Commissioner Denies TWIA’s Request to Raise Liability Limits

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The primary windstorm insurer for Texas coastal properties won’t be raising limits of liability next year for property it covers.

Insurance Commissioner Julia Rathgeber has denied a request by the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association to raise the limits on both commercial and residential properties that would have become effective Jan. 1, 2014.

On Sept. 30 TWIA filed to raise the liability limits as follows:

Current 2012	Proposed 2013
Dwellings and individually owned townhouses	$1,773,000	$1,809,000
Contents of an apartment, condominium, or townhouse	$374,000	$379,000
Commercial structures and associated contents	$4,424,000	$4,508,000

Even if the proposal had been approved, it would have represented only a slight increase in TWIA’s overall exposure. State insurance regulators, however, had concerns over increasing TWIA’s exposure by any amount. The insurer continues to struggle to become financially viable after being inundated by claims and litigation resulting from Hurricane Ike in 2008.

A brief hearing was held Oct. 30 to consider TWIA’s request; TDI had 60 days of the receipt of the request to respond. The order denying the request – issued on Nov. 22 – simply stated that “the commissioner determined an increase is not necessary at this time.”

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