The North Carolina Industrial Commission has ordered more than a dozen employers to attend a May 22 hearing in an attempt to resolve claims that have been dragged though the legal system for decades. Employers who refuse to pay or settle part of a claim will face contempt charges and be ordered to jail.

“In the interest of better serving the employees and employers of North Carolina and enforcing the provisions of the workers’ compensation law, the North Carolina Industrial Commission is reviewing its contempt procedures,” said Pamela Young, chair of the commission that is charged with enforcing the state’s workers’ compensation law.

The commission’s action came within weeks of a study conducted by the Raleigh, N.C-based News and Observers that found that tens of thousands of employers may be operating without coverage.

At issue are the commission’s lack of resources to monitor the many worksites around the state, a lack of communication among state agencies, and an apparent reluctance to penalize employers.

The commission contracts with the North Carolina Rate Bureau to collect the data over the number of employers in the state with workers’ compensation coverage. The bureau reported that insurers provide coverage to 140,000 business with another 117 companies self-insured. That leaves many business without coverage.

By law, employers are required to inform the bureau on of the commission’s behalf, when they purchase, renew or cancel coverage.

For all practicable purposes, however, the information is a one-way street. Commission officials acknowledge using the database to find the insurer responsible for covering a claim, but do not monitor cancellations. As a result, they only find out an employer is without coverage when an injured worker files a claim.

Also, when it comes to pursuing employers without coverage, it has little leverage to enforce the law. The law states that employers found not in compliance with the law can be fined $100 per day and the cost of any benefits and medical expenses the injured worker should have collected.

The Industrial Commission’s Fraud Unit reported that since January 2011, it has only pursued 225 cases where employers where found not to have proper coverage. The unit reported collecting $30,500 in fines, which equals around $135 per case.

That is why North Carolina has decided to approach having proper workers’ compensation not just a civil matter, but a criminal one as well.

“In response to the issues raised, we now have some concrete plans,” said Young.

By Michael Adams

It said the 2012 forecast numbers were slightly below the adjusted long-term average for 1950-2011 of 12 tropical storms, seven hurricanes and three intense hurricanes.

The hurricane season in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico runs from June 1 through Nov. 30.

“After very active tropical seasons in 2010 and 2011, we expect fewer storms to develop this hurricane season,” said Todd Crawford, Weather Services International’s chief meteorologist.

WSI’s outlook for the season is in line with one issued earlier this month by the respected team of forecasters at Colorado State University.

As with Colorado State, Crawford said calls for a milder 2012 season were based on two factors. Hurricanes thrive on warm water and the Atlantic Ocean has cooled this year, he said.

He said there may also be a trend toward development of an El Nino effect this summer, fueling hopes for a “notable reduction” in tropical storm activity.

El Nino is a warming of sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific that occurs every four to 12 years and has far-ranging effects around the globe.

The weather phenomenon creates wind shear that makes it harder for nascent storms to develop into hurricanes in the Atlantic-Caribbean basin, but it also can produce drought and crop failure in parts of South Asia and unseasonably wet conditions in western coastal areas of South America.

“There is still uncertainty regarding the development of El Nino, which will impact future (forecast) updates. If the chances of El Nino development increase, our forecast numbers will likely go down even further in future updates,” Crawford said.

STAY ON ALERT, COMMUNITIES URGED

He said there was no particularly strong landfall signal — signs that storms could affect land — for 2012 so far. But residents of vulnerable Gulf coast communities, and energy and oil producers in the U.S. Gulf oil patch, should be wary.

“For 2012, our landfall model predicts slightly below-normal probabilities of landfall from Florida and up the East Coast, with slightly above-normal probabilities in the Gulf,” Crawford said.

Colorado State University forecasters, in their outlook issued on April 4, predicted 10 tropical storms in the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, with four strengthening into hurricanes.

Of those, they said two would become major hurricanes with sustained winds reaching Category 3 or greater status on the Saffir-Simpson intensity scale and powerful enough to cause devastating damage.

The 2011 Atlantic hurricane season saw a total of 19 named or tropical storms of which seven became hurricanes, including three major hurricanes.

Irene was the lone hurricane to hit the United States in 2011, but it was first one to do so since Hurricane Ike struck southeast Texas in 2008. Irene was also the most significant tropical cyclone to strike the Northeast since Hurricane Bob in 1991, according to U.S. government forecasters.

(Reporting By Tom Brown; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

For now the program remains in business with repeated short-term extensions, though in 2010 it was allowed to lapse for a few weeks. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is warning of serious consequences if that happens again.

