Latest Claims Headlines
All the headlines from our Claims Topic Page, ordered by recency.
A New Landscape: Notice and Prejudice in Texas
Aug 3 2009 // In the past few years, the Texas Supreme Court has repeatedly addressed the meaning and operation of policy conditions. Perhaps nothing has received as much attention as the conditions relating to notice of an occurrence,...
Florida Workers’ Comp Claims Costs Grew in Years after Reform
Jul 30 2009 // Medical costs for workers’ compensation claims in Florida grew between 5 and 7 percent in 2005 and 2006, according to a new study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI). The growth rate of followed a...
Suit Targets The Hartford’s Handling of Hurricane Wilma Claims in Florida
Jul 29 2009 // A Miami lawyer has filed class action suit against The Hartford alleging the company failed to pay replacement cost on Hurricane Wilma claims to insureds who had purchased the coverage. The suit claims The Hartford refused...
Report Claims Public Option Would Not Drive Out Private Health Insurers
Jul 28 2009 // Democrats in the House pounced on a congressional budget analysis to bolster their plan for a government-run health insurance option Monday, as party leaders said they were closer to agreement on healthcare reform. The...
Allstate to Close Mississippi Claims Office; Employees Offered Transfers
Jul 24 2009 // Allstate Insurance will close its Mississippi phone-claims center by Oct. 30, eliminating 63 local jobs. The claims center in Ridgeland has been in operation for about 30 years. Allstate spokesman Mike Siemienas says 33...
Insurance Reform Group Criticizes Medical Malpractice Insurance Industry
Jul 23 2009 // Insurance premiums and claims for doctors both have dropped significantly in recent years, while the medical malpractice insurance industry is enjoying “remarkable profits” in light of the global economic...
Securities Class Actions Decline; More Foreign Firms Targeted
Jul 22 2009 // Federal securities class action activity declined in the first half of 2009, with a particularly significant decline in the second quarter. According to Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse and...
Insurance Claims Firm Says West Virginia Owes It $1 Million Lost in Scam
Jul 21 2009 // A Memphis insurance claims firm wants the more than $1 million that it was supposed to receive from West Virginia, but that was instead diverted in an apparent Africa-based fraud scheme, state lawmakers learned...
Mountain Climbing
Jul 20 2009 // It’s not that the public sector can’t do anything right; it can and does and it very often handles the jobs nobody else wants to do. Monopolies just aren’t good policy— whether they are held by a...
Michigan Democrats Target Insurers Over Bad Faith Claims Denials
Jul 14 2009 // Democrats in the Michigan House are pushing a dozen bills they say are needed to protect consumers from unfair claims practices by insurance companies. But insurers maintain the measures are unnecessary and will do more...
Wisconsin Court: Witnesses Cannot Seek Medical Damages
Jul 13 2009 // The Wisconsin Supreme Court on July 10 tossed out a $200,000 award to a father who watched one of his twin sons die during birth in 1998. In a decision praised by doctors but criticized by trial lawyers, the court ruled...
Survey: Claims Service Is Tops for Agents When Evaluating Carriers
Jul 8 2009 // Quality claims service continues to be the top factor in how independent agents evaluate their carriers, although insurers’ financial strength ratings are now a much bigger concern for agents than in the past, an...
Few Complaints from Texas 2008 Hurricane Claims
Jul 8 2009 // The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) reported it has received a total of 1,201 justified complaints from the nearly 900,000 claims that originated from Hurricanes Ike and Dolly in 2008. The complaints represent less...
West Virginia Touts Switch to Private Workers’ Compensation System
Jul 7 2009 // West Virginia Insurance Commissioner Jane L. Cline says her state’s one-year old privatized workers’ compensation system is offering better claims administration, lower costs for employers and better treatment...
Oregonians May Qualify For Nationwide Insurance Settlement
Jul 7 2009 // More than 9,000 Oregonians may be eligible for payments as a result of a class-action settlement between Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. and affiliated companies and homeowner policyholders who claimed they were underpaid...
Court: Professional Liability Policy Excludes Patent Claims
Jul 6 2009 // A professional liability policy does not cover legal fees for patent infringement lawsuits brought by a competing company, a Pennsylvania appeals court has ruled. The ruling comes in response to a suit brought by...
How Independent Agents View Super Regional Carriers
Jul 6 2009 // Survey Says Claims Service Continues to Top List of Agency Demands Quality claims service continues to be the top factor in how independent agents evaluate their carriers, although insurers’ financial strength...
Real Estate Malpractice Insurance Operating at a Loss in Missouri
Jul 1 2009 // The real estate malpractice insurance line of business has operated at a loss over the last decade, according to a report recently released by the Missouri Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions and Professional...
Study Forecasts Deaths, Injuries After GM, Chrysler Bankruptcies
Jun 26 2009 // More than 3,400 Americans will be injured or killed by a defective Chrysler or General Motors vehicle during the first year of the car makers’ bankruptcies, according to a report by a consumer safety advocacy...
Court: Professional Liability Policy Excludes Patent Claims
Jun 25 2009 // A professional liability policy does not cover legal fees for patent infringement lawsuits brought by a competing company, a Pennsylvania appeals court has ruled. The ruling comes in response to a suit brought by...
