Latest Claims Headlines
All the headlines from our Claims Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Australian Insurers Declare Catastrophe for Losses from East Coast Flooding
Feb 10 2020 // The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has declared a catastrophe for property losses caused by storms and flooding along the east coast since February 5. Insurers said they have received 10,000 claims with the value of...
Top Workplace Discrimination Claims
Feb 10 2020 // Top Workplace Discrimination Claims Retaliation is again the number one discrimination charge filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), followed by disability, race, sex and age. Each year the EEOC...
Wine ‘Smoke Taint’ Disputes Linger 2 Years After California Wildfires
Feb 7 2020 // Recent wildfires in California Wine Country, particularly those that devastated parts of Napa and Sonoma counties in October 2017, have focused attention on whether insurance covers smoke taint damage to grapes and...
TDI: Former NFL Player Indicted in Texas for Fraudulent Claims
Feb 6 2020 // Former NFL player Willie Montae Reagor was arrested January 30 for submitting fraudulent health reimbursement claims after an investigation by the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) Fraud Unit. The TDI investigation found...
North Dakota Official: Work Injury Claims Could Rise with Recreational Pot
Feb 6 2020 // North Dakota could see a rise in workers’ compensation claims if marijuana is legalized, the state’s workplace safety agency told lawmakers on Feb. 4. Jodi Bjornson, a lawyer for North Dakota Workforce Safety...
New Jersey’s J.A. Montgomery Consulting Hires Vallen to Forensic Services Practice
Feb 5 2020 // J.A. Montgomery Consulting, a New Jersey-based affiliate of Conner Strong & Buckelew that focuses on risk control, safety and claims services, has hired Colleen Vallen to its team. Vallen, a forensic services expert...
Washington Woman Pleads Guilty After Filing 27 Fake Injury Claims
Feb 5 2020 // Rebecca Tabares Garza, of Yakima, Wash., pleaded guilty in Yakima County Superior Court to first-degree theft and filing a false insurance claim for 27 injuries she said occurred to herself and her family. Garza was...
Is the Pendulum Swinging Toward Defendants on New York Labor Law Claims?
Feb 4 2020 // Generally speaking, Labor Law Section 240(1) (“240”) imposes strict liability on owners and general contractors for certain height/gravity-related accidents that occur at construction projects. Establishing a...
Gymnast Sexual Abuse Victims Offered $215 Million Insurance Payout to Settle Claims
Feb 4 2020 // USA Gymnastics has filed a bankruptcy plan that includes an offer of $215 million for sexual abuse survivors to settle their claims against the embattled organization. The $215 million total is the amount the insurance...
Musk Holds Out As Other Tesla Directors Settle Investors’ SolarCity Claims for $60M
Jan 30 2020 // All Tesla Inc. directors except Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk agreed to a $60 million settlement to resolve shareholder lawsuits over the company’s purchase of SolarCity, according to people familiar with the...
Facebook to Pay $550M to Settle Biometric Privacy Violation Claims
Jan 30 2020 // In what the plaintiffs’ lawyers are calling the largest cash settlement ever resolving a privacy related lawsuit, Facebook has agreed to establish a fund of $550 million to pay Facebook users in Illinois claiming the...
Opioid Victims Can Now File Injury Claims in Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy Case
Jan 29 2020 // State and local governments have been leading the legal fight against the opioid industry, seeking payouts to help them deal with the fallout from the nation’s addiction crisis. Average Americans are about to get...
Top Workplace Discrimination Claims
Jan 28 2020 // The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has detailed breakdowns for the 72,675 charges of workplace discrimination the agency received in fiscal year 2019. The FY 2019 data show that retaliation continued to be...
Florida Man Accused of Making Fraudulent Hurricane Irma Claims
Jan 27 2020 // A Florida man has been accused of lying about damage caused by Hurricane Irma, federal prosecutors announced this week. An indictment was returned charging Deontre Javan Taylor, 26, of Jacksonville, with disaster...
Australian Insurers Should Be Able to Withstand Mounting Bushfire Claims: AM Best
Jan 27 2020 // Australian insurers are well-capitalized and should be able to withstand losses from the 2019/2020 bushfire season, aided by strong capital positions and support from reinsurance partners, said AM Best. The ratings agency...
South Carolina Homeowner Claims in Suit Airbnb Guest Threw Party, Trashed Home
Jan 27 2020 // The owner of an island home off South Carolina’s coast is suing Airbnb, claiming it only reimbursed him for a “fraction” of the damages that a guest who threw a big party did to his home. In a federal...
How Parametric Insurance Can Help Fill the Gap Where Traditional Insurance Falls Short
Jan 27 2020 // Although parametric solutions have been generally available since the late 1990s, they have more recently found their way into corporate insurance. Parametric insurance solutions offer a means to guarantee direct payout...
Policy Changes Now in Effect at Texas Windstorm Insurer
Jan 27 2020 // The new year brought some changes to residential and commercial policies provided by Texas’ insurer of last resort for wind and hail along the coast. New coverages, terms and conditions now apply to Texas Windstorm...
Industry Calls On Florida Lawmakers to Reform Lawsuit Abuse
Jan 27 2020 // Florida lawmakers are considering a number of insurance-focused issues over the course of the 60-day 2020 Legislative Session that started Jan. 14. At the top of the list for industry and consumer advocates are reforms to...
Insured Losses from Australia’s Hailstorms Hit US$352.5 Million
Jan 24 2020 // The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has declared a catastrophe for damage caused by hailstorms that struck eastern Melbourne, the Australian Capital Territory and parts of New South Wales on Sunday and Monday (Jan....
