Insurance groups drop fight against regulation

The Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of New York, Inc. (IIABNY) and the Council of Insurance Brokers of Greater New York (CIBGNY) have decided not to continue a two-year fight against a New York state transparency regulation.

The regulation, which the state adopted in early 2010 to shed light on compensation insurance producers receive, requires producers to give clients a disclosure on how companies pay them. If a client requests more compensation information, the regulation orders a producer to provide details such as its earnings from a policy that was sold and the earnings it would have received if the client had chosen a different policy.

IIABNY and CIBGNY took legal action to block the policy after it was implemented in 2010, arguing that it is a burden for producers with little benefit to consumers. But on March 8, a five-justice panel in the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division’s Third Department ruled against the insurance groups, upholding an earlier trial-court decision.

The insurance groups decided not to appeal the latest decision to the New York State Court of Appeals. IIABNY will instead focus on helping its members comply with the regulation, it said in a news release.

“We did all that we could to fight this misguided regulation,” IIABNY Board Chairman Christopher Brassard said. “The board has concluded that the likelihood of the New York Court of Appeals overturning the decisions of the two lower courts is small.”

IIABNY, headquartered at 5784 Widewaters Parkway in DeWitt, is a trade association that represents more than 1,750 agencies and their employees across New York. CIBGNY, based in Lynbrook on Long Island, is a trade association with members in New York City, Long Island, Westchester County, and Rockland County.

Contact Seltzer

at rseltzer@cnybj.com