“A lapse in the NFIP has a rippling effect. Property owners are unable to complete their mortgage transactions,” said Dave Miller, associate administrator of the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration, the FEMA division that runs the flood program, in an interview on Wednesday.

Federal law requires that homes in designated flood-risk areas have flood insurance before a mortgage can be completed. Because the NFIP is effectively the only flood insurance available in the United States, a lapse in the program means home sales can not close in designated flood areas.

Miller cited estimates from the National Association of Realtors that as many as 1,300 real estate closings a day could be affected by a lapse in the program.

According to informal guidance issued by the Federal Reserve in early 2010, during a lapse period lenders can still make loans on properties that are required to have flood insurance, even if that insurance is not available. Companies that administer flood policies on FEMA’s behalf have said they doubt many lenders would take that advice and proceed with loans.

For now the debate appears to be focused on whether to move ahead with reform legislation pending in the U.S. Senate or to simply reauthorize the existing program.

FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, in an April 17 letter to congressional leaders, asked for a two-year reauthorization.

An insurance industry coalition called SmarterSafer.org condemned that request last week, saying it ignored bipartisan support for actual reform.

“The current NFIP is broken and, without real reform, our communities will be far less safe, our environment will be threatened, and the program will remain billions of dollars in debt to U.S. taxpayers,” the group said in a statement.

Other industry groups are reportedly pressing for reform action as well, hoping the Senate will vote on a pending bill to restructure the program after the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelming passed one last year.

“I see it all over the board, it’s uncertain right now where it’s going to go,” FEMA’s Miller said, adding that he was optimistic – an optimism tempered by the fact that he only recently joined the program and is well aware of its difficult history getting extended.

As of Feb. 29, the NFIP had 5.59 million policies in force nationwide, with a total insured value of $1.267 trillion. Those policies would remain in force even if the authorization for the program lapsed.

By Ben Berkowitz
From 2006 to 2010, the NFIP paid out $6.21 billion in losses, according to statistics on the program website.

In this era of unpredictable weather patterns, Lazzari’s case is not unique. Insurance companies are raising rates, cutting coverage, balking at some payouts and generally shifting more expense and liability to homeowners, according to reports from the industry and its critics.

“Insurance companies have significantly and methodically decreased their financial responsibility for weather catastrophes like hurricanes, tornadoes and floods in recent years,” the Consumer Federation of America said in a statement after studying industry data.

The industry concedes that it is trying to avoid getting trounced by those same punishing weather patterns.

“Last year (2011) was an extraordinary year for natural disasters,” said Michael Barry of the Insurance Information Institute (III), an industry trade group. “Insurers have taken a step back to assess whether or not they can absorb severe losses.”

STATES LEFT IN THE COLD

Some insurance companies have pulled out of weather-challenged states — meaning they will not write new homeowners policies and may not renew contracts with current policyholders.

In the wake of Hurricane Irene last summer, for example, Allstate informed some 45,000 North Carolina policyholders that it would not renew contracts that were not bundled with auto insurance.

After a spate of tornadoes last April caused $11 billion of property damage in Alabama, Alfa Mutual Group announced it would not renew 73,000 Alabama property insurance policies.

“The increased frequency and severity of storms over the last decade have highlighted the need for Alfa to review its overall property portfolio,” Alfa President Jerry Newby said in a statement.

Florida, where insurers have been dropping coverage since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, is a good example of where this can lead. With an annual average of $1,460 per home, homeowners’ premiums there are second-highest in the country (Texas, at $1,511, is first), according to the most recent data available, a 2010 report from the Insurance Information Institute.

“Florida’s off the charts when it comes to pricing,” said Mike McCartin, an Ashton, Maryland, independent insurance agent.

The state has stepped in to cover some 1.5 million properties via its publicly funded Citizens Property and Insurance Corp. as insurers drop more and more homes.

“You simply have major private insurers that are unwilling to write policies in Florida,” said Robin Westcott, the state’s insurance consumer advocate.

“It’s just a tough market to be in,” said Phil Supple, a spokesman for State Farm, which was once Florida’s largest property insurer. It stopped writing new homeowners’ policies there in 2007.

CHERRY-PICKING OF CUSTOMERS

Even though companies are not abandoning states at will, many opt to drop coverage on individual homes or customers that may seem prone to file claims. Insurers generally work on three-year contracts with homeowners, Barry said. At the end of those contracts, insurers can decide to raise rates or not renew.

