EQUIPMENT BREAKDOWN COVERAGE
INTRODUCED IN HOMEOWNERS PROGRAM

AAIS is filing new equipment breakdown coverage options with the revised Homeowners forms and endorsements scheduled to take effect later in 2007. The endorsements were developed in conjunction with The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Co., but can be used with any equipment breakdown reinsurer.

The endorsements add coverage for physical damage to specified types of covered property that occurs as a result of an equipment breakdown accident. The term 'covered property' can include furnaces, hot water heaters, heating/air conditioning systems, and similar types of property.

The equipment breakdown endorsements include two coverage extensions:

• To a limited extent, the loss of use coverage provided under the AAIS Homeowners policies is extended to apply when a covered equipment breakdown accident makes living quarters on the described location unfit for use.

• Refrigerated Property Coverage is extended to include loss caused by the electrical breakdown of a freezer or refrigerated unit on the described location.

 Both endorsements exclude coverage for equipment breakdown losses to electronic entertainment or computer equipment, kitchen or laundry appliances, and other specified property. One of them, however, extends coverage to kitchen and laundry appliances that are permanently installed.

More details on the coverage are available in a press release, and AAIS Homeowners affiliates will receive information in a Feb. 23 bulletin.

Also, audio commentary on the endorsements is available at www.AAISonline.com. Click on the icons to hear short interviews with Susan Luecke, AAIS assistant vice president for personal lines, and Michael Fusselbaugh, HSB's senior vice president for strategic business development.

For information on affiliating with AAIS for use of its Homeowners Program, contact Joseph Harrington at joeh@AAISonline.com.

FEB. 28 IS DISCOUNT DEADLINE
FOR AAIS 'MAIN EVENT'

Companies that register by Feb. 28 will receive a discount on their registration fee for the AAIS Main Event, April 22-24 at the Mills House Hotel in Charleston, S.C. The Main Event is an executive-level conference devoted to product-related issues of strategic importance to CEOs and heads of operational units. To register,

Tommy Thompson, former U.S. cabinet secretary and governor of Wisconsin, will deliver the keynote address. Other speakers include:

• Dr. Robert Blaunstein, manager of loss control under contract for American Safety Ins. Co.;

• David Herman, senior counsel and senior director of claims for the Food Products Association;

• Charles Kingdollar, vice president in the emerging issues unit of Gen Re; and

• Sam Miller, executive vice president of the Florida Insurance Council.

You can hear audio introductions from some of these speakers by clicking on icons on the Main Event home page.

In addition, the conference program will feature a panel of CEOs discussing public issues related to P/C products, and roundtable discussions on personal lines, commercial lines, and executive concerns.

NEW MANDATORY ENDORSEMENT
COMPLIES WITH N.J. CIVIL UNIONS LAW

AAIS has filed a new mandatory endorsement in New Jersey to comply with a 2006 state statute providing that civil union couples have the same benefits, protections, and responsibilities under the law as spouses in a marriage. The filing has a proposed effective date of July 1, 2007.

In a bulletin issued after the AAIS filing was underway, the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance indicates that insurers should "administer" policies to provide coverage for civil union couples. As they wait for approval of endorsements, companies must immediately begin considering coverage for spouses as applying equally to civil union partners. 

AAIS SPEAKERS TO ADDRESS
NAMIC UNDERWRITING SEMINARS

Two AAIS vice presidents have been selected to lead sessions at underwriting seminars sponsored by the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC).

Robert Guevara, AAIS vice president of inland marine, will address two breakout sessions at the NAMIC Commercial Lines Underwriting Seminar, Feb. 28 to March 2 in Chicago. On Thursday, March 1, Guevara will speak on "Demystifying Commercial Output Coverage." The following morning, March 2, he will lead a presentation entitled "Understanding Current Inland Marine Coverage Issues for Construction Risks."

Susan Luecke, assistant vice president for personal lines, will lead two sessions on homeowners insurance issues at the NAMIC Personal Lines Marketing & Underwriting Seminar, April 18-20 in Savannah, Ga. On Thursday morning, April 19, Luecke will discuss property coverage issues and the AAIS response to them in the 2007 revision of the AAIS Homeowners forms. A companion program on liability issues and the AAIS response will follow later in the morning.