Latest Claims Headlines
All the headlines from our Claims Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Compensation for London’s Grenfell Fire Victims May Be Capped at $5M: Reuters
Oct 18 2017 // The bill for compensating families of those who died in the Grenfell Tower fire in London may be as low as 4 million pounds ($5 million), according to several lawyers and a Reuters analysis of how damages laws apply in...
Georgia Estimates $550M in Insured Losses from Hurricane Irma
Oct 18 2017 // Georgia’s estimated insured losses from Hurricane Irma have climbed to more than $550 million, with insurers reporting approximately 103,163 claims filed so far, according to Georgia Insurance Commissioner Ralph...
PEMCO in Washington Names Vigil to Executive Team, Barry as Vice President of Claims
Oct 17 2017 // Seattle, Wash.-based PEMCO Insurance has named M.J. Vigil to its executive team as the company’s new vice president of people and brand. PEMCO also named Paul Barry to its executive leadership team as vice president...
Residents Begin Filing Claims for West Virginia Chemical Spill
Oct 17 2017 // Residents and businesses in nine West Virginia counties left without tap water during a 2014 chemical spill can start filing claims. According to a website set up to handle claims, forms were being accepted both online and...
Texas Harvey Recovery Czar Says Insurance Industry Needs to ‘Step Up’
Oct 16 2017 // The insurance industry in Texas is not happy with the state’s so-called Hurricane Harvey recovery czar. Texas A&M University Chancellor John Sharp, who was named by Gov. Greg Abbott to lead the Commission to...
California Commissioner Asks Insurers to Expedite Claims to Aid Wildfire Victims
Oct 15 2017 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones over the weekend issued a notice to insurers asking them to agree to expedited claims handling procedures for wildfire damage claims to help fire victims more quickly. Several...
How Aerial Imaging Is Speeding Hurricane Claims Settlements
Oct 12 2017 // In the wake of three devastating hurricanes this season, many carriers and vendors used drones and airplanes to assess structural storm damage. This use of aerial imaging combined with machine learning has fostered...
West Virginia Men Sentenced for Claims in Staged Car Accidents
Oct 11 2017 // Two West Virginia men have been sentenced for their roles in filing false insurance claims for vehicle accidents. Federal prosecutors say the accidents were staged from 2012 to 2014 in Taylor, Harrison and Marion...
Michiels Named Claims Manager at LUBA Workers’ Comp
Oct 10 2017 // Baton Rouge, La.-based LUBA Workers’ Comp has named Russell Michiels as manager of its claims department. He will oversee all claims operations and medical bill reviews, ensure compliance with state and federal...
Head of Texas’ Harvey Recovery Effort Says Agents Need to ‘Step Up’ on Damage Claims
Oct 6 2017 // The insurance industry in Texas is not happy with the state’s so-called Hurricane Harvey recovery czar. Texas A&M University Chancellor John Sharp, who was named by Gov. Greg Abbott to lead the Commission to...
Penn. Supreme Court Says Malice Not Required to Win Bad Faith Claims
Oct 5 2017 // The Pennsylvania Supreme Court unanimously affirmed a decision by the state’s Superior Court that although ill-will or malice is one factor that can be used to assess insurer bad faith, it is not a prerequisite for...
States May Copy California’s Law to Give Employees Right to File Class Actions
Oct 3 2017 // This week, the U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether employees have the right to bring class actions against their bosses. With the court’s Republican majority restored this year by President Donald Trump, labor...
Supreme Court Justices Appear Split Over Employee Class Action Case
Oct 3 2017 // Liberal U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday defended the right of workers to bring class-action claims against companies but their conservative counterparts who are in the majority sounded skeptical in the biggest...
Puerto Rico Power Outage to Mean More Business Interruption Claims
Oct 1 2017 // Puerto Rico’s island-wide power outage will mean a surge in insurance claims for lost business income that will increase the already high cost of damage caused by Hurricane Maria, likely tipping some big reinsurers...
Despite Rise in Catastrophe Losses, Home Insurance Loss Costs Declined in Recent Years
Sep 28 2017 // In 2016, Colorado and Texas homeowners suffered the greatest percentage of catastrophic losses due to extreme weather and other perils, according to a study of home insurance trends. The six-year LexisNexis Risk Solutions...
Global Reinsurers to Bear ‘Significant Share’ of Hurricane Maria Claims: A.M. Best
Sep 28 2017 // Ratings agency A.M. Best said it expects a significant share of the loss from Hurricane Maria to pass on to the global reinsurers evenly. The agency said it expects the loss would remain within the overall risk tolerance...
Lawsuit Claims J&J Knew of Asbestos in Talcum Powder in ’70s
Sep 28 2017 // Johnson & Johnson trained its employees to reassure anyone concerned about whether the company’s talcum powder contained asbestos that the cancer-causing substance “has never been found and it never...
Texas Regulators Seek Data on Insurers’ Hurricane Harvey Claims
Sep 27 2017 // The Texas Department of Insurance has issued a mandatory data call to both admitted and surplus lines insurance carriers seeking information about Hurricane Harvey-related claims in 62 counties impacted by the storm. The...
Nearly 17K Flood Claims Filed So Far in Florida From Irma
Sep 27 2017 // Nearly 17,000 flood insurance claims connected with Hurricane Irma have been filed, and more are expected in the coming weeks. The Sun-Sentinel reports that of 16,786 flood claims filed through Thursday, 3,969 were filed...
Mounting Catastrophe Claims Could Weaken Re/Insurers’ Capital Reserves: Fitch
Sep 27 2017 // Ratings downgrades for global insurers and reinsurers are becoming more probable as they face more than $100 billion in 2017 catastrophe losses, a figure that threatens to weaken their capital reserves, Fitch Ratings Inc....