When frozen pipes caused flooding in Phil Berger’s Ijamsville, Maryland, home last year, he got a $6,000 check from Allstate for the damages — and a policy review. Berger said an Allstate contractor told him to make $100,000 in repairs to his home at his expense or he would lose his coverage. He refused, and instead found a less expensive policy with a company that required only one smaller repair before covering the home.

“You just need to be on your toes at all times,” Berger said.

Allstate declined to comment on Berger’s case, but sent an email response to general questions about the company’s non-renewal policies.

“Allstate responsibly manages its risk by opting to not renew policies as warranted,” company representative Kevin Smith wrote. “These actions are carefully considered, and help ensure Allstate’s continued ability to provide a wide variety of insurance products to consumers at a competitive rate, while remaining financially strong in every community we serve.”

PAYING MORE FOR LESS

Even homeowners that renew every year may find new limits buried in their policies. The Consumer Federation report said insurance companies have “sharply hollowed out the catastrophe coverage offered to consumers” by raising deductibles, capping replacement costs, and — significant for folks in the path of tornadoes and hurricanes — removing coverage for wind damage if another non-covered event (usually a flood) also occurs.

Industry groups say this misstates the facts.

“The (CFA) could not be more wrong,” said Dr. Robert P. Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute. “Cities such as Tuscaloosa, Birmingham and others are being rebuilt today because of private insurance companies paying losses — not from ‘hollowed out coverage’ policies.” Insurers have paid “literally billions” of dollars to “hundreds of thousands of claimants” affected by natural disasters, he said.

Hartwig also defended the practice by some insurance companies of leaving certain states or regions.

“If you tell an insurance company that they can’t raise rates despite nine hurricanes in two years, obviously insurers are going to have to reduce exposure,” he said.

But homeowners’ insurance premiums have been rising. They have increased an average 6.33 percent annually between 2002 and 2009, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). This year, insurers have asked for rate increases of 18 percent or more in 11 states, according to the Consumer Federation.

Robert Hunter, the author of the consumer report, has questioned whether limit-laden policies are worth the rising costs. But mortgage lenders require homeowners insurance, and anyone who has observed a devastating house fire or storm is unlikely to be willing to go without coverage.

COMPARISON SHOPPING

So how can consumers, who have little choice but to keep their coverage, do as Berger suggests and keep on their toes?

Hunter tells homeowners to shop carefully. “Go on your state’s insurance policy website and look for houses similar to yours to compare prices,” he said.

The NAIC provides a map to all state insurance regulatory offices on its website, and provides information about consumer insurance complaints.

Hunter also recommends checking comparison websites such as insuranceproviders.com— or insweb.com — for companies with favorable consumer reviews for in your state.

Another step is to get a professional agent to help, said Jim Donelon, Louisiana’s insurance commissioner and president-elect of the NAIC.

“I recommend you talk to as many people as you can. Get an independent agent — someone who’s not attached to a specific company — and get in touch with captive agents but know that captive agents can only represent their company.”

The agents can check to make sure no important coverage — like wind — has been carved out of the policy.

Compare what the agents offer with what you can find online, said Randy Moses, South Dakota’s insurance commissioner.

Even after getting coverage, consumers may find they need extra help. Lazzari needed both an independent broker and a public adjuster to resolve her case. Her insurer, Norfolk & Dedham Insurance, not only initially refused to pay for most of her home repairs, but also planned to drop her as a customer, she said.

Francis T. Hegarty Jr., president and CEO of Norfolk & Dedham Group, confirmed her version of events, but said it was not unusual for claims such as Lazzari’s to take time to resolve.

Lazzari contacted an independent broker who worked with Norfolk & Dedham to successfully complete her home repairs. But the broker said switching insurers would increase her payments 185 percent. That’s when Lazzari contacted the Massachusetts Division of Insurance to find a public adjuster, who eventually persuaded Norfolk & Dedham to keep her on its rolls.

“We were eventually able to work things out with Ms. Lazzari,” said Hegarty. “In these kinds of cases with independent adjusters, the claims tend to get strung out and tend to take longer to resolve than they would otherwise. But cases like this case are pretty common and, all in all, we’re pleased with how things turned out with her.”

By Matt Stroud

The committee’s decision came months after Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin announced there would be no changes in auto rates this year.

Lawmakers have been debated auto reforms for the last several years without being able to find a consensus on any changes. Complicating the issue is that the industry is split on the subject and Goodwin has constantly opposed any changes in the ratemaking process.

