Latest Claims Headlines
All the headlines from our Claims Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Zurich Appoints Kath, Barnes to New Claims Positions
Nov 29 2007 // Zurich Financial Services announced changes in the claims division of its global corporate and European General insurance units. Jutta Kath, 47, who is currently Chief Claims Officer for Global Corporate, has been...
FBI Targets Miss. Lawyer Known for Handling Katrina Insurance Claims
Nov 29 2007 // FBI agents who searched the law offices of Mississippi attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs on Tuesday left with copies of the office’s computer hard drives, a lawyer for the firm said Wednesday. Joey...
Calif. SCIF Names Claims Manager in Sacramento
Nov 28 2007 // Jürg Morach has been named claims manager for California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund’s Sacramento District Office. Morach brings more than 18 years of State Fund experience to his new post. He was...
Florida Malpractice Insurance Rates Down 4 Years after Limits
Nov 25 2007 // Four years ago, many Florida doctors threatened to quit their practices because their malpractice insurance premiums were spiraling out of control. Some doctors retired early, some moved out of state. A few briefly walked...
Legislators Adopt Model Law to Strengthen State Guaranty Funds
Nov 21 2007 // A new model law adopted by the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) will create a stronger safety net for property/casualty guaranty funds nationwide. According to legislators, the Post-Assessment Property...
Ruiz Named SCIF Claims/Rehabilitation Operations Systems Manager
Nov 20 2007 // Jose Ruiz has been appointed claims/rehabilitation’s operations and systems manager for California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund. Ruiz started his State Fund career as a claims adjuster in the...
Judge OKs Dana Corp.’s $2M Settlement with Asbestos Victims
Nov 19 2007 // Dana Corp. has won court approval to pay $2 million to settle personal-injury claims from 7,500 people who say they were sickened by Dana products that contained asbestos. Judge Burton Lifland of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court...
Calif. State Fund Promotes Two
Nov 19 2007 // Maria Rosario D. Martinez has been appointed claims manager of Los Angeles Claims Services in the California State Compensation Insurance Fund’s Glendale office. Martinez began her State Fund career in 1987 servicing...
It Figures
Nov 18 2007 // $1 Million The amount a federal judge has ordered jailed Alabama outdoorsman Edmond H. “Eddie” Smith IV to pay to an insurance firm that accused him of filing a bogus post-Hurricane Katrina damage claim for a...
Former Okla. Claims Manager Pleads Guilty
Nov 18 2007 // The former claims manager for an Oklahoma insurance company has pleaded guilty to five felony counts of grand larceny by fraud. The alleged violations took place between the beginning of January 2005 and the end of July...
New Players Enter the E&O Market … But Some Agents May Not See Rates Decline
Nov 18 2007 // Despite a rosier outlook in the agents’ errors and omissions (E&O) insurance market compared with years past, many insurance agents still faced rate increases in their E&O coverage in 2007 and anticipate...
N.C. Engineering Firm to be Dropped from Miss. Katrina Insurance Suits
Nov 15 2007 // North Carolina-based Forensic Analysis and Engineering Corp., has reached a settlement with lawyers who have filed hundreds of lawsuits against State Farm Insurance Cos. on behalf of policyholders whose claims were denied...
New Information Could Aid Pa. Nuclear Workers’ Claims
Nov 14 2007 // Cold War-era nuclear weapons workers hope new documentation about their exposure to radiation at Bethlehem Steel will bolster their efforts to receive compensation from the government. Former steel worker Edwin Walker said...
N.D. Workers’ Comp Board Okays Consultant to Review Personnel, Claims
Nov 14 2007 // The board of North Dakota’s troubled workers compensation agency has voted to hire an outside consultant to review its operations. After meeting for about an hour behind closed doors, the board decided that a...
Former Okla. Claims Manager Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charges
Nov 13 2007 // The former claims manager for an Oklahoma insurance company has pleaded guilty to five felony counts of grand larceny by fraud, according to state Attorney General Drew Edmondson. The charges against Rhonda K. Bonnewell...
La. AG Sues Insurers, Alleges Price-Fixing and Conspiracy
Nov 9 2007 // Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti is suing the state’s largest property insurance companies, accusing insurers of conspiring to limit payments to policyholders after hurricanes Katrina and Rita and engaging in...
Mercury General Net Premiums Down in Q3, But Up in Calif.
Nov 7 2007 // Mercury General Corp., reported net income of $63.3 million in the third quarter of 2007, compared with $68.2 million for the same period in 2006. For the first nine months of 2007, net income was $193.2 million compared...
Defeat for Insurance Industry; Wash. Voters Approve Referendum 67
Nov 7 2007 // Much to many insurance companies’ dismay, Washington voters approved Referendum 67 yesterday, with 520,667 or 57 percent of voters in favor of the initiative to allow insureds to collect triple damages if their...
China Claims Some Progress in Improving Industrial Safety
Nov 6 2007 // A five-year campaign to improve China’s notoriously deadly industrial safety record is gaining steam, with accidental deaths falling by nearly 14 percent in the first ten months of this year, the country’s top...
Insurers Used Variety of Resources to Reach Out to Fire Victims
Nov 4 2007 // In the midst of the blazing wildfires that overwhelmed seven Southern California counties in October, insurance companies sprung into action. Most said they had learned from past catastrophes and that preparation was key...
