Texas Watch—Consumer Protection. Corporate Accountability. Citizen Advocacy.

Southeast Texans need to get ready to find another home insurance provider if you’re insured with State Farm.

Beginning on May 1, 2012, State Farm says it will no longer renew home insurance for 11,000 homeowners living near coastal areas.

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With few providers left, Alex Winslow with Texas Watch says many will have to look to the government run Texas Windstorm Association for insurance.

“It’s very dangerous. TWIA is not equipped to have this number of policy holders and this number of families relying on it,” says Winslow.

Read More: 12 News KBMT

AUSTIN — Nearly 350,000 Texas homeowners insured by Farmers Insurance will see their premiums jump by nearly 10 percent beginning next month after state Insurance Commissioner Eleanor Kitzman decided not to object to the increase.

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A consumer group immediately criticized the commissioner for the Farmers decision and noted that Kitzman already has approved a rate hike for State Farm, which included a higher minimum deductible for its homeowners policies.

“So far, Eleanor Kitzman hasn’t met a rate hike she didn’t like,” said Alex Winslow of Texas Watch.

Winslow said Texas homeowners continue to get less insurance protection for more money as companies restrict what losses they will cover. He pointed out that Allstate and USAA also have increased their rates this year.

Read More: The Dallas Morning News (subscription required)

Politicians and bureaucrats of all persuasions typically trip over themselves when it comes to praising the values and virtues, the courage and the sacrifice, of America’s military families. East Coast. West Coast. Red State. Blue State. Democrats. Republicans. It doesn’t matter. Everyone wants to stand up in public and say that brave and stoic military families should get the best that America can offer (cue the applause). Take the First Lady herself, Michelle Obama, who has worked consistently with and for these families since 2009.

Commemorating the 10th anniversary of the terror attacks on America, Mrs. Obama wrote in USA Today:

As we reaffirm our commitment to hold dear the heroism, strength and compassion we saw on Sept. 11, let’s also pledge to keep our military families in our hearts long after this anniversary has passed. These men, women and children have served valiantly in the decade since that fateful day. Now it’s up to us to serve them as well.

Amen. But while public officials are out waving the flag toward these families, federal lawyers in court are now quietly trying to expand the U.S. government’s legal immunity from exposure to medical malpractice claims brought by those very same military folks. Now, the feds want the courts to recognize a bold application of an old doctrine — an already heavily criticized old doctrine — that would bar many plaintiffs, whose loved ones serve their country, from exercising the right merely to be able to present the substance of their claims at trial.

Read More: The Atlantic

The poorest Americans are unable to buy affordable auto insurance because of insurance company bias, a consumers group charged Monday.

Insurance companies are prohibited from basing premiums on income, but can consider a driver’s credit rating, home address and occupation. Those factors are essentially surrogates for income, according to the Consumer Federation of America, a consumer lobby group in Washington, D.C.

“In some areas, many responsible lower-income drivers are required to spend more than $1,000 a year for liability coverage that is often unfairly priced and provides no real insurance protection to them,” said Stephen Brobeck, executive director of the consumer group. He called on states to improve access to low-cost insurance. California is currently the only state with a robust low-rate coverage program.

Read More: The Huffington Post

AUSTIN — The high cost of fixing damaged cars and trucks in Texas has pushed up the price of auto insurance in the state to 11th highest in the nation, according to a new study analyzing premiums across the country.

The study by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners shows that the price of collision coverage — the portion of an insurance policy that pays to repair damage after an accident — has been climbing in Texas and now ranks as the fifth highest among the states.

By contrast, the amount paid for liability coverage — which has been a target for advocates of limiting lawsuits — ranks 20th among the states.

Read More: The Dallas Morning News (subscription required)

On the day the Deepwater Horizon sank in the Gulf of Mexico, BP officials warned in an internal email conversation that if the well was not protected by the blow-out preventer at the drill site, crude oil could burst into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of 3.4 million gallons a day, an amount a million gallons higher than what the U.S. government ultimately estimated spilled daily from the site.

The memo, which BP agreed to release Friday as part of federal court proceedings, suggests BP managers recognized the potential of the disaster in its early hours, and the company officials sought to make sure that the model-developed information wasn’t shared with those outside the company. The emails also suggest BP was having heated discussions with Coast Guard officials over the potential of the oil spill.

The memo was released as part of the court proceedings to determine the division of responsibility for the nation’s worst offshore oil disaster, which began when the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, 2010, killing 11 men about 50 miles southeast of the Louisiana coast. The first phase of the trial is set to start Feb. 27.

Read More: NPR

The Texas Supreme Court has a profound effect on the everyday lives of Texans. It is the court of last resort for non-criminal matters in the state. But according to a scathing report released this week by the advocacy group Texas Watch, over the last 10 years, the majority of Texas Supreme Court decisions have favored corporate interests over consumers. And the panel of judges, according to the report, has repeatedly overstepped its authority by overturning jury verdicts and interpreting the law to benefit the rich.

Listen: Texas Public Radio (Texas Matters, Segment 3)

Last August, ThinkProgress highlighted a Texas Watch report showing that the Texas Supreme Court “sided with consumers in 27 percent of cases involving an individual against a corporation or government agency — and it reversed jury verdicts in 72 percent of cases.” A new report by that same organization shows that the court’s favoritism towards corporations is now even worse.

Read More: ThinkProgress

Listen to Court Watch director Alex Winslow talk about Court Watch’s latest report with Kristen Flowers of KTRH radio in Houston.

“Texas families deserve a fair shake when they go to the courthouse. And, when they make it to the highest court in the land, they’re just not getting that fair shake.”