“Advice Professionals” Give Lousy Insurance Advice
“Advice Professionals” Give Lousy Insurance Advice.
In Tuesday’s CT Post (April 24th) a writer to an advice column asked if there were any concerns about neighbor’s kids borrowing their lawnmower and other tools so they could use them to make money doing yard work for others. The professional columnist’s advice was to make sure they were responsible kids and returned the tools in good condition.
We’re curious to see what happens when a mishap occurs. Perhaps one of the tools fails, or the kids are not using the tools properly and there is resulting damage to property or worse, one of the kids is injured. Will the owner of the tools face a lawsuit? Will the advice columnist?
Get better advice from your experience, trained and licensed professional insurance agents at Dougherty Insurance.
License Plates May Soon Have Transmitters in CT
Lapsed Insurance Could Be Detected in Connecticut Via RFID Tags in License Plates
Connecticut legislators approved a bill that would test the usage of RFID (radio frequency identification) tags in license plates to track vehicles and automatically generate tickets to drivers with expired vehicle registration, emission, or car insurance. Lobbyists for the experimental program estimate that the ability to better detect and issue fines will result in an extra $29 million per year for the state.
Privacy advocates are understandably upset with the idea of being tracked electronically, especially considering Connecticut’s also known as “The Constitution State.” Supporters of the program counter that 1 in 10 drivers in the state is uninsured (as of 2009 data), and the RFID tags would better identify them and fine them, thus protecting other drivers as well as ensuring that the state is collecting the proper amount in fines each year.
Really? Recently there have also been discussions about installing red-light cameras at stop lights in Bridgeport and New Haven areas. On a federal level drones are already being used for domestic use. Click http://rt.com/usa/news/domesitc-drone-why-us-665/ for source article. They’ve also empowered government agencies to track your cell phone location, movement and usage without a warrant or even probable cause. The transmitters in license plates could easily see expanded use to track location, speed, rate of acceleration and other driving habits and where you visit and how often, such as the liquor store.
We won’t deny that we’d like to see fewer uninsured motorists on the streets. How it is implemented may be up for argument.
Posted in Local News, of Interest | 
Connecticut, connecticut legislators, constitution state, CT, drones, Insurance, issue fines, license plates, probable cause, radio frequency identification, radio frequency identification tags, rate of acceleration, red light cameras, rfid tags, state privacy, Stratford, transmitters, uninsured motorists, vehicle registrationU.S. Judge Enters $9.4 Billion Judgment Against Hezbollah
A U.S. judge entered a $9.4 billion judgment against Hezbollah after the Lebanon-based group defaulted in a lawsuit over the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
U.S. District Judge George Daniels in Manhattan today said that Hezbollah, designated a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department, must pay the damages to insurers including Chubb Corp. (CB) that sought to recoup payments to business and property policyholders for losses from the attacks.
The insurers won default judgments in 2006 against al-Qaeda and Hezbollah after the groups didn’t contest the suit.
“Obviously we’re pleased that a judgment has been entered,” said Sean Carter, a lawyer for Warren, New Jersey- based Chubb, whose Federal Insurance Co. unit was allocated $4.5 billion, the largest share of the damages.
Carter, who said it’s unlikely the insurers will ever collect the full amount of the judgment, said they can take advantage of a U.S. law that permits parties to execute judgments against terrorist assets frozen by the government.
“It’s not purely an academic or a symbolic exercise,” he said.
The case is Federal Insurance Co. v. Al Qaida, 03-CV-6978, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
Social Media and Smartphones Lead to Easier ID Theft
A Wall Street Journal article publishes revealing information that users of social media and smartphones should be aware of. An excerpt:
A recent survey by Javelin found that 32% of smartphone owners don’t update to new operating systems when they become available. And 62% don’t use a password on their home screen, meaning that anyone who steals or finds their smartphone can easily access their personal information.
Meanwhile, fraudsters are mining your status updates or, worse yet, taking note of personal information such as your birth date on social-media sites.
