'Insurance Queen' finds rocky road

Sunday, November 30, 2008
By JEFF AMY and RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporters

Pamela Wynona Schoen's recent business career has been peppered with legal disputes.

Now 45, Schoen began working as an Alfa insurance agent in 1986, the Montgomery-based company said. In the April 2007 edition of a publication called Ladies in Business, Schoen said her father was a friend of Alfa founder Ed Lowder and served as an Alfa district manager for 42 years.

Schoen declined to speak to the Press-Register, referring comment to her lawyer, Kelly McGriff.

Mobile Press-Register

Police: Insurance swindle involved big bucks

Sunday, November 30, 2008
By JEFF AMY and RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporters

Two former employees of the Starfish Insurance Agency in Gulf Shores stole hundreds of thousands of dollars, police believe, some of it by selling fake property insurance policies.

Pamela Wynona Schoen, who owns the agency and is its only licensed insurance broker, says that the former employees also stole from her. Schoen has refunded at least some of the money paid for fake insurance, according to two victims of the alleged swindle, which apparently peaked in midsummer and left some Starfish customers unprotected for a chunk of hurricane season.

In a Sept. 17 police report, Schoen accused Benton Gray Harvey and Jonathan W. Adams of stealing $176,317.81 from Starfish. Most of the thefts involved unauthorized purchases on company credit cards, according to Sgt. Skip Callaway of the Gulf Shores Police Department, who is handling the inquiry. Alabama's Insurance Department is also investigating.

Mobile Press-Register

Insurance bills in jeopardy

Wednesday, April 30, 2008
By BRIAN LYMAN
Capital Bureau

MONTGOMERY Bills aimed at providing insurance relief for Mobile and Baldwin counties are near death after a clash Tuesday between state Sen. Ben Brooks, R-Mobile and Senate Rules Committee chairman Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe.

Barron submitted a list of "noncontroversial" legislation for the Senate to consider late Tuesday afternoon. The list did not include any of Brooks' insurance bills, and when Brooks began filibustering the bill in protest, Barron warned him he would not schedule his insurance bills for any vote.

"You're acting childish and it is wrong," Barron told Brooks in a heated speech from the floor. "As long as you keep acting this way, you can forget about me putting your bill up (for a vote)."

Click here to read the full article from the Mobile Press-Register.

House Approves Bill to Expand Flood Insurance Program

By Hugh Son and Erik Holm

Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. House voted today to expand a federal flood insurance program to also include coverage for wind damage, a proposal that may reduce the role of private insurers in coastal areas.

The bill, approved 263 to 146, hasn't been voted on by the Senate. President George W. Bush threatened yesterday to veto the proposal, which his Office of Management and Budget called ``fiscally irresponsible.''

Click here to read the full story from Bloomberg.

Proposal addresses state's coastal insurance concerns

Insurers would write more coastal policies to avoid penalties

Thursday, September 27, 2007

By DAN MURTAUGH

Staff Reporter

Proposed legislation unveiled Wednesday would force insurance companies to write more hurricane policies closer to the Gulf of Mexico in order to avoid penalties.

The bill would also give tax breaks to residents who make their homes more storm-resistant.

Click here to read the complete article from the Mobile Press-Register.

Insurance bill to be released

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

By SEBASTIAN KITCHEN

Capital Bureau

MONTGOMERY -- Gov. Bob Riley will join state Sen. Ben Brooks and other legislators in Irvington today to unveil a bill intended to overhaul property insurance along the Alabama coast.

Key items in the bill will include restructuring and expanding beach pool coverage, offering tax breaks to homeowners who upgrade their properties to reduce the possibility of storm damage and allowing condominiums to use captive insurance, which provides a form of self-insurance.

Click here to read the complete story from the Mobile Press-Register.