11-11-11

Unlike Memorial Day, Veterans Day is designed to honor all of those in our armed services, not just those who died in service.

Though Veterans Day is a U.S. National Holiday, Britain celebrates Remembrance Day on the same day (both holidays began to honor the Signing of the Armistice at the end of World War I). We thought you might be interested in this link to Lloyd's During World War 1. Not only does it provide information on the many ways that Lloyd's was involved in the war effort (and honors those who lost their lives), but it has examples of telegrams sent shortly after the Armistice was signed.

Onward & Upward

Sandra Glaser Parrillo, 2011 Insurance Professional of the Year Award Winner

Donald F. Vose, President of the Board of Trustees for The Insurance Library Association of Boston

I'm afraid this blog languished while we worked on the Education Fair in September and the Insurance Professional of the Year Event in October. November is suddenly upon us and we're shocked at how quickly our annual meeting is approaching.

I mentioned last year that after The Insurance Professional of the Year Award Ceremony it often feels like a new year around here (perhaps it's no coincidence that our event occurs in the same season as Rosh Hashanah). So I'm sure you'll pardon us as we reflect a little.

A lot has happened in the last year:

1. We've worked harder on maintaining our website and blog. We've started a LinkedIn profile for the library and we're exploring ways to make our library even more available electronically.

2. We've added more items to our adopt a book program, and to our wishlist (and we finally got the laptop we'd put on there several years ago!).

3. We held our first ever Education Fair (with a lot of support), and had our 10th Insurance Professional of the Year Award Ceremony (which included a lot of firsts as well).

4. We put on our first ever (though, not last) silent auction during the social hour at The Award Ceremony -- thanks to a lot of support for that, we raised about $6,300 for the library!

Some staff changes include:

1. Our Director, Jean Lucey, changing her schedule to working three days a week.

2. Our "other" Jean, Jean Osborne, increasing her hours to three days a week (we don't ever want to be short a Jean).

3. Meagan completing another two CPCU tests on her way toward earning the designation.

It really does feel like a whirlwind, but we are glad that you were here for the ride!

Dropping In

In light of the satellite expected to fall to earth, there's an interesting article on slate about insurance coverage for falling satellites: http://www.slate.com/id/2304426/

Board?

We're overwhelmed with preparations for two big events this fall. The first is our Education Fair,scheduled for Thursday September 8th. We'd love it if you stopped by the Library to explore some of our course offerings, get education counseling or just to take a look at some of our spruced up classrooms. We'll have refreshments and drawings for some great prizes as well as insurance-related items free for the taking!

We're also working on preparing printed invitations for The 10th Annual Insurance Professional of the Year Award Ceremony printed this week so that we can mail them out next week. We have 26 tables already reserved, leaving 9 still available (if you're interested, you should probably act soon!).

Since we’re so busy and I’m finally making a blog entry, you might think I would be popping in to discuss hurricane-related subjects-- a lively wind vs. water debate, perhaps. You'd be wrong though. I saw something interesting on the web and thought I would share it here for those who are interested. This spring, I wrote on earthquakes and one of the earthquakes mentioned was the one in New Zealand which damaged Christchurch Cathedral.

They've come up with a unique solution for an interim church. They're creating a cardboard cathedral. The architect has built similar structures in Japan, following their earthquake. You can read more about the solution here, here and here. I think (though I might be misunderstanding the model) that they'll even have stained glass windows. It's not a cheap solution, but it is supposed to last for a decade, at which point they hope to have a suitable replacement.

For those of you disappointed we didn't talk about hurricanes this time, I leave you with a link to this article. It reminds me of a scene from Low and Behold, an independent film dealing with claims adjusters in post-katrina New Orleans. There's a point in the movie where the main character attends a claims adjuster conference and the leader says:

I used to lay in bed at night and pray to God that he would bring a natural disaster on this country, a disaster so large as to bring massive property damage. No one would get hurt or die. But it would yield the largest claims the industry had ever seen.

