Citizens Property Insurance Corp

Louisiana's state-run insurer is nearing a mass settlement with homeowners that would be the first deal of its kind in the state since hurricanes Rita and Katrina led to thousands of lawsuits, an attorney for the homeowners said Monday. Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

Louisiana's state-run insurer is nearing a mass settlement with homeowners that would be the first deal of its kind in the state since hurricanes Rita and Katrina led to thousands of lawsuits, an attorney for the homeowners said Monday. Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

Hurricane Charley will probably cost insurers $7.4 billion, making it the second-costliest storm in U.S. history, according to the first loss estimate based on insurance claims. The Insurance Information Institute, a New York-based industry group, made the estimate Wednesday after canvassing the biggest insurers in Florida, said Robert Hartwig, the institute's chief economist. "It's a preliminary estimate based on what's going on, on the ground," Hartwig said.

Reassured they will not break federal securities regulations, issuers of auction-rate bonds will bid to buy back more than $2.12 billion of the debt securities starting this week, according to a survey of disclosure notices Wednesday.

Thousands of Floridians will get a welcome sight soon: a check that will allow them to begin repairing damage done by hurricanes Charley or Frances. But for many there also will be an unwelcome sight: The amount they're responsible for paying could be steep. After Hurricane Andrew in 1992, insurers doing business in Florida were allowed to charge much higher deductibles on hurricane damage claims.

Major insurers are capable of weathering the losses even if Hurricane Ivan becomes the third monster storm to batter Florida in a month, insurance and regulatory sources said Thursday. The industry and the state worked out ways to reallocate financial risks after Hurricane Andrew devastated Florida in 1992, these experts said. The changes included setting up a state-sponsored reinsurance company -- essentially a firm that insures the insurers.

It's something the industry would deny, but Hurricane Charley may well be a financial boon for insurers. Damage estimates for the big Florida storm were running from $5 billion to $14 billion Monday, which would make it the costliest U.S. natural disaster since Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and the 1994 Northridge earthquake. But stock prices rose for all 10 members of an index of property insurers.

The letter begins: "We're writing to you with what we know is unfortunate news about your Allstate Insurance." Startled, Marie Collins reached for her glasses, then a magnifying glass, and pored over the letter, realizing with a sinking feeling that this wasn't a standard mailing from the company that insures her home. It was a cancellation. Her home was being dropped, the letter said, because it's in the path of future hurricanes. But Collins doesn't live in New Orleans or even Florida.

Hemant Shah is in the business of creating catastrophes. The computers at Shah's Silicon Valley company, Risk Management Solutions Inc., contain mathematical models of every U.S. disaster from the 1812 earthquake that toppled chimneys in St. Louis to the 9/11 assault that brought down the twin towers in New York, as well as 100,000 synthesized "extreme events."