Latest Claims Headlines
All the headlines from our Claims Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Finding Solutions for Emerging E&O Risks
Apr 20 2009 // Excess and Surplus Lines Market Offers a Place For Challenging Risks Since all service providers face the potential of law suits related to real or perceived “errors and omissions,” E&O coverage has become...
Willis Finds Credit Crunch Fallout Raises Financial Premiums by 15%
Apr 17 2009 // A report from FINEX Global, Willis’ London-based Financial, Executive Risk and Professional Liability business, has found that financial institutions (FI) face “an average premium hike of 15 percent in early...
Survey: Claims Handling is the Key to Winning over Agents
Apr 15 2009 // Quality claims handling is the most important factor to independent agents in evaluating an insurer, according to a recent survey of 450 agents conducted by the Professional Insurance Agents Associations (PIA) of...
Oklahoma Commissioner Declares Emergency After Wildfires
Apr 13 2009 // Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland has declared a state of emergency to allow insurance companies to more rapidly respond to the recent Oklahoma wildfires. The declaration enables emergency adjusters to be...
Colorado Defeats Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Bill
Apr 10 2009 // Colorado lawmakers voted down SB 103, the unfair claims practices act. The legislation was killed in the House Health and Human Services Committee in a 6-5 vote. The bill, if it had passed, would have “defined as an...
Marsh Finds Growing Demand for D&O Coverage as Claims Rise
Apr 9 2009 // “Concerns about the global economy, shareholder action, litigation, and the increasing engagement by regulators are fuelling demand for Directors’ and Officers’ (D&O) insurance,” according to...
Economic Downturn Presents Mixed Results for Workers’ Comp Market
Apr 6 2009 // The economic and financial downturn will have a mixed impact on the workers’ compensation insurance market, say industry analysts. Harry Shuford, chief economist for the National Council on Compensation Insurance...
People
Apr 6 2009 // The Professional Insurance Agents of Connecticut Inc. (PIACT) elected new officers. They are: President James Goodman, who is president of Goodman Insurance Inc. in Shelton; President-elect Howard Olderman, who is...
2008 Costly for Insurance Industry in Texas
Apr 6 2009 // The Texas insurance industry lost nearly $1.4 billion in 2008. According to figures released by the Texas Department of Insurance, for every dollar the state’s insurance industry took in it paid out $1.65. “It...
Corporate Defaults, Bankruptcies and D&O Claims
Apr 6 2009 // Deteriorating economic conditions threaten a massive wave of corporate defaults. Corporate borrowers’ inability to fulfill debt obligations could prompt a bankruptcy filing surge and lead to lawsuits as creditors and...
What’s So Special About Special Event Insurance?
Apr 6 2009 // The pitfalls of not placing special-event coverage, when it’s truly needed and available, can result in catastrophic losses to your insured, and possibly even damage the credibility of your agency and errors and...
Florida Suspends License of Weakened Coral Insurance
Apr 1 2009 // A Florida domestic property insurance company has been told to stop writing business– the second time in a week state regulators have had to act against an insurer. Hollywood-based Coral Insurance, which began doing...
Prepayments Planned by Backlogged Oklahoma Insurer
Apr 1 2009 // A state workers’ health insurance plan in Oklahoma recently came under renewed criticism when state lawmakers and plan administrators said it may take months to get rid of a backlog of more than 200,000 unpaid health...
Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Angry With Claims Backlog
Mar 27 2009 // Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland said she is “grossly disappointed and frankly mad” about a continuing backlog of more than 200,000 unpaid health insurance claims in a state workers’ insurance...
GAINSCO Reports Net Loss for 2008
Mar 27 2009 // Dallas-based insurer, Gainsco Inc., announced net losses for the fourth quarter and the year for 2008, but the losses are less than those the company reported in 2007. The company said its net loss for the fourth quarter...
Michigan Bank VP Claims He Was Fired For Questioning CEO’s Bonus
Mar 27 2009 // A banker has sued Citizens Republic Bancorp in Michigan, saying he was fired for questioning a $7.5 million bonus for the company’s chief executive on the eve of a federal bailout payment. John D. Schwab filed a...
Khosropur Named Chief Claims Officer at Narragansett Bay Insurance
Mar 25 2009 // Pawtucket, Rhode Island-based insurer Narragansett Bay Insurance Co. has named Bob Khosropur as chief claims officer. Khosropur, who most recently served as vice president of claims for Privilege Underwrites, is a 22-year...
Allstate Agents Back in Court over Claims of Age Bias by Insurer
Mar 25 2009 // A group of insurance agents asked a federal appeals court on Monday to revive an age discrimination lawsuit over the Allstate Insurance Co.’s decision to switch thousands of them from employees to independent...
South Carolina’s 2005 Reform Reducing Claims Against Doctors
Mar 23 2009 // Fewer lawsuits are being filed against South Carolina doctors since a state law limiting damages went into effect in 2005. An insurance executive told a state Senate panel that patient claims are down about a third and...
‘Claims Made” Coverage Pushed Far From Its Simple Goal
Mar 23 2009 // “Claims made” coverage forms were created with a simple goal: the insurer paid the claims that were made during the policy period. Since the wrongful acts or errors of professionals (i.e. doctors, lawyers,...