TEXAS LAWYERS' INSURANCE EXCHANGE
A few weeks ago I was clearing out some old files and happened to find an advertisement written twenty years ago. The headline read: "Texas Lawyers' Insurance Exchange Is Working." If a similar ad were written today it would read "Texas Lawyers' Insurance Exchange Is Still Working."
We are still working to provide the best coverage and the best service at a financially responsible price. Our premium rates are actuarially determined based on the actual claims experience of our insureds and our collective educated forecast about the future (i.e. future losses, future expenses and future investment income). Profit making companies charge premiums which they believe will be adequate to pay losses, adequate to pay expenses and a margin for profits . . . which they keep.
TLIE is different. For your protection, we have set our rates at a level that will ensure a solvent company which will indemnify you in the event of a covered loss today and tomorrow. However, if we discover that the rates were too high, then those excess premiums will be returned to you through lowered premiums or policyholder's distributions. During the past four years TLIE has returned $11,000,000 to its policyholders. Future distributions will be based on actual claims experience and costs.
Once again we appear to be entering a period of market turmoil. Insurance rates for all types of coverage are rising as a result of disastrous underwriting experience. Carriers that attempted to "buy" the business with inferior policies and inadequate premiums are now attempting to reverse those mistakes through substantial rate increases or simply abandoning the market and their insureds. Some have simply ceased to exist.
When it comes time to purchase your professional liability insurance ask yourself a couple of questions. How long has that prospective carrier supported Texas lawyers? Will that carrier be around long enough to pay the claims? As we have pointed out on numerous occasions, TLIE considers your premium dollar to be for your benefit, not ours . . . an investment in the continued availability of responsibly priced professional liability insurance for Texas attorneys today and tomorrow.