NU Online News Service, Oct. 18, 11:54 a.m.

A professor of contract law promises to bring his plea forgreater homeowners insurance policy transparency before a committeeof regulators this week--and he is taking his battle to theinsurance media as well.

Daniel Schwarcz, a professor from the University of MinnesotaLaw School is set to speak before the Property/Casualty Committeeof the NAIC on Wednesday in Orlando.

In advance of his remarks, he has submitted an opinion piece toNational Underwriter magazine--a rebuttal to an earlier opinion written by Insurance Information InstitutePresident Robert Hartwig that was published in NU's Oct.11, 2010 edition.

Mr. Hartwig gave the industry response to Mr. Schwarcz'spresentation at the NAIC summer meeting in August, during which theprofessor stated that the traditional homeowners insurance policy is nolonger standardized among carriers.

In Mr. Schwarcz's rebuttal, which will be published in the Oct.25 edition of the magazine, the consumer advocate clarifies thathe, like Mr. Hartwig, is not calling on regulators to mandate a"one-size-fits-all policy."

Mr. Schwarcz does, however, suggest that "regulators andlawmakers should at least consider setting a minimum floor forpersonal lines policies" in his written commentary for NationalUnderwriter.

"Doing this would ensure, as Mr. Hartwig claims (with nosubstantiation), that 'every homeowners policy provides a baselineof essential coverages,'" he writes.

In addition, Mr. Schwarcz reiterated some of the researchfindings he shared with regulators at the August meeting inSeattle. In particular, he asserted that:

o Insurers refuse to make their policy forms publicly available,only making them available to consumers after they buycoverage.

o Regulators generally do not even have complete copies ofpolicy forms in their files.

o Agents, for the most part, believe that all homeowners policyforms are essentially the same.

o Insurers using captive agents tend to have the mostunfavorable policy forms.

The rebuttal calls for greater transparency and readability tocorrect these problems.

Mr. Schwarcz's complete research paper is publicly available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=1687909.