The director said that he'd actually heard this speech given when he was training to be a claims adjuster but that no one believed him. Perhaps he wasn't making it up. . .

Still disappointed? How about this article from the New York Times which mentions:

While insurers have typically covered about half of the total losses in past storms, they might end up covering less than 40 percent of the costs associated with Hurricane Irene, according to an analysis by the Kinetic Analysis Corporation.

Tin, That's All?

The first year I started at the library was also the first year the library hosted The Insurance Professional of the Year Award Ceremony (for a history of the award please refer to this post). It's with much pride that we've reached the 10th anniversary of this award!

It turns out that classically 10th anniversaries aren't anything particularly special (they're not golden, or silver, just tin or aluminum). It is a notable achievement for the library, though. This year is the first year that a person from the greater New England area has been selected to receive the award. It is also the first year the award has been given to a woman.

The Library is happy to announce that this year's winner is Sandra G. Parrillo, CPCU, President and CEO of The Providence Mutual of Providence, Rhode Island and its subsidiary Providence Plantations Insurance Company. Ms. Parrillo is very active in the insurance industry nationally, including in her role as Director and Chairman of The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC), as well as in her local community. A brief biography may be found on our website.

If you'd like to join the library in a letter of congratulations to Ms. Parillo, you're welcome to "sign" a letter which will be printed in the October 14th, 2011 edition of The Standard by going to our website. You can also register now for a seat or a table for the October 21, 2011 event at the same time, if you'd like. The options are listed on the left side of the ecommerce section of our website under the title: Insurance Professional of the Year Award Ceremony Reservations. We will be sending out an official email announcement about the event next week followed by printed invitations sometime next month. We thank all of you for the continued support which has made the past ten years possible!

Back to the (Marriage) Future

The last real blog post here discussed wedding insurance. In the course of another research project, I came across an interesting letter from the Department of Insurance in Lansing, MI dated April 9, 1931. The letter discussed speculation in marriage futures.

You have submitted to this Department a Specimen of a Contract. . . which
certificate has the form of an insurance policy. . . .The object of the
corporation, as expressed in its articles, are 'to encourage marital relations
by aiding prospective candidates for matrimony, to provide funds therefor and to
enter into contracts in relationship to the same in the state of Michigan, and
elsewhere in the United States of America and the Dominion of Canada.'

You request an opinion from this Department as to whether the proposed
contract is an insurance policy and therefore subject to the jurisdiction of the Insurance Department.

The marriage speculation insurance appears to have been set up like a fraternal benefit society. Members paid in and then received funds for their wedding once they got married. Unlike Fraternals though, the marriage contracts didn't seem to meet the criteria of insurance.

The Michigan Division's letter goes on to describe the definition of insurance citing case law and Couch on Insurance. It also makes clear that marriage "insurance" is not new, there was a case in Alabama on marriage insurance which found such a contract void (in this case the contract paid more the longer you postponed your wedding). Similar cases had the same findings in Pennsylvania, Indiana and Maine.

If you are interested in seeing the letter in full, please feel free to contact the library. We also have some information on the history of fraternal benefit societies in general.

Falling Off the Wagon

Dear readers (if there are any left). I am so sorry I've failed to write for so long. There are lots of things currently in the works here at the library (stay tuned for updated information on the Insurance Professional of the Year Award Ceremony and an Education Fair!) and I got distracted from my commitment to keep this blog current.

Back when I made the commitment, I had said sometimes the blog posts would be light and merely mention some articles we found interesting. I should have at least kept up posting those light posts because when you stop blogging for awhile there's a pressure to come back with something big.

I have a post that was started back in May on wedding insurance, but other than that, I think we'll have to be content with light content. I promise something more researched by the end of summer though (any suggestions on areas of interest?).

As always, thank you for your continued support, of the library and this blog!