It Figures

77%

Allstate Corp. that its first-quarter 2008 net income dropped 77 percent, hurt by write-downs in its investments and larger-than-expected catastrophe losses. The insurer said it had to write down the value of fixed-income securities by $347 million because of turmoil in the global capital markets. Allstate, which sells insurance to 17 million American households, said net income fell to $348 million, or 62 cents a share, from about $1.5 billion, or $2.41 a share, in the year-ago quarter. The Northbrook, Ill., insurer said operating earnings fell about 38 percent to $747 million, or $1.33 a share, as claims from catastrophes took a bite out of earnings.

13

The state of Indiana is appealing the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s denial of assistance to governments in 13 northern Indiana counties hit by flooding earlier this year. Department of Homeland Security spokesman John Erickson says individual residents who applied for aid have already begun receiving payments. But the department on April 22 sent a letter to FEMA asking the federal agency to reconsider its decision last month to deny aid to the governments in Benton, Carroll, Cass, DeKalb, Elkhart, Jasper, Kosciusko, Marshall, Newton, Noble, Pulaski, Starke and White counties. State officials say the flooding that began Jan. 7, 2008, damaged more than 800 homes and caused more than $33 million damage. President Bush approved federal disaster aid for residents in the area roughly from Lafayette to South Bend and Fort Wayne.

$65 Million

A Virgina woman who was shot and wounded by her estranged husband after he killed her sister has filed a $65 million lawsuit against the BJ’s Wholesale Club where the crimes happened. Karen Phillips was an employee at the Chesapeake store in April 2006. In her lawsuit, she says BJ’s knew about the danger posed by her estranged husband, James Phillips, but failed to protect her. A hearing on the case is scheduled for next month in Norfolk Circuit Court. According to the lawsuit, James Phillips had been removed from the store at least three times for threatening actions and had made threatening phone calls the day of the shootings. According to testimony at James Phillips’ trial, he waited outside the store and shot Linda Baggett as she came to pick her up her sister. Afterward, he went inside to shoot Karen Phillips. James Phillips was convicted in both shootings in 2007. An attorney for BJ’s, Erik Nyce, says that BJ’s did not have notice of a specific danger posed by James Phillips. Nyce also cited case law that says the owner of land has no duty to warn or protect people on the premises from the criminal acts of a third person.

$6.2 Billion

Liberty Mutual Group has agreed to acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of Safeco Corp. for $68.25 per share in cash in a deal that will make Liberty Mutual the fifth largest U.S. property/casualty insurer and second largest surety writer. The proposed transaction, which is valued at approximately $6.2 billion, has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the third quarter of 2008.