Intel

A recent tanker truck accident in Fairchild, Wisconsin, raised alarms over possible wetland contamination after the truck rolled over onto the side of the road and spilled pesticide. The Sept. 17 incident occurred when the truck driver swerved to avoid a deer, WQOW reported. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources helped with the cleanup process and…

The title of this quarter’s overview and forecast could easily be: “Profitability Matters.” That is especially true in the Property space for both Personal and Commercial policies. The industry faces daily challenges from CAT storms and events, making every state subject to immediate loss from hurricanes, wildfires, and convective storms—defined as severe local storms associated with wind, thunder, lightning, heavy…

Approximately 500,000 gallons of wastewater that had not been fully treated leaked into the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, earlier this month after a malfunction at a sewage treatment facility. The incident, which began at Tryon Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, prompted officials to issue an advisory urging residents to avoid the waterway for 48 hours due…

The state of the professional liability market for contractors includes both challenges and opportunities. While the market is generally stable, there has been a recent increase in the severity of claims which has increased the costs of settling them. Today claims regularly take one year or longer to finalize. Added pressure is placed on the market in the form of…

We have seen few changes in the Property & Casualty (P&C) marketplace from Q1 through Q2 of 2023, however, the broader picture is becoming clearer now that 2022 year-end financial filings are available. According to ALIRT Insurance Research, the discrepancy between Personal and Commercial Lines Composite underwriting is historically wide. Namely, the Personal Lines Composite combined ratio of 109 percent…

A fire broke out in the butter storage room of a dairy plant in Portage, Wisconsin, on Jan. 2, spreading melted butter throughout the facility and into a nearby historic canal. Crews responding to the buttery incident at the Associated Milk Producers plant deployed the same materials used in oil spills to clean up the mess, USA Today reported on…

2022 was a year that few in the Property and Casualty (P&C) sector could have predicted. Instead of stability, the market remained largely volatile, especially in the Property sector and the reinsurance marketplace. Many carriers suffered through unprofitable years thanks to Hurricane Ian, inflation, and an adverse property insurance environment primarily in Florida and Gulf coast states. Above all, losses…

The fourth quarter began very different than how the majority of the summer months had transpired from a Natural CAT perspective; as Hurricane Ian used the final few days of Q3 to take aim at Florida’s densely populated gulf coast. Despite mandatory evacuations, fairly accurate forecasting of its path and the usual several days to prepare, its damages were devastating.…

A chemical spill from a manufacturing plant in Wixom, Michigan, recently forced the closure of one of southeast Michigan’s busiest state-run parks and put thousands of residents on alert. State officials were notified on Aug. 1 that auto supplier Tribar Manufacturing leaked “several thousand gallons” of a liquid containing 5% hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen, into the Huron River. The release,…

Macroeconomic trends, namely inflation and rising interest rates, are having a profound effect on the Property & Casualty (P&C) market as we head into the second half of 2022. Inflation impacts everything—from rapidly changing property values to challenges with mid-year reinsurance renewals. These are truly generational inflationary pressures that most professionals within the industry have never personally experienced. Even with…

As we enter the long-awaited season of Spring which conjures up thoughts of new beginnings, I draw parallels to the Excess & Surplus (E&S) Insurance industry. Several years of disciplined underwriting, including increased rates, adjusted limit deployment, and careful tweaking of policy language, coupled with a tamping of COVID-19 restrictions is resulting in this renewed sense of optimism. Carriers are…

The last two years have been among the most uncertain the world has ever experienced by any standard. The Excess and Surplus (E&S) Lines insurance marketplace has stepped up to meet the challenge experiencing strong growth and perseverance in the face of a global pandemic, extraordinary natural catastrophes, increasing cyber-attacks, excessive jury verdicts, supply chain disruptions, political unrest, labor shortages…