Latest Claims Headlines

La. Authority May Go After Insurance Claims of ‘Road Home’ Participants

Jul 17 2006 // Louisiana’s program to help storm-damaged homeowners rebuild or relocate may take over insurance claims and sue for additional insurance payments on behalf of recipients, a top official with the Louisiana Recovery...

Suit Against La.’s Last-Resort Plan Becomes Class Action

Jul 14 2006 // A lawsuit alleging that Louisiana’s insurance plan of last resort failed to pay homeowner claims following hurricanes Katrina and Rita has been granted class-action status. State District Judge Henry Sullivan took...

Shawnee’s Request to Drop Ohio from Lawsuit a Win, Official Says

Jul 13 2006 // Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro said this week that the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma’s decision to drop the state from its claim for lands in Ohio is a clear indication that their legal claims are...

Miss. Trial Could Help Decide Claims from Hurricane Katrina

Jul 12 2006 // Hurricane Katrina left thousands of Gulf Coast homeowners battling their insurance companies. A Mississippi police officer and his wife are the first to take their fight to court. A federal judge on Monday began hearing a...

Spokane Diocese Settles Sexual Abuse Claims with Two Insurers

Jul 10 2006 // The Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane has reached agreements with two more insurance carriers on payments to cover sexual abuse claims as the diocese’s bankruptcy case heads into mediation. In a statement issued late...

The OCIP or Wrap Policy

Jul 3 2006 // Owner controlled insurance programs (OCIPs) or contractor controlled insurance programs (CCIPs), commonly referred to as “wraps,” that have been traditionally used for large, commercial projects with...

Insuring Indian country

Jul 3 2006 // Indian tribes are no longer merely casino entrepreneurs or cigarette wholesalers. In conjunction with America’s largest corporations, Indians are now engaged in real estate development, banking and finance,...

Supreme Court: Workers’ comp premiums not priority in bankruptcy

Jul 3 2006 // News Currents A workers’ compensation insurer does not have a claim against a bankrupt business for unpaid premiums under bankruptcy law, according to the U.S. Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision that insurers are...

Insuring Indian country

Jul 3 2006 // Indian tribes are no longer merely casino entrepreneurs or cigarette wholesalers. In conjunction with America’s largest corporations, Indians are now engaged in real estate development, banking and finance,...

California construct defect litigation creating perfect storm

Jul 3 2006 // In The Perfect Storm, the book that inspired the movie of the same name, author Sebastian Junger defined “the perfect storm” as a tempest that may happen only once in a century, a storm created by so rare a...

Twenty-five Suspects Indicted on Fraud by California Department of Insurance

Jun 30 2006 // Twenty-five suspects in connection with a major insurance fraud investigation dubbed “Operation Cashout” have been indicted, according to the California Department of Insurance. Twenty suspects were arrested...

California Commissioner Questions Homeowners’ Insurance Rates

Jun 30 2006 // California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi has announced he will approve an 18 percent decrease in homeowner and renter premium rates by The Hartford Insurance Co. The Hartford’s filing for a decrease contrasts...

Citizens’ Reps Appeal to Florida Agents for Help, Cooperation

Jun 20 2006 // Citizens Property Insurance Co. officials recently told agents meeting in Orlando that Florida’s insurer of last resort is “as ready as they are going to be,” to face the 2006 hurricane season. Paul...

Supreme Court: Workers Comp Premiums Not Priority in Bankruptcy

Jun 20 2006 // A workers compensation insurer does not have a claim against a bankrupt business for unpaid premiums under bankruptcy law, according to the U.S. Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision that insurers are warning could disrupt the...

‘Concierge’ claims service

Jun 19 2006 // More than 11,300 car accidents happen in the Albany, N.Y. metropolitan area each year — that’s about 215 a week. Many claims cause less than $2,000 in damage but, according to Progressive Insurance, the time...

Jun 19 2006 // People PMA Insurance Group has promoted Elaine Manchon to assistant vice president for commercial markets underwriting. Manchon, who will join PMA’s corporate headquarters staff in the company’s Blue Bell,...

Exercising appropriate standard of care

Jun 19 2006 // The term “standard of care” often is thrown around when dealing with professional liability risks. A professional is regarded as someone who possesses special skills, experience and knowledge, and thus is held...

Study: Tort reforms reduce medical malpractice premiums

Jun 19 2006 // Tort reforms are the best proven instrument for reducing medical liability insurance premium growth, according to a new study conducted by Stanford University Professor Daniel P. Kessler, who also serves as a research...

Hartford Resolves Equitas Claims, Completes Review; S&P Comments

Jun 16 2006 // The Hartford Financial Services Group has entered into an agreement with Equitas, the Lloyd’s runoff vehicle, and all Lloyd’s syndicates reinsured by Equitas that “resolves, with minor exception, all of...

Insurer Doesn’t Have to Pay Claims in Ark. Babies’ Deaths

Jun 16 2006 // An insurance company doesn’t have to pay claims made in the deaths of two babies left inside a closed car in sweltering weather in Arkansas, a federal appeals court says. The claims were made in the April 1998 deaths...