Latest Liability Headlines

All the headlines from our Liability Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Safeco Gets a Win in Underinsured Motorist Coverage Dispute

Apr 10 2024 // The Connecticut Appellate Court has ruled that an auto insurer is not obligated to pay underinsured benefits to make up the difference between the coverage limits available and the lower amount its insureds actually...

SC Bill, Passed by House, Would Let Captives Solve the Liquor Liability Squeeze

Apr 8 2024 // With one month left in the South Carolina legislative session, two bills designed to ease liquor liability insurance costs are evolving and moving forward. The state House of Representatives late last month voted 106-2 to...

People Moves: BHSI Appoints 3 for Transactional Liability, Claims and Customer & Broker Engagement Teams

Apr 2 2024 // Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) named a new head of Transaction Liability in Canada and has also promoted two executives in Europe within the claims and customer & broker engagement teams. Chres Lee has...

Ship Owner in Bridge Collapse Seeks to Limit Its Liability

Apr 2 2024 // The owner of the ship that rammed into a bridge in Baltimore last week, killing six workers and throwing the eastern US transportation network into chaos, is seeking to limit its liability to about $43.7 million. The...

Landlords and Their Tenant’s Liquor Liability

Apr 1 2024 // A landlord decides to lease a space in a retail strip center to a sports bar. The landlord’s commercial real estate representative sends the lease to the new prospective tenant to sign – it is a standard...

Towers Watson Again Denied Coverage for $90M Settlements Over 2016 Willis Merger

Apr 1 2024 // Towers Watson has been hit with another roadblock on its long and winding road to reach coverage for $90 million in settlements of two lawsuits related to its merger with broker Willis in 2016. A Virginia federal district...

Florida High Court Clarifies Things. Ruling Could Cut Damages for Bars Serving Booze to Minors

Apr 1 2024 // Liquor liability insurers in Florida can contemplate potentially lower loss costs on policies, after a recent state Supreme Court ruling that clarified when bars and restaurants can be held partially versus completely...

Survey: Most Architects and Engineers Professional Liability Rates to Rise

Apr 1 2024 // Most insurers plan to increase architects and engineers (A&E) professional liability insurance rates for a third consecutive year, according to a new survey by Ames & Gough. The specialty insurance broker reported...

Insurance Industry Readies for Historic Losses From Baltimore Bridge Tragedy

Mar 29 2024 // It’s very early in the recovery process and already the numbers are large. Insured losses for the tragic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore could be as much as $2 billion to $4 billion, according...

Titanic Law Helps Ship Owner Limit Bridge Collapse Liability

Mar 27 2024 // The owner of the ship that rammed into a Baltimore bridge could face hundreds of millions of dollars in damage claims after the accident sent vehicles plunging into the water and threw the eastern US transportation network...

Stacking Cracks: 30 Years of UIM Coverage Rules Are Wrong, NC Supreme Court Says

Mar 26 2024 // North Carolinians can no longer stack underinsured motorist policies to compare to liability limits in order to boost the amount of coverage in an accident, the state Supreme Court said last week in a decision that...

Worst Is Over: Most of Casualty Reserve Hole May Be Filled, Analyst Says

Mar 25 2024 // Predictions that the property/casualty insurance industry is in the midst of repeating the type of loss reserving cycle that accompanied the hard market of the beginning year of this century may be overblown, according to...

Louisiana Debates Civil Liability Over COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates

Mar 25 2024 // BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Three years after COVID-19 vaccines became widely available in the United States, Louisiana continues to debate policies related to inoculation mandates, including civil labilities if a work place...

Internet Firms Must Face Defective Product Liability Suit Over Buffalo Mass Shooting

Mar 20 2024 // A New York state judge has allowed a case seeking to hold social media companies liable in the tragic mass killing at a Buffalo supermarket in 2022 to go forward on grounds of product liability. Erie County Supreme Court...

Marsh: Transactional Risk Insurance ‘Remained Resilient’ in 2023

Mar 20 2024 // Despite a drop in the total number of global mergers and acquisitions, demand for transactional risk insurance “remained resilient” in 2023, Marsh announced in its annual transactional risk report. Data from...

Florida High Court Ruling Could Cut Damages for Bars Serving Booze to Minors

Mar 20 2024 // Insurers in Florida can can contemplate potentially lower loss costs on liquor liability policies after a recent state Supreme Court ruling that clarified when bars and restaurants can be held partially versus completely...

Florida Jury: NICO Did Not Act in Bad Faith in Crash That Killed 4 Women From Spain

Mar 18 2024 // Six months after a federal appeals court upheld a $12 million verdict against a waste-hauling company in a crash that killed four Spanish women in the Florida keys, a jury has found that the firm’s insurer did not...

A Look at the Liquor Liability Landscape

Mar 18 2024 // Liquor liability availability and pricing have put small business owners in the alcohol-related sector in some states in a bind. While securing coverage is easy in some areas, premiums have skyrocketed and carriers have...

Squeezed from All Sides: Restaurants Pressured by Labor, Food, Insurance Costs

Mar 18 2024 // The food services industry is anticipating record sales for 2024. But insurance specialists serving the restaurant and bar sector say that forecast isn’t all good news. With higher sales come higher costs all...

Spike in Recent Ratings Downgrades Shows Challenges for US Insurers

Mar 18 2024 // Negative ratings actions and financial challenges are forcing carriers to explore reinsurance options offering needed capital, according to a report released in February by Gallagher Re’s Strategic and Financial...