Sen. Tom Apodaca (R-Henderson) said he didn’t necessarily see the need for major reforms, but added that something needed to be done to stimulate competition.

“We can bring the rates down for the majority of the good drivers,” Apodaca told reporters. “I don’t know what the answer is, but I do think we need to do something.”

Any major change to the market would include a restructuring of the North Carolina Reinsurance Facility, which provides coverage to 1 million of the state’s 5 million drivers.

Roughly 25 percent of those divers are considered bad risks and pay rates around 30 percent higher than other drivers. However, the other 75 percent of drivers in the risk pool are considered clean risks who are not covered by private insurers due to underwriting criteria. For example, unemployed individuals, people in the military or those with low credits scores often end up in the high risk pool despite having a clean driving record.

Since those drivers pay lower risk pool rates, the pool has an annual shortfall of $150 million. As a result, all state drivers end up paying a surcharge of $20 per year.

FAIR NC, a coalition of insurers that include State Farm Mutual Insurance Co., Geico, USAA, and Allstate, is in favor of making changes to the risk pool to promote competition. One idea floated by committee is to allow insurers to charge higher rates for clean risk drivers, thus reducing the surcharge on all drivers.

FAIR NC Vice President Kathy Feinburg said right now there is little incentive for insurers to cover those clean drivers since there are no restrictions on what risks may be sent to the risk pool. As a result, insurers can “cherry-pick” the market and guarantee profits.

“Lawmakers have the opportunity to turn this around and provide North Carolina driver with a system that brings transparency and competition to our state,” Feinburg told the committee.

Much of the prospects for reform turn on the state’s method of setting rates, which is unlike any in the country. Instead of each insurer filing their rates separately with the state Department of Insurance, all 160 companies operating in the state file their rate requests with the North Carolina Rate Bureau. The bureau in turn proposes a statewide base rate on behalf of the companies, which must be approved by the insurance commissioner.

The Heartland Institute said in a report that the state’s ratemaking methodology is antiquated and prevents insurers from responding to changes in the market.

“The insurance product mix available to North Carolina consumers is behind the times,” Lehrer said. “This is largely because of the cumbersome rate bureau. It’s just too much trouble for companies to offer innovations.”

That may be the case, but as far as premiums level go, North Carolina’s auto policies are among the lowest in the southeast.

According to insure.com, where researchers list actual quotes to policyholders as opposed to company revenues, North Carolina’s average premiums equaled $1,154 as compared to average rates for South Carolina at $1,095, Virginia at $1,272, and Tennessee at $1,146.

Independent Insurance Agents of North Carolina Vice President of Insurance Operations Stuart Powell said the state’s low rates do present a potent argument against reform.

“A better marketplace may not be a cheaper marketplace,” said Powell.

By Michael Adams

The forecasters issued an initial announcement a few weeks ago, but this is the first forecast where they have issued a prediction for the number of tropical events.

“We have witnessed cooling of the tropical Atlantic during this past winter, and there is a fairly high likelihood that an El Nino event will develop this summer,” says Klotzbach in a statement. “Typically, El Nino is associated with stronger vertical shear across the tropical Atlantic, creating conditions less conducive for storm formation.”

In its April forecast, the team is predicting that of the 10 named storms, four will become hurricanes and two of those will be major hurricanes.

A major hurricane is a category 3, 4 or 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale with sustained winds of 111 mph and higher.

The hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30.

The team says there is a 42 percent chance that at least one major hurricane will strike the U.S. coastline; 24 percent chance that a major hurricane will make landfall on the U.S. East coast; 24 percent chance a major hurricane will make landfall on the Gulf Coast from Florida Panhandle to Brownsville, and a 34 percent chance a major hurricane will track into the Caribbean.

Gray says that despite the below-average forecast this year, the Atlantic Basin hurricane activity remains in a highly active multiple decade period that has been going on since 1995 and is expected to continue for the next 10-15 years.

The team says it plans to issue updates to its forecast on June 1 and Aug. 3.

By Mark E. Ruquet, PropertyCasualty360.com

That’s according to the Allstate Foundation License to Save Report, developed in conjunction with the National Safety Council. The report found that over the last 20 years, graduated driver licensing laws have already saved an estimated 15,000 lives.

The report findings are timely, as Congress readies to consider reauthorization of highway and infrastructure spending – legislation that historically has included public health and safety measures.