LinkedIn, a site most users consider more “business” than “social,” had the highest identity-fraud incident rate, at 10%, versus 5% for the general population, the Javelin study found.
Meanwhile, 7% of Google+ users and 6.3% of those on Twitter reported a case of identity fraud. Among Facebook users, 5.7% said they were victims, a surprisingly low percentage—perhaps because of widespread media attention on Facebook’s privacy policies.
People with public profiles that are visible to anyone online were likelier to expose personal information that could be used to access accounts.
Click here to link to the full, original article.
Justices Set for Health-Law Hearings
The Supreme Court starts hearings today and continuing for 3 days. In large part it is focused on the health care insurance mandate and how far the reach of the government extends. There won’t be a shortage of media coverage.
Professional Insurance Agents Elect Dougherty
Professional Insurance Agents Convention of CT
FOXWOODS – Five Connecticut independent insurance agents were elected to serve on the board of directors of PIACT. The individuals re-elected to serve for a three-year term included J. Kyle Dougherty, CIC, of Orange, president of Dougherty Insurance Agency Inc., in Stratford. He has also been asked to be chairman of the Education Committee for the second consecutive year.
Posted in Local News, of Interest | Agents, board, chairman, Connecticut, CT, directors, Dougherty, education, elected, Foxwoods, Insurance, Orange, PIA, professional, StratfordHealth Insurance Mandate, if Allowed, Leads to More Mandates.
Can Congress require Americans to buy broccoli? How about gym memberships? Or Chevy Volts?
Opponents of the law contend that the “minimum coverage requirement” — more commonly known as the individual mandate — would set a precedent that could apply to vitamin supplements, daily newspapers or kidney donations.
If Americans can be told to buy health insurance, Congress could seek to impose “a broccoli mandate, a car-purchase mandate, really any other mandate that you’d want,” says Ilya Somin, a law professor at George Mason University who filed a brief for the Washington Legal Foundation, one of the dozens of groups opposing the law. “There are lots of interest groups that would love to lobby Congress to require people to buy their products.”
See the full source article HERE.
Obamacare Still Unwanted, Unconstitutional, Job-Killer
Here are some facts and figures to keep in mind as you watch the news coverage:
AP-GfK Poll, March 8, 2012: “35 percent…support… 47 percent oppose”
USA Today/Gallup Poll, February 27, 2012: “…unconstitutional, by a margin of 72 percent to 20 percent.”
Kaiser Health Tracking Poll, January 2012: “…54 percent of Americans say the Court should rule the individual mandate unconstitutional, while just 17 percent say they think it should be found constitutional… ”
Harris Interactive, January 30, 2012: “the so-called individual mandate (has) only 19 percent… supporting”
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, January 19, 2012: “…or 74 percent, say the new law is causing an impediment to job creation”
For the source article click here.
Posted in News - National, of Interest | Connecticut, constitution, CT, Health, Insurance, StratfordHomeowner Premiums Expected to Jump Another 5% in 2012
If your homeowners costs are going up, or if your facing an increased wind/hurricane deductible, contact us. Call or go to the “quotes” tab on the homepage of this site.
Some excerpts from the article:
“Faced with falling home prices and climbing maintenance costs, struggling homeowners may soon be facing higher insurance premiums.
Typically, when policyholders are informed of premium increases they shop around for better prices, but experts say that’s become harder to do. As insurers exit some markets altogether, homeowners are left with fewer companies to choose from. For instance, starting in May, State Farm will not renew roughly 11,000 homeowner policies in five coastal counties in Texas. The company says it’s trying to lessen its exposure to future losses.
Allstate, for instance, recently introduced a new homeowner’s policy in Kansas and Oklahoma that doesn’t pay out the full cost of replacing all roofs that incur windstorm or hail damage.”
These are not the policies we want our customers to have, so review your policy with us soon!
Full source article: Click here
Posted in News - National, of Interest | coastal counties, Connecticut, CT, Deductible, Home, homeowners, Hurricane, Insurance, insurance premiums, losses, new homeowner, policyholders, quotes, roofs, Stratford, windstormGet a Free Quote
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