Veteran insurance reporter Emmanuel “Manny” Levy has written an extensive article that appears in the November issue of Rough Notes magazine. The article traces New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s actions regarding compensation and disclosure issues from the outset in 2004. It documents the involvement of the NAIC and various State Attorneys General in the various court cases that were an outgrowth of his investigations into alleged practices of some mega-brokers, and explains how all of this is playing out in the class action suit in which PIA is seeking to have its friend-of-the-court brief considered.

Levy puts PIA’s arguments in the proper light and context, embraces them and essentially recommends that the entire insurance industry support our position. Significantly, he explains the difference between mega-brokers and Main Street agents – and why Main Street agents are bearing the brunt of sanctions when they weren’t involved in abuses. PIA National assisted Manny as he was writing his article. PIA National Vice President/Treasurer Kenneth R. Auerbach, Esq. is quoted extensively.

Excerpts:

“…ironically, the Main Street brokers/agents, who were not in the least involved in the rip-off distortions, now face regulatory overkill because some state attorneys general, some insurance departments and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), who piggybacked onto the successful Spitzer crime and punishment saga, are instituting onerous and bizarre programs they are merchandising as providing transparency for consumers, vis a vis Main Street producer earnings.”

“The danger is that this Zurich agreement is probably being planned as a model for other companies. Played out, it would be destructive, endangering the protection of the public interest. The battle to thwart this development needs the full support of every segment of the insurance business. State insurance regulators and legislative bodies must be made to understand that state legal officers are assuming legislative and regulatory prerogatives that are not needed and that are outside the realm of good sense.”

Take a few minutes to read this excellent article:

Spitzer’s Can of Worms Wriggles On (Rough Notes 11/06)

November 3, 2006