Bill would forbid insurance discrimination by dog breed

AP ^ | 5.4.05

[Calpernia]

THAT I don't know. I don't understand the method of double speak. Insurance companies, like lawyers and left in general, operate under double speak.

Insurance companies what the payments. They just never want you to file a claim.

[11th_VA]

I never reported any of the bites, they were all friends of the family - some former friends of the family ...

[Calpernia]

Pounds, in my state, have no problem putting 'killer' to sleep. I've heard of situations where they don't even wait the required holding period for lost dogs/cats.

[Melas]

the nastiest dogs on the planet are those Jack Russell Terriers and you never hear of them on the no insurance lists.

A little common sense should be enough to answer that. Care to guess at how many 5 or even 6 figure settlements that insurance companies have to make because of Jack Russell Terriers? Like it or not, the potential to do harm is as big a factor as temperment. A German Shepard has the potential to kill and maim an adult. A Jack Russell Terrier has the potential to cause a painful little bite.

[Calpernia]

Connecticut:

Name: Prohibition on Insurance Discrimination
Bill number: S. 117
Sponsor (s): Joint Committee on Insurance and Real Estate
Action: Failed

Would have prohibited insurers from setting homeowners or renters' insurance rates according to the breed of dog owned by the insured.

[A. Pole]

We cannot have racial profiling?

[Melas]

It goes like this: Stupid insurance company doesn't like my dog and cancels my policy. The rest of like minded stupid insurance companies in the state won't write me a policy. Mortgage company requires homeowners policy to keep mortgage. Can't get insurance because of aforementioned stupid insurance companies. Mortgage company says pay off mortgage or foreclose on house. Not having hundreds of thousands of dollars in my piggy bank, Mortgage company forecloses and I lose my house.

Mortage company says pay off mortage or get insurance, homeowner gets rid of Killer, Spike and Ripper, and suddenly All State is once again extending it's good hand solving all of the home owner's problems.

[Calpernia]

So those that chose a dog as a protector vs a gun....need to be slapped down.

[PFKEY]

So you think I should lose my house because some idiot insurance company can't differentiate between aggressive and non-aggressive dogs?

Now how do you think they are going to differentiate between agressive and non-aggressive dogs? From a picture? Because you said your pit is sweet?

The problem is the blanket approach you morons take to something like this.

I think calling people names is pretty telling that you are too sensitive to this issue.

[Melas]

While that might be rotten news for Killer, it doesn't change my statement one bit. Only the people who're too stubborn to give up the dangerous breed are in any jeapordy of losing their mortages.

[Calpernia]

Yes and no.

Once you get 'black listed' from a carrier...it is not easy to obtain insurance again. The battle to earn your qualification for coverage is longer than the mortgage provider that extends its loan.

[Melas]

Alas, unlike guns, dogs do indeed act entirely on their own. Guns, unlike dogs only discharge when humanly willed to do so. There is no comparison.

[Calpernia]

I wasn't trying to change your statement.

And I already posted how the dangerous breed list is so confusing with the sub categories, that insurance companies (in my state) are just dropping dog owners, period.

[PFKEY]

The insurance and mortage company owe you nothing just because you like rotts. No one forced you to borrow money to buy your house so if the people who loaned you the money require insurance you better have it. If the people who issue insurance wont insure your dogs get rid of them.

I love animals but they aren't people nor should they be treated like them. They don't have consitutional rights not to be discrimated against.

[New Orleans Slim]

"pretty soon insurance co's will be telling you how to raise your friggin pets, too."

Hmm, most mortgage providers want borrowers to have insurance. That's their choice (and a responsible one)

Many insurance providers don't want to deal with dogs. A little risk averse in my book, but hey - it should be there choice since it is their business judgement.

I guess you have a choice. Have a dog or have insurance and a mortgage. Dog or house, it's your choice. And yes it should be that way since you are borrowing other people's money. If you have the money to buy a house outright than you have no problem. Big suprise, if you have more money you have more choices.

[Calpernia]

There is no comparison. Since I have children and am not gun savy, I own a dog.

Our dog earned her status in our home by scaring off a man that tried to break in.

He went across the street when our dog wouldn't stop barking.

If we were more savy at that time in checking out what the hell the barking was about, we might have saved our neighbor from being raped.

[Goodgirlinred]

Oh, I thought it was a law that you had to report it. Didn't they need medical attention?

[Calpernia]

When loans were acquired, NO stipulations were in place at the time of acquiring about dog ownership.

And language is later added about dog ownership.

AND the language covers "those animals which display the general characteristics of [enter said breed]", this is supported by YOU for being dropped and losing ones home????

AND, your whacky point you made at the end of this comment about animals not having 'constitutional rights and discrimination', that is now bullpucky! Because all the BLUE states instituting the whacky insurance laws are ALSO instituting criminal rights laws to protect these animals.

CA and NJ have signed the recent Animal Task Force protection laws and are having process of creating special prosecuting units created in place for criminal prosecution for violating state criminal code with animals.

So you can't have your arguement both ways.

[Calpernia]

What about when the rules are changed AFTER the fact?

[MarkL]

Something that needs to be remembered is that all dogs are animals, and that's something that many of us forget. Over time, they become members of the family, but they're still animals.

A friend has an english bulldog, and his three main goals in life are sleeping, "bullying" treats out of people, and having his belly rubbed. But last week, he bit the mailman! Nobody thought that could ever happen. He didn't break the skin, but it did scare the mailman, and now her mail isn't being delivered, and she's going to be sued.

This is a dog that I've gotten on the floor and wrestled with time and time again. He's incredibly mellow and well tempered. I've never even heard him growl or bark. But something seems to have set him off that day.

The weirdest thing is that when a guy from animal control came by to check on his vaccinations, when he saw "the beast," he broke out laughing. He couldn't believe that this dog would bite someone. And when she went to pick up the letter at the postoffice, stating that she was being sued, he co-workers came out to see "the beast" who was napping in her car... And they broke out laughing.

This is Jack, doing what he does best... Napping!

Mark