Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Texans Are About to Find Out Its Business Friendly, Consumer Enemy Republicans Have Dealt Them a Serious Blow



Siding with Insurance Companies Just When Texans Need Them

There is no doubt that conservatives think government is there to protect big business from consumers. In Texas the state has a new law about to go into effect that severely benefits the insurance industry and severely harms policy holders. Timing could not be better for insurers who are quick to take the premium, slow to pay out benefits.

The new Texas insurance law includes changes that affect what happens to a claim that ends up being litigated in court. Among the changes are a sharp reduction in compensation for plaintiffs’ lawyers in cases where their clients are awarded significantly less than initially sought.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers and other critics of the law are concerned it will hurt policyholders’ ability to find lawyers to sue insurers if they are unsatisfied with the outcome of their claim. Backers of the law say it is aimed at weeding out trumped-up claims, after years of allegedly spurious lawsuits claiming hailstorm damage brought by plaintiffs’ lawyers against home insurers.
Guess what fellers, what is happening in Texas ain't hailstorms. And there is this.



Meanwhile, Texans are likely to have another issue with the law going into effect Friday. Some businesses are angry that the provisions apply to commercial insurance, not just the hailstorm claims on homeowner policies that helped inspire the new law.
If you want to restrict hail claims, you should write it to restrict hail claims,” said Bob Ryan, deputy general counsel of Stallion Oilfield Services in Houston.
James Cooper of Reed Smith LLP, an outside lawyer for Stallion, said his objections include the law’s reducing a longstanding penalty aimed at deterring bad behavior by carriers. Under that change, Texas courts will levy as little as 10% interest on insurers for wrongly delayed payments, down from 18%.

But that's okay Texans, you just keep voting them conservatives in, see what it does for you.

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