Novice teenage drivers are the most likely drivers on the road to have car accidents. In fact, 16-year-old drivers have crash rates two times greater than 18-to-19-year-old drivers and four times that of older drivers, according to the report.

GDL helps new drivers gain experience under supervised and less risky conditions. The most comprehensive GDL laws include nighttime driving restrictions, passenger limits, cell phone and texting bans, mandatory behind-the-wheel driving time, minimum entry age for learner’s permit (16), and age 18 before full licensure. In some states that have enacted strong GDL laws, the incidence of teenage driving related deaths have dropped by as much as 40 percent.

“Teen driving deaths are a real public health crisis,” said Vicky Dinges, vice president of public social responsibility, Allstate. “What’s worse is that these deaths are avoidable.”

More than 81,000 people were killed in crashes involving drivers ages 15 to 20 in the decade from 2000 to 2009, making teen driving crashes the leading cause of teen deaths nationwide.

In addition to the lives lost, the report estimates that the total cost to the nation of crashes involving teen drivers in 2009 at $38.3 billion. These costs include wage and productivity losses, medical expenses, administrative expenses for public and private insurance, police and legal costs, motor vehicle damage, employers’ uninsured costs and fire losses. These costs were paid by employers, state and local governments and by citizens through taxes, fees and insurance premiums.

“Our elected officials do not have many opportunities during their careers to take action that will save thousands of lives and billions of dollars in one legislative action. This is one of those times,” said Janet Froetscher, president and CEO of the National Safety Council.

The report estimates of lives saved were generated using a 2007 study which analyzed the effect of graduated driver licensing programs to produce percentage reduction estimates compared to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s estimate of the number of young driver-related fatalities in each state.

The forecast team of Philip Klotzbach and William Gray released its early hurricane season forecast for 2012, saying that it is dispensing with the usual numerical forecast for the number of storms. Instead, Klotzbach and Gray issued their forecast in terms of the probabilities “of the key factors influencing the hurricane season.”

The reason for the change, they say, is the difficulty forecasters have in determining whether an El Niño will occur in the Pacific, which impacts the Atlantic hurricane season.

The team says there is a 45 percent chance that climate conditions that have persisted since 1995 will continue along with no El Niño development in the Pacific. These conditions include warmer water temperatures in the tropical Atlantic and reduced vertical wind shear—conducive conditions for hurricane formation.

Should that be the case, hurricane activity would be 140 percent of the average season, which would be characterized as 12 to 15 named storms, seven to nine hurricanes and up to four major hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5 with sustained winds of 111 mph and greater), the forecasters say.

The team says there is a 30 percent chance that Atlantic wind circulation remains unchanged and a significant El Niño occurs, which would reduce the tropical-cyclone season to approximately 75 percent of the average season. That would be 8 to 11 named storms, three to five hurricanes and one or two major hurricanes.

There is a 15 percent chance that current Atlantic wind conditions could become unusually strong, and no El Niño occurs, which would lead tropical-cyclone activity of up to 180 percent of average hurricane season—about 14 to 17 storms, 9 to 11 hurricanes and four to five major hurricanes.

And the forecasters say there is a 10 percent chance that current Atlantic wind conditions weaken and a significant El Niño develops, which would reduce the tropical-cyclone activity to 40 percent of the average season—five to seven storms, two to three hurricanes and possibly one major hurricane.

For 2011, the CSU forecast team had predicted that the hurricane season would be well above average. In June the team called for 16 named storms, nine hurricanes and five major hurricanes. The season produced 19 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

By Mark E. Ruquet, PropertyCasualty360.com

These are among the extreme schemers elected to the Insurance Fraud Hall of Shame sponsored by the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud.

The Hall of Shame annually dishonors the year’s most brazen, vicious or plain klutzy convicted insurance criminals. The Hall of Shame helps brand insurance fraud as a socially offensive crime by detailing true-life cases, and the damage caused by these masters of disaster.

Witness the No-Class of 2011:

Executed scheme. Dogged by debt, William Craig Miller burned down his fancy Scarsdale, Ariz. house for an insurance payday. Miller then executed two witnesses in their home. He also gunned down three kids in the home to keep them quiet. Some were shot at point plank, including a 10-year-old boy. Miller received the death penalty.

Daffy diamond heist. Financially strapped diamond merchants Atul Shah & Haveer Kankariya staged a dopey $9-million diamond heist for insurance money. They hired two thugs to dress as Hassidic Jews in beards and black-brimmed hats, then pretend to rob their Manhattan business. But the merchants’ own security cameras recorded them removing the diamonds themselves. The merchants both received up to four years in prison.

