Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Texas Legislature Passes Two Important Bills Prohibiting Waiving of Deductibles and Expanding UPPA Prohibition to all Contractors

The 86th Texas Legislative Session came to an end over the weekend. We are pleased to report that the Texas Legislature passed two very important bills that we have worked on for many months.

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Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Puerto Rico’s New Requirements for Property Insurers: Financial Reviews & Disaster Response Planning

In response to the extremely active 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, the governor of Puerto Rico enacted several bills that amend or introduce new provisions to the Insurance Code of Puerto Rico, 26 L.P.R.A. § 101 et seq., including provisions regarding additional civil remedies against insurers, as well as new requirements for insurers, surplus carriers, and micro-insurance providers.

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

The Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 intends to increase disaster preparedness

As referenced in our recent CAT-Law post on the Catastrophic Losses of 2018, at the end of 2018 Congress passed the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 (DRRA) in an effort to improve the nation’s overall capacity to respond to large-scale disasters. The DRRA reflects lawmakers’ concern that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) alone was ill-equipped to respond to large-scale disasters, which appear to be occurring with increasing frequency and severity since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Notably, 2017 and 2018 brought Hurricanes Harvey, Maria, and Irma in rapid succession, as well as massive wildfires in California and elsewhere.

Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Puerto Rico’s Newly Required Expedited Payment Process for Property Insurance Policies

In our recent article addressing property insurance in Puerto Rico, we discussed the new appraisal rules for Puerto Rico property insurers that the governor of Puerto Rico enacted in response to the extremely active 2017 Atlantic hurricane season. The governor also enacted five other bills that amend or introduce new provisions to the Insurance Code of Puerto Rico, 26 L.P.R.A. § 101 et seq., including provisions regarding expedited payment requirements, additional civil remedies against insurers, as well as new requirements for insurers, surplus carriers, and micro-insurance providers.