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Coffee Talk (Tampa)
Good news for Phelps Dunbar
At first glance, it looks like the New Orleans headquarters of 240-lawyer Phelps Dunbar LLP - one of the oldest continuously operating law firms in the South - escaped serious injury, as did the firm's employees.
That was obviously good news for Larry Ingram, managing partner of the firm's 33-lawyer Tampa office. "The firm is going to be fine," Ingram says. "We've been pretty much able to relocate our practice groups."
Lawyers from New Orleans and Gulfport will work from the firm's other offices, including Tampa, Houston and Baton Rouge, until they can return to New Orleans, he says.
The biggest obstacles, he says, are "logistical problems with the lack of communication, transportation and electricity."
On Monday, Ingram saw one of the firm's New Orleans partners, John Manard, on MSNBC walking through knee-deep water to retrieve items from his home. Only one attorney has relocated to Tampa from New Orleans, he says. But the firm expects more.
As for the future, he says, "No one really knows what the long-term effects will be yet." But one thing is sure: "Hurricanes are always going to be an issue when you're in the Gulf South." Once the initial human tragedy is dealt with, though, Ingram expects an economic boom as Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama rebuild.
"It's going to be a New South, I guess," Ingram says.
The politics of strange bedfellows
Tampa trial lawyer Tom Scarritt apparently endeared himself to colleagues during the first year of his two-year term on the Florida Ethics Commission. They elected him chairman a week or so ago.
It's a bit of a surprise for some political observers. Some expected John Grant, the commission's vice chairman and a former state senator from Tampa, to take over as commission chairman for the 2005-06 term. Only Gov. Jeb Bush didn't reappoint Grant, a Republican, to a second term.
While no one is talking publicly, it appears Bush acceded to Senate President Tom Lee. The Brandon Republican has opposed lobbyists serving on a commission that regulates the ethics of public officials. Grant represents a number of public and private organizations as a registered lobbyist.
The decision not to reappoint Grant apparently had nothing to do with his performance on the ethics commission. Some say he deliberated fairly and adhered to the rule of law.
Now Scarritt's appointment last year and elevation to chair this year only proves the old saying that politics is all about strange bedfellows.
Not only is Scarritt a trial lawyer, a profession that Bush loves to berate, but he also is an ardent Democrat. Not long ago, for instance, sources say he sponsored a successful fund-raiser at his South Tampa home for U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate.
Johnnie Byrd, the former state House speaker from Plant City, originally appointed Scarritt to the ethics commission. The Republican Byrd made that appointment partly on a recommendation from trial lawyer Steve Burton, a Byrd ally and managing partner in the Tampa office of Broad & Cassel.
In addition to Scarritt's election, the bipartisan commission also elected Pensacola physician Kurt Jones, another Democrat, as vice chairman.
Weep not for insurers, yet
Insurance companies have only started totting up their losses from Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast. But if the hurricanes that hit Florida last year are any guide, the big property and casualty carriers should be just fine.
Weiss Ratings Inc., the Jupiter-based evaluator of banks, insurers and securities brokers, has finished totaling the 2004 profits of American insurers. It took until the middle of August. But Weiss says property and casualty insurers saw a 28% increase in net income over 2003, despite the wave of hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.
That particular insurance sector generated a combined profit of $41.3 billion, according to Weiss. Not every property and casualty insurer could toast the 2004 results.
Universal Insurance Co. of North America was one of three Florida-domiciled companies that Weiss singled out as among the weakest property and casualty insurers in the state. The Sarasota-based insurer earned a grade of E, which Weiss gives to what it calls "very weak" companies.
In defense of Universal Insurance Co., it is just starting out. It reported just $22 million in assets and $6 million in total capital, as of Dec. 31. The company is a subsidiary of Puerto Rico's Universal Insurance Group.
John W. Burns, a vice president at Universal Insurance Co., says the Sarasota subsidiary is only about a year old. The company's principal line of business is homeowner's multiple peril insurance. It has been acquiring policies from Florida's state-operated insurer of last resort, Citizens Property Insurance Corp.
Publicity hound
The publicist for Lexington Homes Inc. is letting local news media know that the New Port Richey homebuilder "is doing it again."
Lexington Homes reaped a little national attention last spring on the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" show over the ABC television network for coordinating the construction of a new house for the family of Pinellas County shooting victim James Dolan.
Now Lexington Homes is lining up contractors to remodel the main kennel at Southeastern Guide Dogs Inc. The Palmetto guide dog training school is one of the Tampa Bay area's most beloved charities. During the next two weeks, Lexington Homes and others will overhaul the school's 13-year-old kennel with donated doors, fencing, flooring, landscaping and plumbing.
Although the kennel renovation might not land Lexington Homes on national TV again, Coffee Talk gives the builder two paws up for continued generosity, this time to the animal kingdom.
Extreme competition
Get ready for extreme competition with help from Peter Fingar of the Greystone Group. Fingar will discuss the 21st century business reformation at a Sept. 14 breakfast that begins at 7:15 a.m. at the Collaborative Labs, EpiCenter, 13805 58th St., N., Largo. The event is part of the "Titans of Technology Business Series," sponsored by the Tampa Bay Technology Forum. For more information, call (813) 259-0345.
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