Latest Claims Headlines

Weather Claims Hurt Progressive Insurance 2d Quarter

Jul 10 2008 // Auto insurer Progressive Corp. reported Thursday a drop in second-quarter net income as it absorbed higher claims from natural catastrophes and wrote off $40.8 million in investments. Progressive’s combined ratio,...

Public Adjusters Take the Heat for Reopened Hurricane Claims

Jul 7 2008 // Public adjusters are being blamed for thousands of unresolved insurance claims in Florida dating back to the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons. A Florida task force monitoring how state-backed Citizens Property Insurance...

Jul 7 2008 // People McQueary Henry Bowles Troy LLP (MHBT) added Jim Anderson as senior vice president in the Dallas-based firm’s property/casualty group. Anderson will oversee the production and account management of...

New York Says Many 9/11-Injury Plaintiffs Not Seriously Ill

Jun 27 2008 // Many of the thousands of people who have gone to court for illnesses stemming from the 2001 terror attacks don’t have serious health problems, lawyers for New York City claim in court papers. About 10,800 plaintiffs...

Mercury Insurance To Pay $250,000 in California Claims Handling Settlement

Jun 26 2008 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced that Mercury Insurance Group will pay a $250,000 settlement for alleged claims handling violations. “I’m pleased that Mercury has agreed to this...

S&P: Rising Claims, Competition Squeeze Canadian P/C Insurers

Jun 26 2008 // “Lack of premium growth nationwide and diminished results in the Ontario auto segment restrained results for Canadian property and casualty insurers in the past year,” according to a newly published report from...

Home Insurers Bitten by $350M in Dog Claims; Average Claim Tops $24K

Jun 25 2008 // Man’s best friend is sinking its teeth into homeowners insurance costs. Dog bites now account for one-third of all homeowners insurance liability claims, costing $356.2 million in 2007, up 10.5 percent from the...

McCarthy to Lead Willis’ Construction, Real Estate Claims

Jun 19 2008 // Willis Group Holdings Limited appointed Gerry McCarthy as senior vice president, and regional director of construction and real estate claim teams of Willis of New York Inc. McCarthy’s responsibilities include...

Colorado Division of Insurance To Assist with Compliants in Windsor

Jun 19 2008 // The Colorado Division of Insurance announced it is sending staff to the Windsor Disaster Recovery Center to assist residents with insurance questions and problems following the tornado and hailstorms that struck the town...

Analyst Sees U.S. Insurers’ Q2 Hurt by Flood Claims

Jun 19 2008 // A group of insurers who cover farmers in the event of catastrophe-driven losses are facing their worst claims in 15 years due to flooding in the Midwest, said a Lehman Brothers analyst, who cut second-quarter earnings...

Insurers Could Be Hit by U.S. Midwest Crop Loss Claims

Jun 17 2008 // Insurers who sell coverage compensating farmers in the event of damage to their crops could be hit by claims from severe flooding in parts of the U.S. Midwest, according to an analyst report. While it is too soon to know...

Kentucky Gov. Appoints Workers Claims Administrative Law Judges

Jun 17 2008 // Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear appointed two new administrative law judges in the Department of Workers Claims. Beshear appointed private practice attorney Joseph W. Justice, of Pikeville. The appointment replaces John W....

Law Firms Face Increased Liability Risks Warns Marsh

Jun 16 2008 // A bulletin from Marsh’s London office warns that the economic downturn in the US and many parts of Europe, caused by the contraction of readily available credit in some spheres, may well increase the incidence of...

Florida Task Force Issues Final Report on Citizens’ Claims Handling

Jun 16 2008 // The Task Force on Citizens Property Insurance Claims Handling and Resolution, created during the 2007 Legislative Special Session, issued its third and final report. In addition to the June 11 submission, the task force...

Death Toll Stands at 10 in Aftermath of Midwest Tornadoes, Flooding

Jun 16 2008 // The death toll now stands at 10 in the Midwest as tornadoes, severe thunder storms and flooding hit Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin beginning June 6. States battled tornadoes that touched down in multiple areas, heavy...

Declarations

Jun 16 2008 // Asbestos Ruling “We hold that the Act cannot constitutionally be so applied and return the cases to the trial court for consistent proceedings.” —The Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled, stating...

Cost of Claims From Hailstorms in Oklahoma Could Top $20M

Jun 16 2008 // Hail damage claims from storms that hit Oklahoma in early June could easily top $20 million, an insurance industry source says, matching the cost of a similar storm in April. Meanwhile, nearly 1,260 electric company...

Insurance Companies Face Global Warming Claims

Jun 16 2008 // Corporations Exposed to Liability for Greenhouse Gas Emissions The industry is about to enter an era of global warming insurance claims. Scientists have been warning about the impact global warming could have if greenhouse...

State Regulators Call for More Study of Credit Scoring Use in Insurance

Jun 16 2008 // State regulators told Congress that more study of credit scoring use by insurance companies is needed to determine if the practice is unfairly discriminatory. “As state regulators, it is our sincere desire that the...

California Report Details How to Reduce Fraudulent Claims

Jun 16 2008 // Commissioner Takes Action on Five Recommendations Insurance fraud in California totals more than $15 billion each year, costing each resident an average of more than $500 per year. That’s the estimate published in a...