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| 4/3/2011 |
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New Version of TWIA Reform Bill Cuts Out Access to Courts
"This is the Residential Construction Commission all over again," says Mostyn
Yesterday, when we posted a quick piece on the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) reform bill that was voted out of House Insurance, we noted that our understanding of the bill’s details was limited due to details being sparse at the time... read more
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| 9/24/2010 |
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Steve Mostyn letter to the Members of the Windstorm Insurance Legislative Oversight Committee concerning Representative Larry Taylor's use of legislative power to request information from Texas Windstorm Insurance Association ("TWIA").
Dear Board Members,
I write to inform and update many of you regarding recent action taken by the Co-Chair of this Board, Representative Larry Taylor of Friendswood. I express my concern today not only as an individual who pays for windstorm insurance, but also as an attorney for the over 10,000 families, churches, and businesses my firm represents who I am copying on this letter.
Co-Chair Larry Taylor, using his legislative power, wrote Texas Windstorm Insurance Association ("TWIA") requesting information on 2,400 families whose homes were completely destroyed during Hurricane Ike. l These cases are commonly referred to as "slab" cases because after Hurricane Ike hit, there was nothing left of their homes, but the slab foundation.
Rep. Taylor' s wholesale request for information sought the names, settlement amount, and personal and private information contained in the claims files of these 2,400 families. These claims files contain highly private information such as tax returns, credit card records and possibly medical records.
Rep. Taylor's request came almost two years after Hurricane Ike made landfall, but what prompted it? Not years of newspaper and television stories. Not hundreds of lawsuits filed by homeowners. Not calls from fellow legislators. Not TDI investigations. Not even community outrage.
Rep. Taylor's request came immediately after an insurance industry-backed, anticonsumer group failed in its attempts to get the very same information. Texans for Lawsuit Reform, a special interest, anti-consumer rights group, tried to get this same private information
(Please use the link above to access the full letter and all supporting Exhibits)
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| 7/14/2010 |
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Windstorm insurer to settle some Ike cases
The state-created windstorm insurer at the center of thousands of Hurricane-Ike related lawsuits has agreed to settle a chunk of them.
The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association will pay out an estimated $189 million to policyholders whose homes were razed to the slab nearly two years ago.
That figure assumes all of about 2,400 slab claims against the insurer are resolved under the proposed settlements, said policyholder attorney Steve Mostyn.
Individual policyholders that have attorneys can choose if they want to accept the offer, which includes the following: (Use the link above to read the full article)
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| 7/13/2010 |
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Mass settlement offered in Ike windstorm cases
The wait could be over for countless Bolivar Peninsula property owners locked in a group stalemate with the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association over Hurricane Ike damages.
Within the next month, those clients involved in the insurance fight should get notices from their respective attorneys about whether they want to accept a slice of a $189 million "mass settlement" with the state windstorm insurance pool, attorney Steve Mostyn said.
"It's an offer, but it's substantially more than what was paid on those cases," Mostyn said.
(Use the link above to read the full article)
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| 3/16/2010 |
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Hurricane Ike lawsuits flooding in for attorneys...
LA PORTE, Texas?- Dave Davis is doing something he never thought he'd do. Not in a million years, he said as he walked into a lawyer's office to file a lawsuit. Hurricane Ike tore through his home in the 8800 block of Hedgestone Ct. in La Porte more than a year and half ago. (Use the link above to read the full article)
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| 1/28/2010 |
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Pricetag for Ike: $15 billion, insurers say
Hurricane Ike caused more than $15 billion in damages nationwide, making it the most expensive weather catastrophe in Texas and the third-costliest hurricane to strike the United States, according to insurance industry officials. (Use the link above to read the full article)
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| 1/15/2010 |
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Texas Windstorm - TWIA - Is it time to drain the windstorm pool?
If only the claims could have been settled as quickly as the lawsuits.
The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, facing about 1,000 lawsuits from homeowners over its handling of insurance claims after Hurricane Ike, has begun a flurry of settlements.
The settlement binge comes, not surprisingly, as key TWIA managers were facing court-ordered depositions that might have revealed more embarrassing details about mishandled claims. ( Use the link above to read the full article)
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