Lawmakers worried over Allstate decision

Southern Maryland lawmakers are concerned about the potential ramifications of a decision by the state’s highest court last week which allows Allstate Insurance Co. to deny new homeowners’ policies throughout most of the region and other coastal areas of the state for fear of the effect a major hurricane could have on the insurer’s bottom line.

In a 6-1 decision, the Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 25 that Allstate, one of the nation’s top insurers, could change its policy.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Allstate decided in 2007 to stop offering coverage to new homeowners across much of the mid-Atlantic, including all of St. Mary’s County, much of Calvert and Charles counties, most of the Lower Eastern Shore and chunks of Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties. The company also has stopped writing new policies in parts of Virginia and Delaware.

State law prohibits insurers from denying homeowners’ policies in a “certain geographical area” unless “the designation has an objective basis and is not arbitrary or unreasonable.”

Allstate used computer models and expert testimony to demonstrate that it was in the company’s interest to stop issuing coverage in hurricane-prone regions of the state because the “catastrophic risk” involved went against the fundamental underpinning of most insurance — that overall risk diminishes as more policies are written.

Although the models showed chances of a major hurricane making landfall in Maryland were extremely low — about four times every 100,000 years — the company argued that climate change and warmer ocean waters would cause more devastating storms to hit the mid-Atlantic.

One witness offered an example where it could take the insurer 1,200 years to recover the loss on a single home suffering $300,000 in storm damage.

“It’s a decision that is obviously of concern to major rural areas of the state because our citizens may not be able to protect themselves,” Del. Anthony J. O’Donnell (R-Calvert, St. Mary’s) said. “There’s financial reasons they make these decisions, but for the citizens its not necessarily a good decision.

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Lawmakers worried over Allstate decision

by JEFF NEWMAN, Staff writer Southern Maryland lawmakers are concerned about the potential ramifications of a decision by the state's highest court last week which allows Allstate Insurance Co. to deny new homeowners' policies throughout most of the



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