Latest Claims Headlines
All the headlines from our Claims Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Damage Claims Threaten Munich Re’s 2011 Profit Goal
Mar 10 2011 // Heavy damage claims from an earthquake, floods and a storm this year will put Munich Re’s full-year profit goal at risk if claims do not subside in the coming quarters. The world’s biggest reinsurer said it...
Has Time Come to Cap Whistleblower Awards?
Mar 8 2011 // Corporate whistleblowers are getting bigger and bigger payouts for reporting fraud, sparking a fresh debate about whether the rewards are justified. Whistleblowers have collected billions of dollars since the late 1980s by...
United Heartland Names Ische Director of Claim Strategy; Zubek Director of Field Claims
Mar 8 2011 // New Berlin, Wis.-based United Heartland has promoted Jane Ische to director of Claim Strategy and Lee Zubek to director of Field Claims. Ische has served in a variety of positions with United Heartland during the past 15...
E&O Insights: Common Auto, Homeowners Errors
Mar 7 2011 // An Estimated 30% of All Agency E&O Claims Arise from Handling Auto and Homeowners Business When dissecting Errors & Omissions claims frequency, it is apparent there is real E&O exposure for agencies writing...
Few Taking Final Offers to Settle Oil Spill Claims
Mar 3 2011 // Records show that in the last two weeks more than 8,100 people and businesses have been offered final payments from BP’s oil spill compensation fund, but few have accepted so far. Gulf Coast Claims Facility data show...
Tennessee Sets Deadline for Claims Against 3 Shuttered Insurers
Mar 3 2011 // A Tennessee judge has set May 16 as the final date to resolve all outstanding claims against three insolvent risk retention groups that were closed in 2003 after the failure of their Virginia reinsurer, Reciprocal of...
Stempel to Manage New Crawford Office in Panama
Mar 3 2011 // Crawford & Company announced that it has established an office in Panama City, Panama, and named insurance executive Miguel Stempel as its manager of operations in the country, in order to “serve a growing...
San Francisco Agency Looks to Settle Crash Claims for $1 Million
Mar 2 2011 // The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency will consider settling nearly $1 million in claims from 12 passengers injured in a July 2009 light-rail crash. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Muni’s board...
Swiss Re Estimates Christchurch Quake Claims at App. $800 Million
Mar 2 2011 // Swiss Re has announced that, based on current information, it provisionally estimates its claims cost from the earthquake in New Zealand on February 22nd to be approximately $800 million, net of retrocession and before...
Texas Regulators Move to Take Over Windstorm Insurance Association
Feb 28 2011 // The Texas Department of Insurance has informed the director of the state’s property insurance company of last resort for wind in the state’s coastal counties that it is placing the organization under...
New Mexico Fraud Bill Would Allow Judges to Aggregate Claims
Feb 28 2011 // The New Mexico Senate has passed a bill giving judges authority to aggregate the dollar amount of false insurance claims to determine the penalty before sentencing a fraudster. Judges can impose harsher sentences by...
Florida Insurers, Businesses Take Aim at PIP Fraud
Feb 24 2011 // Insurance companies are taking to the Internet to combat auto insurance fraud in Florida. The Property Casualty Insurers Association of American has launched www.InsuranceFraudUncovered.com, a Web site designed to...
Insurers Report 24% Rise in Suspicious Claims Since 2008
Feb 23 2011 // There has been a 24 percent rise in what insurance companies consider suspicious claims since 2008. In 2008, a total of 74,146 so-called questionable claims, or QCs, were referred to the National Insurance Crime Bureau...
Texas Windstorm Insurance Litigation Costs Too High, Lawmaker Says
Feb 22 2011 // The amount the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) has paid out in litigation costs as a result of lawsuits stemming from Hurricane Ike claims is far too high, says one Texas lawmaker who’s working on...
BP Oil Spill Claims Fund Alters Some Payment Rules
Feb 22 2011 // The administrator of BP’s $20 billion Gulf oil spill fund announced new rules on how final payments will be determined in the highly criticized claims process, but the central payment formula remained unchanged from...
Advising Clients on How to Minimize Medical Liens in Workers’ Compensation
Feb 21 2011 // Close early and close quickly. For brokers advising their clients on how to control their workers’ compensation costs, this axiom is a prime directive. There are a host of reasons why this does not always happen. As...
BP Claims Fund Placed Under Judicial Oversight
Feb 21 2011 // Kenneth Feinberg, the formerly freewheeling administrator of BP Plc’s fund to compensate victims of last year’s oil spill, could be forced to revamp dramatically how he handles claims now that the fund has come...
BP Claims Fund Placed Under Judicial Oversight
Feb 21 2011 // Kenneth Feinberg, the administrator of BP Plc’s fund to compensate victims of last year’s oil spill, could be forced to revamp dramatically how he handles claims now that the fund has come under the...
State Farm Florida Cites Sinkhole Claims in Rate Hike Bid
Feb 18 2011 // Citing sinkhole losses and higher operating expenses, State Farm Florida asked state regulators this week for a 28 percent premium increase on its homeowners policies. Sinkhole claims, which are approaching $2 billion over...
Suit Claims BP Official Quit Over Safety Issues Before Gulf Disaster
Feb 16 2011 // A former official with BP’s drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico resigned just months before last year’s oil spill because of disagreements with the oil giant over its commitment to safety, according to a...
