Kato Insurance | Kato News

The Growing Necessity of the Umbrella Policy

Wed, 1 Sep 2010 14:31:32 -0500

According to Jury Verdict Research (2009), 16% of recent plaintiff awards exceeded $1 million. These findings confirm that owning a personal umbrella policy has never been more critical. Plus, the decision becomes increasingly simple when you learn how little an Umbrella Policy can cost with multi-policy discounts. Below is a sample of recent jury verdicts demonstrating the wide range of exposures facing individuals, which can result in significant judgments. These cases are examples of why we believe it is a responsible, yet reasonable policy for you to own.

The Homeowners Policy & College Students

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 07:49:10 -0500

Question: "Is a computer provided by my daughter's school for use while she is attending covered for theft out of her locked room while she is out of the room? Toward the end of the school year, someone came through her suite mate's room, through the bathroom, and into my daughter's room and stole the computer she had signed out to her by the school. I just received a letter from the school stating that she had to pay $1,600 before she would be allowed to return to school. Does homeowner's insurance normally pay for such losses? Do you have any idea why my agent would say this was not covered and it was the responsibility of the school?"

Clearly this is a covered loss under the "ISO standard" homeowners policy. Note: Be aware that insurance companies do not all use the same insurance forms. That is why it can be foolhardy to purchase insurance over the internet without the professional counsel of a qualified insurance agent who can properly match your exposures with the best policy and price available for your individual needs.

The homeowner's policy covers any personal property "owned OR USED by" an insured if it is damaged or lost due to a covered peril. The student was certainly using the property and theft is a covered peril. The term "insured" includes a resident relative, and courts have determined consistently that a dependent child away at school is still a resident of the named insured's household. And, under the theft peril, the policy says, "Property of a student who is an 'insured' is covered while at a residence away from home if the student has been there at any time during the 45 days immediately before the loss." In this case, the student was there at the time of loss, so this theft restriction does not apply.

There is, however, one limitation that does apply. For personal property "usually located at" an insured's "residence" other than the residence premises, only 10% of the policy's contents coverage is available for losses. In this case, 10% of the contents limit is more than adequate for the loss of the computer. Of course, there is a deductible to contend with, typically $250.

In addition, policy conditions require that theft losses be reported to the police. Although "police" is not defined, it is presumable that notice to the campus police would suffice. That being done, this appears to be a clearly covered claim, the only mystery being why the agent would say that it isn't covered.

Copyright 2000 by the Florida Association of Insurance Agents, Inc. Reprinted with permission.

NOTE: Policy coverages and circumstances can change at any time, so the information above may not be accurate at the time of reprinting or subsequently to that time. IIABA does not assume and has no responsibility for liability or damage which may result from the use of any of this information. The most current, up to date version of this article can be found at IIABA’s Virtual University at http://vu.iiaa.net.

MANKATO FREE PRESS: Storm damage still swamping repair companies, insurers

Thu, 5 Aug 2010 14:22:39 -0500

“Another prudent rule of thumb: Reputable roofing and siding contractors don’t need to go door-to-door in storm aftermaths.”

