Jurisdictional differences posing new challenges for E&S casualty underwriters: Everest's Buonpane

By Isha Marathe

May 28 - (The Insurer) - The casualty sector has had to shift its underwriting mentality in response to an increasing focus on differences in U.S. state-to-state regulations and a growing chasm in jurisdictional torts and reforms, said Everest Evolution president Stephen Buonpane at the E&S Insurance Conference 2025.

"There's such a heightened focus on what's happening from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, (and while) that's always been the case, it's at a level now where it's so prevalent that we are asking the 'where' and the 'what,'" Buonpane said.

A key factor affecting the growing differences in jurisdictions has been the litigation environment, which differs from one state to another due to tort reforms in some states and tort rollbacks in others. If reforms are seen as stabilizing, underwriters may increase capacity, but if they are seen as short-lived, they may withdraw or restrict offerings.

Rising social inflation, which underwriters have to accommodate into their models along with growing claims severity and nuclear verdicts, are some factors subject to jurisdiction-specific legal and insurance policy.

As a result, E&S underwriters are on their toes about "when am I going to get pulled in?" and "where are (the jurisdictional) contracts?" more than in the past, Buonpane said.

"I think that has changed in terms of how we are thinking about jurisdictions... There's different ways in how we are underwriting (and) what we are focused on year over year."

Evolving tech and AI products are another area E&S underwriters are keeping an eye on when it comes to how they underwriter, Buonpane said.

As the industry increasingly digitizes and has growing access to public information and data, Buonpane forecasted that E&S underwriters' ability to use information to gain market insights and make data-informed decisions will shift further in the "next 12 to 24 months."