Policing fraud. Los Angeles cop Jeff Stenroos said a man shot him in his protective vest. Hundreds of police were diverted to hunt for the phantom shooter. Thousands of kids were locked in their schools for hours without food, water or toilets. Traffic was snarled. Stenroos had faked a painful injury to score paid time off via his workers comp policy. He received four years in jail.

Explosive con. Stuck with a decaying home they couldn’t sell Victor & Olga Barriere hired Thomas Trucios to burn down the Long Beach, Calif. place. But Trucios was an amateur who used too much gasoline. The toxic brew exploded. Flames engulfed Trucios, blew up the house and carved large cracks in the sidewalk. Trucios died from third-degree burns. Victor received 14 years and Olga six years.

Stormy scheme. Lori Sergiacomi was popular Providence, R.I. deejay called “Tanya Cruise,” Sergiacomi had two corrupt politicos bang up her home roof, pool and interior to look like storm damage so insurance would pay for her home remodeling. A crooked adjuster helped grease the claim. But just her luck, one politico spilled the entire scheme while being wiretapped in yet another corruption con. Sergiacomi received four months in a halfway house. Her cronies received varied sentences.

Cow parts & mannequins. Jean Crump and Faye Shilling took out life insurance on Jim Davis, a fake person they invented. “Davis” later died of a heart attack, the Los Angeles duo said. Crump and Shilling staged his funeral, with fake mourners and a burial. Then they dug up the empty coffin when the life insurer got nosey. They filled it with the mannequin and cow parts to fool workers lugging the box to the crematorium to erase the evidence. Crump awaits sentencing, and Shilling received two years in federal prison.

Bad medicine. Armen Karazianis headed an Armenian-American gang that bilked Medicare out of $163 million in one of the largest Medicare scams ever by one criminal gang. The Los Angeles-area man set up 118 fake medical clinics in 25 states, and stole the identities of doctors and Medicare beneficiaries. Karazianis also recruited Medicare patients for bogus treatments, and staged crashes for false injury claims. Karazianis received three years in federal prison.

Blind to honesty. Kevin Pushia was a Baltimore pastor who befriended a blind, developmentally disabled man named Lemuel Wallace. Pushia secretly took out $1.4 million of life insurance on Wallace, then had him shot in a park bathroom. Pushia even stole $50,000 from his own church to pay the hitmen. He also tellingly scrawled “L.W. project completed” in his datebook. Pushia earned life in prison.

Fake FBI agent. Bridget Buckner told her employer that her child and husband died suddenly just months apart, the Chicago woman said. She collected $25,000 in life coverage. Her husband was an FBI agent shot in his lung while on duty, she said. Poor guy died awaiting surgery. But the fraud investigator himself was a retired FBI agent who would’ve heard about the death. Buckner’s innocent hubby wasn’t an agent, and her daughter had died several years prior. A spooked Buckner disappeared but was hauled back for a 10-year jail term.

A survey of drivers who travel with their dogs showed that drivers admit to petting their dogs; using hands or arms to hold dogs in place while braking; using hands to keep dogs from climbing into the front seat; allowing dogs to sit on their lap; and feeding dogs treats while driving.

In addition to the driving distraction that Bowzer presents when he is a passenger in the car is the safety hazard. In an accident, Bowzer becomes a flying missile, injuring himself and others as he bounces around the car. In an abrupt stop, Bowzer will keep moving at the speed the car was traveling. Take a 40-pound dog moving at 60 miles an hour, and the physics of the situation get ugly. The driver, passengers and Bowzer may all be injured.

Remember that as far as insurance is concerned, Bowzer is personal property, so the Auto policy med pay doesn’t cover injuries to Bowzer, and the Homeowner’s policy doesn’t cover animals. Some carriers are now offering coverage for animals traveling in cars. One carrier’s limit is $2,000; however, if you’ve ever taken an animal to an emergency vet, you know that $2,000 may not be enough to treat all of Bowzer’s injuries.

But all is not lost. A visit to most pet stores will provide you with a safety harness for your furry friend. While there aren’t any laws that Bowzer must be buckled up, if you buckle up yourself and your family, you may as well buckle up Bowzer.

About the Author

Christine G. Barlow

Christine G. Barlow is an associate editor with FC&S Online. She has an extensive background in insurance underwriting. She may be reached at cbarlow@sbmedia.com.