My agent (who shall remain anonymous) has never raised the flood exclusion with me on my co-op owners policy, even though I live a mile from the Coney Island beach and our water table is so high we don't have a basement. Of course, I live on the sixth floor of an apartment building, so rising flood waters would have to be of biblical proportions to affect me, right?

***

The Dec. 3 edition of the New Orleans Times-Picayune included an op-ed column by Jim Brown, former Louisiana insurance commissioner, headlined: “It's Time For Insurance To Pay Up.” In essence, Mr. Brown argued that insurers should disregard the flood exclusion and pay all Katrina-related homeowner claims as a matter of “honor.” He wrote that while flood losses are considered “Acts of God,” most of the damage in New Orleans was caused by acts of man in failing to build adequate levies.

Insurers can't say paying these claims would be “financially devastating,” he goes on to write, because “at most” the cost would be $32 billion (on top of what they already owe in legitimate losses). That sounds pretty devastating to me.

He also says U.S. carriers have reinsurance, “primarily in Europe,” thus “the protests from insurance companies ring hollow”–as if reinsurers will reimburse carriers for excluded claims.

In his author bio, the newspaper–which has done such a heroic job covering Katrina–neglected to mention Mr. Brown is a convicted felon, having served six months in federal prison for lying to the FBI during a corruption investigation. Mr. Brown–who insists he was innocent–was the third straight Louisiana insurance commissioner convicted of federal crimes.

***

Earlier this year, I mourned the passing of the former editor of National Underwriter, John Cosgrove. Last month, the industry lost another giant of a journalist–Roy Pasini, longtime publisher of Underwriters' Report.

Roy was one of a kind–a man loved by his faithful readers as well as his competitors in the insurance press. I'll cherish the many Big I press dinners I attended over the years with Roy, who was always the life of the party–keeping everyone entertained with his biting, Don Rickles-like wit. No one was spared his fond barbs, and I never laughed as hard with anyone else in my life. We offer our deepest condolences to his family and friends.

Those wishing to honor Roy can contribute to the Roy Pasini Endowment at the University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, 121 Northgate Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720.

Sam Friedman is NU's Editor-In-Chief. He may be reached at [email protected].

Quotebox, with mug:

“If agents don't have any proof they warned clients about their flood exposure, they had better check their E&O coverage, because they're going to need it.”