think it would be relevant to the insurance industry, but I was wrong…
A With one month left until the midterm elections, it appears that the winds of change are blowing. The only question is whether the shifting current will produce a cool autumn breeze, a windstorm—or a tornado. Everyone on Capitol Hill wants to know if th
Once a month I drive into the backwoods for a little bird watching. Some might call that a girlie hobby. But if you haven’t felt the rush from watching a crimson-breasted whirly-keet take flight, then you don’t know what it’s like to feel alive.
By: Volume 103, No. 9