April 18 Marks the 105th Anniversary of Historic San Francisco Quake

Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones today marked the 105th Anniversary of the historic San Francisco earthquake of 1906 by calling on Californians to update their preparedness plans and carefully assess whether they have a need for earthquake insurance. Based on a recent data call by the California Department of Insurance (CDI), almost 90 percent of homeowners and renters do not have earthquake insurance.

“With today being the 105th Anniversary of the Great Quake in San Francisco, I felt compelled to remind all consumers of the serious need for preparation before disaster strikes,” said Commissioner Dave Jones. “The tragic earthquake that struck Japan last month showed us, yet again, that disaster can strike at anytime, in any place, and typically when we least expect it. This reality underscores the importance for Californians to take some very simple, but very effective precautionary steps before it is too late.”

To find important information about preparing for a disaster, please visit the web site of the California Department of Insurance at www.insurance.ca.gov. Or, call our toll-free consumer hotline at 1-800-927-HELP.

Earthquake preparedness includes the following:
■Review your insurance policies at least once each year with your agent or broker to ensure that they provide adequate coverage.
■Consider purchasing an earthquake policy if your home is in an earthquake-prone area, and is more susceptible to earthquake damage such as older or multi-story homes, or homes on soft soil or a slope.
■Take measures to retrofit your home to increase your safety during an earthquake.
■Brace your water heater to minimize the risks of fire and water damage caused by water heaters that topple during earthquakes.
■Bolting your home’s wood frame to its foundation can prevent damage resulting from the structure sliding off its foundation. And for houses on raised foundations, the bracing of “cripple walls” can also reduce damage from earthquakes.
■Mobile home owners should use earthquake-bracing systems to reduce the chance of damage from homes slipping off support jacks.
■Fasten cupboard doors with child-proof latches to prevent them from opening and spilling their contents. 
■Fasten bookcases, mirrors, televisions and other tall or heavy objects to wall studs.
■Gas appliances should have flexible attachments, and family members should be familiar with gas shut-off techniques.

For more earthquake preparedness tips, go to www.redcross.org and http://earthquake.usgs.gov/prepare/.

Most homeowners’ and renters’ policies do not cover damage from earthquakes. Under California law all insurers selling residential property insurance are required to also offer earthquake coverage subject to minimum dwelling, personal property and additional living expense limits. Dwellings must be covered but other structures such as outbuildings, swimming pools, and masonry fences may be excluded.

The California Earthquake Authority (CEA) was formed to provide earthquake insurance to residential property owners including homeowners, individual condominium unit owners, mobile homeowners, and renters. Currently, insurance companies participating in the CEA underwrite more than 70 percent of the residential property insurance sold in California. It is important to note that consumers cannot purchase a CEA policy unless their current insurer belongs to the CEA, while those insurers that are not part of the CEA can sell consumers their own policy. Both the CEA, and insurers not in the CEA, may offer coverage beyond the minimum limits required in statute.

For more information, go to www.earthquakeauthority.com.

 Geography -When a law firm has a national or international presence, your outlook is very broad. The premium for a solo office, on the other hand, can change noticeably from county to county.

 Areas of Practice- Will you represent the same clients? Is your risk level equal to the risk assumed by a large firm? Do you incur  expenses as a sole proprietor that were previously paid by your firm?

 Limits -If you assume the same risk and incur new expenses, what limits of professional liability can you afford? What limits will an insurance company approve?

 Deductibles -A higher deductible lowers your premium.  If you can afford to pay a high deductible, your desire for a lower premium may conflict with the insurance copmany’s guidelines.

 Claims -Were you involved in one large claim? Did a former partner drag you into many small claims? Can you obtain coverage in the same market as your associates? How does the standard market differ from the nonstandard market?

For fiscal year 2010, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received nearly 100,000 new private sector charges of employment discrimination–a record high and a jump of 7 percent over 2009, the agency reported.

 The spike comes after a slight decline in 2009, when total charges fell 2.2 percent to 93,277 from a total of 95,402 charges in fiscal year 2008.

 The latest level–of 99,922 for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2010–marks the third consecutive year over the 90,000 mark. According to historical charge data available on the EEOC website, charges reached a level of 91,189 in fiscal year 1994, but in more recent years charge levels hovered in the 75,000-to-80,000 range.

 ”Our FY 2010 charge receipt figures show that we have received more charges this year than in any of the prior 45 years of the agency’s history,” the EEOC said its Fiscal Year 2010 Performance and Accountability Report, first published on Nov. 15.

 In spite of receiving a record number of charges, the federal agency said it reduced the inventory of pending claims in a press statement last week, attributing a dramatic slowing in the growth of the charge inventory to replenished ranks of EEOC workers and significant resources devoted to training.

 The Nov. 23 press statement said that the EEOC ended fiscal year 2010 with 86,338 pending charges–an increase of only 570 charges, or less than 1 percent, compared to 2009, when the EEOC’s pending inventory increased 15.9 percent over 2008.

 The 7 percent rise in overall charges received prompted several different analyses of the reasons, including one from the agency itself. 

“This surge…is due in part to the expanded statutory authorities that EEOC has been given with the ADA Amendments Act of 2008; the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008; and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009,” the EEOC said in its Nov. 15 performance report.

 ”We also attribute the rise in charge receipts to EEOC becoming more accessible, making charge filing easier and providing better, more responsive customer service,” the agency said, reporting on efforts to expand the agency’s availability by phone, e-mail and increased walk-in hours at field offices for charge intake, as well as the issuance of “a plain language brochure to assist potential charging parties in understanding their rights and the EEOC charge process.”

 Providing an employment practices liability insurer’s perspective, Eric Ross, claims manager for Beazley Group inFarmington,Conn., suggested that a shift in the mission under the Obama administration was another factor. Mr. Ross, speaking during a session of the international conference of the Minneapolis-based Professional Liability Underwriting Society earlier this month, said that the EEOC, under prior administrations, viewed its role as being geared to counseling employers about how to make their workplaces discrimination- and harassment-free.

 The EEOC is now focused on educating workers [and] “breeding millions of discrimination investigators out there in the workforce,” he said, stating that EEOC’s educational website materials support his view.

 This has “already manifested itself in terms of more for-cause findings of discrimination,” and that, in turn, is driving “more frequent [and] higher conciliation demands by the EEOC. All that drives up losses,” Mr. Ross said.

In a message letter opening the EEOC’s performance report, EEOC Chair Jacqueline A. Berrien commented on “missed opportunities for progress” in prior years.  “Despite the success of the EEOC and the equal employment gains of the past four decades, [our] resources have not always kept pace with our–and the nation’s–enforcement needs. Between 2000 and 2008, the EEOC’s staffing level was cut by nearly 25 percent, even as our enforcement authority expanded,” she wrote.

 ”This reduction was not without consequence, resulting in missed opportunities for progress, a growing backlog of unresolved discrimination charges, and unnecessary uncertainty for both employers and workers awaiting guidance or resolution,” she wrote.

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