By Brian Ojanpa  Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO — This summer’s surfeit of damaging storms has been a stimulus package of sorts for roofing and siding companies and auto body shops dealing in hail damage.  The June combo platter of hail and tornadoes — there were three twisters in Blue Earth County alone — continues to tax the resources of home and auto-repair entities.  “It’s just been amazing,” said Hansen Siding & Windows sales manager Taylor Murphy.  Based upon homeowner phone inquiries and dealings with insurance adjusters, Murphy estimates that 80 percent of homes in a west-to-east swath of Mankato have had hail damage to some extent.  “There’s also been a lot of siding damaged, which is extremely unusual for hail,” he said.  Matt Peterson, residential roofing manager for Schwickerts of Mankato, said this summer has produced by far the strongest local demand for roof repair he’s seen in his 13 years with the company.  He said hail does not respect shingles’ age; the frozen pellets pock new and old roofs alike.  His take: There are probably 10,000 roofs in town with insurance claims on them.  Don Kersten, area manager for a State Farm Insurance catastrophe team, said 50 people have been brought in to assist the company’s Mankato-area insurance adjusters with claims inspections.  He said the company has received about 4,500 homeowner claims in an area roughly encompassing Blue Earth County and west to New Ulm.  Jennifer Eager of Madelia Insurance Center said her office has finally caught up with claim settlements after being swamped with calls for two weeks following a June 17 hail storm affecting most of that city’s homes and many vehicles.   Madelia auto body shop owner Dave Koehler said he’s repaired 30 to 40 hail-dinged vehicles thus far with no let-up in sight.  “I’ve been going six days a week, sometimes seven,” he said.  How long does he work?  “I go home when I’m tired,” he joshed of the 14- to 16-hour days.  Meantime, repair to storm-damaged homes continues unabated as contractors found themselves having to prioritize jobs on the fly early on.  Generally speaking, Murphy said properties with water damage get top priority, followed by people who have sold their homes and have an impending closing date, followed by those whose homes are for sale.  The storms also attracted unscrupulous opportunists looking to make a buck on unnecessary roofing repairs.  Harold Warner Jr. of Madelia said a roofer showed up at his parents’ Madelia home following the June 17 hail storm and deemed the shingles in need of replacement.  Warner said upon learning of the visit he inspected the roof himself — the newly reshingled roof — and found nary a trace of damage.  Pat Griffiths of Mankato had the same experience in early July and again a few days ago, when guys showed up at his door claiming to be roofing company representatives.  Griffiths, whose roof had been reshingled several days after a late-June hailstorm, played dumb on both occasions.  The first would-be contractor walked all around the house and told Griffiths the roof was in woeful condition.  “Oh, this is bad,” Griffiths said, mimicking the man’s words.  At that point it was time to reel the guy in and net him. Griffiths led him into the garage.  “I instructed him not to trip over the bundle of shingles that the roofers had left two days ago,” said Griffiths, who proceeded to give the guy a verbal beat-down.  The second solicitor climbed upon the roof and told Griffiths the shingles looked to be “10 or 11 years old.”  Law enforcement authorities say homeowners in such circumstances should never sign anything and should first consult with their insurance companies.  Another prudent rule of thumb: Reputable roofing and siding contractors don’t need to go door-to-door in storm aftermaths.  Said Murphy, “We refuse to knock on doors and we refuse to contact people who haven’t contacted us first.”

Golf Outing a Success!

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:04:33 -0500

The weather held off and the sun came out for the 13th Annual Kato Insurance Agency & Hoffman Financial Services Golf Scramble that took place on Monday, July 19th. No matter, the rain delay went on as scheduled with the great staff at Charley’s serving refreshments at the 10th tee.

The field once again proved to be a challenging one with the winning team coming in with a score of 49.95. There were also very impressive distances on closest to the pin, longest drive, and longest putt. A special thanks to the Mankato Golf Club for the service and a great steak and walleye dinner; as well as all other sponsors who donated their time to the event or items for the raffle. For complete event results, click here.

The event raises approximately $3,000 a year for the Nick Hoffman Service to Others Scholarship Fund.

New Law Targets Unethical Roofing Contractors

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 08:57:07 -0500

This new law was the top legislative priority of the Insurance Federation of Minnesota and was an attempt to curtail questionable and unethical marketing practices by a few unscrupulous residential roofing contractors. The new law prohibits roofing contractors from offering to pay all or part of a homeowner’s insurance deductible in order to obtain a roofing contract. It also gives the homeowners the right to rescind a contract for a new roof within 72 hours after an insurance company has denied the claim. The new law culminates a two year effort by insurers in Minnesota to outlaw questionable marketing practices by roofing contractors. The law is effective August 1, 2010