Tort reform needed to bring commercial auto losses under control, says Arch’s Conkin

By Chris Munro

May 28 - (The Insurer) - Arch Insurance’s Jason Conkin has added his voice to the growing number of market commentators who believe that tort reform is needed so that the industry can get a handle on commercial auto losses.

Commercial auto has long been a pain point for (re)insurers, with the class frequently cited as one of the most challenging across the entire industry, with carriers impacted both by escalating frequency and severity of loss.

Indeed, commercial auto accidents remain a major driver of nuclear verdicts, CRC’s national casualty director Kristyn Smallcombe said during the E&S Insurer Conference 2025 on Wednesday morning.

“Without any major change in that area, the pressure point I think will still be on that segment,” she said.

Conkin, executive vice president of E&S casualty at Arch, presented a similar view, and said “the ultimate future is tort reform in commercial auto to get some of these losses under control.”

He quipped that commercial auto is “a great place to be an attorney”.

“If I have the choice between this or highly complex manufacturing litigation or construction defect litigation, trucking or transportation commercial auto is a fairly, in my mind, easier place to litigate.”

Stephen Buonpane, president of Everest Evolution, said from his company’s viewpoint of how it plays in the auto market, “it is so jurisdictionally dependent in terms of what are we able to do from a rate and admitted standpoint”.

“You're starting to see the acceptance in some states you maybe may not have thought would have accepted larger rate increases in terms of certain classes of auto.

“That's going to have an impact in terms of a pure pricing adequacy and a structural standpoint.”

As Buonpane explained, he believes for Everest Evolution it will “play out favorably over time” because the company is nimble enough to utilize different paper for the commercial auto business.

“It's more advantageous in terms of the long-term viability of this business for not only us, but also the insured going forward,” he added.