Latest Claims Headlines
All the headlines from our Claims Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Hail Claim Losses Increasing in Number, Severity
Oct 20 2014 // From 2002 through 2013 property/casualty insurers paid out $54 billion in claims losses on almost 9 million residential properties, but the majority of those losses occurred between 2008 and 2013, according to a report...
Latest Colorado Hail Storm May Impact Insurance Industry Nationally
Oct 20 2014 // Colorado’s insurance industry is weighing its options after the latest hailstorm hit densely populated South Metro Denver — unusual for the Rockies in late September. What Coloradans might likely see down the...
The Pitfalls of Rejecting a Defense Under Texas ‘Same Facts’ Test
Oct 17 2014 // Texas law recognizes that an insurer’s reservation of rights can create a potential conflict of interest. Northern County Mut. Ins. Co. v. Davalos, 140 S.W.3d 685 (Tex. 2004). Although there is a potential for...
Alabama Trio Convicted in $2 Million Gulf Oil Spill Claims Fraud
Oct 16 2014 // Federal prosecutors said three people have been convicted of fraudulently filing Gulf Oil Spill Fund loss claims. Officials said 53-year-old Marcella Truss, her 42-year-old husband Martee Davis and the woman’s...
Severe Storm Claims 2 Lives, Knocks Out Power in South
Oct 15 2014 // A severe storm system rolled across the South for a second day Tuesday, knocking out power to thousands as it made a mess of the morning commute in Atlanta and other Southern cities. The storm, which claimed two lives a...
Brandt Joins Esurance in California as Chief Claims Officer
Oct 14 2014 // Esurance has Eric Brandt managing director and chief claims officer. Brandt will oversee the strategic direction and management of Esurance’s claims function. Brandt will report to Gary Tolman and be based at...
Alabama Man Urged to Return BP Claim Payment
Oct 14 2014 // The former FBI chief appointed to investigate the BP oil spill claims process is seeking the return of nearly $240,000 from an Alabama man and his maritime business. Louis Freeh, in a federal court filing, says the man...
Aquiline Capital Partners Investing in Louisiana’s Worley Claims Services
Oct 10 2014 // Aquiline Capital Partners LLC (Aquiline), a New York-based private equity firm, announced it is acquiring a majority stake in Worley Claims Services (Worley), headquartered in Hammond, La. Founded in 1976, Worley provides...
Labor Advocates Question Florida Immigrant Workers’ Comp Arrests
Oct 9 2014 // Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater touted the arrests of more than 100 immigrant agriculture workers last July as an effort to crack down on the costly problem of workers’ compensation fraud. But it quickly...
N.J. Commissioner: 99.4% of Non-Flood Sandy Claims Settled
Oct 8 2014 // New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance Commissioner Ken Kobylowski said that among the 470,281 non-flood, Superstorm Sandy-related homeowners, automobile and commercial claims that were filed in New Jersey, 99.4...
Louisiana’s 37-acre Sinkhole Spawns Insurance Fight
Oct 6 2014 // The collapse of a portion of a salt dome that left a 37-acre sinkhole in swampy land west of Baton Rouge has bubbled up into a $50 million dispute between the mine operator and its insurance company. Texas Brine LLC wants...
BP Still Trying to Undo Some Oil Spill Claims Payments to Nonprofits
Oct 6 2014 // BP Plc is seeking to undo payments to some victims of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill in a move opposing lawyers warn could open the floodgates to challenging hundreds of thousands of individual damage-claim awards. BP,...
Menendez Urges FEMA to Reform NFIP’s Claims Process
Oct 6 2014 // U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) last month sent a letter to Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate, urging him to implement a number of changes to the National Flood Insurance...
Insureds Rarely Have Home Inventories Despite Benefits, Say Claims Pros
Oct 6 2014 // Despite big storms and wildfires highlighting the need, home inventories are rare, say insurance industry experts. An Allstate Insurance survey of Atlanta homeowners found that while than more than 90 percent of homeowners...
Coverage Options, Capacity Increase for Extreme Sports, Entertainment Risks Despite Exposures
Oct 6 2014 // Recent headline-making entertainment incidents – such as the death of actor Paul Walker during filming of the movie “Fast & Furious 7,” the collapse of the stage during country music band...
Insurer USAA Seeks OK to Test Drones for Claims Service
Oct 3 2014 // United Services Automobile Association (USAA), the insurer that specializes in coverage for military families, has filed for permission from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to use unmanned drone aircraft at...
ABI ‘Frustrated’ by Judgment Applying LASPO to Mesothelioma Claims
Oct 3 2014 // A recent decision by the UK’s High Court to apply Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO) to mesothelioma claims has triggered a negative response from the Association of British Insurers...
‘Ike Contingent’ Pounding Insurers with Texas Hail Claims
Oct 2 2014 // Insurance availability crises are nothing new. Nor is finger-pointing about what exactly causes them. In Texas, a red state that is nonetheless home to a robust plaintiffs’ bar, sparring in a particularly active...
Greenberg’s Lawyer Says U.S. Demonized, Extorted AIG Shareholders in Bailout
Sep 29 2014 // The U.S. extorted American International Group Inc. shareholders when it extended a $182 billion taxpayer bailout at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, a lawyer for Maurice “Hank” Greenberg...
Player’s Widow Sues NFL, Claims Husband’s Suicide Due to Concussions
Sep 23 2014 // The National Football League was sued by the widow of former San Diego Chargers defensive back Paul Oliver, claiming his suicide last year was the result of head trauma and concussions he sustained. The NFL ignored,...
