If State Farm indeed is on the verge of settling a ton of water-related Hurricane Katrina claims with Mississippi government officials (click here for the story), I would expect others to fall in line fairly quickly rather than face a hostile state jury over the coverage dispute. Yet despite all the controversy, Mississippi Insurance Commissioner George Dale–stuck between a rock and a hard place in his storm-ravaged state–was anything but hostile towards insurers at an industry meeting yesterday in New York.
Indeed, Mr. Dale was, for my money, the star of the show at the industry's annual family reunion–the P-C Joint Industry Forum–where representatives from all the major carriers and associations gather to talk about the challenges ahead. No issue loomed larger yesterday than the Mississippi suit by state Attorney General Jim Hood over insurer contentions that Hurricane Katrina-related water damage in the state was caused by uncovered flood issues, rather than wind-driven conditions.
Mr. Dale was a breath of free air at the otherwise stuffy event, where most of the panelists watched their words carefully and tried to be as uncontroversial as possible. Mr. Dale, on the other hand, was a straight shooter, with self-deprecating humor and an easy Southern style muting the real trouble his state finds itself in going forward, rather than looking back.
Recommended For You
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
