September 28
Litigation Revolution: How Legal Big Data Will Be Changing Insurance
By Toby Unwin and Guy Kurlandski All lawyers are not created equal. Some are quite simply better, whether by knowledge, skill in advocacy, connections or case management. Whom you choose is often a matter of little more than luck. The public has for centuries chosen litigators by perceived ability, or peer recognition. Sadly this often […]
Libertarians…and not.
In a season of relentless speculation on how voters view the nearly 20 total candidates vying for 2016 ballots, U.S. voter motivation has taken on all the trappings of consumer styled surveying, possibly because a hero of the supermarket magazine rack is in the race. While some believe – and campaign heavily – in libertarian […]
Regulatory Kudzu
Anyone who has travelled in or visited the Southeastern US is likely to be familiar with kudzu, the ubiquitous climbing vine that seems to have swallowed large chunks of landscape, invading and conquering whole forests in an unstoppable march. Kudzu, a plant native to Japan and China, was introduced in the 1920s as forage, and […]
Dorothy Parker on Insurance Workers’ Comp Experience Modification Change Certificates Of Insurance—Are The Bad Old Days Coming Back?
And Now For Something Completely Different— Dorothy Parker on Insurance Dorothy Parker, the doyenne of the Algonquin Round Table in the 1920s and the quintessential New Yorker, has always been one of my heroes. How could you not love someone who said the two most beautiful words in the English language are ‘cheque enclosed’?1 However, […]
Five Stats Every Agency Owner Must Obsess Over
By Kelly Donahue-Piro In my line of work with local agencies across the country, I often find principals are not focused on their agency’s data but rather they manage from the checkbook. Trust me, money is a key indicator of success and by looking at the numbers you can find papercuts before they become bigger […]
How to Stay Relevant in the World of Google – An Agency Must!
If you were an agency owner who owned several websites, would you think that it’s more important to keep your website visitors interested in what you have to say, or would the content not matter as long as you attracted them in the first place? That’s the million dollar question. Attracting new visitors is very […]
Newly Elected PIANY President Speaks on Importance of the Association
During the PIANY awards dinner and reception held at Shaker Ridge Country Club, Colonie, newly elected PIANY President Eugene L. Sandy told fellow board members their dedication and commitment to the association and the industry is contagious. “PIA is great at helping agents run and at marketing their own agencies: I want to put this […]
You Get Out More Than You Put In
Earlier this month, the Professional Insurance Agents of New York State held its annual reception in Albany. There, we honored the newly elected officers and directors for 2015-16 and presented awards of distinction. The Advocate no doubt will report on the awards and the new administration, but I want to share a particularly striking speech, […]
Should a Signed Rejection of UM/UIM Cover be Ignored? Can an Insurance Agent be Negligent for Not Obtaining UM Coverage After the Insured Rejects Coverage?
In Arizona, like most states, a statute requires that an insurer offer each insured both Uninsured Motorist and Underinsured Motorist Coverage and holds that it can only be excluded if the insured signs a document specifically rejecting the coverage. In Wilks v. Manobianco, — P.3d —-, 2015 WL 4132181 (Ariz., 7/9/15) the Arizona Supreme Court […]
