Business Insurance

Mississippi restaurant loses COVID-19 business interruption case

A Hattiesburg, Mississippi, restaurant became the latest plaintiff to be denied COVID-19-related business interruption coverage by an insurer, when a federal district court ruled Wednesday there was no physical damage under the terms of its policy an...

Posted: Nov 05, 2020

Contractor on hook for fine after not responding to fatality citation

An administrative law judge with the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission on Thursday denied a home contractor’s request for relief after he failed to respond in time to a $138,118 citation stemming from an inspection of a job site after...

Posted: Nov 05, 2020

Amazon workers’ claims dismissed, court defers to OSHA

A district court dismissed workplace safety claims filed by a group of Amazon.com Inc. workers after holding that the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, not the courts, was the appropriate venue for addressing the workers’ COVID-19-r...

Posted: Nov 05, 2020

Applied launches E&S casualty underwriter

Applied Underwriters Inc. said Thursday it has launched a new excess and surplus casualty company, Applied Specialty Underwriters LLC, that will initially focus on large construction in New York.

Posted: Nov 05, 2020

M&A deals for insurers up, brokers slow: S&P

The value of insurer merger and acquisition transactions involving buyers or targets in the U.S. or Bermuda for full-year 2020 should exceed the deal value for 2019, while broker M&A deals slowed, according to a report Thursday from S&P Global Market...

Posted: Nov 05, 2020

Commission to decide if scrapes, staph infection work-related

The Iowa Court of Appeals on Wednesday ordered a state workers compensation commission to determine whether the cuts and scrapes a construction worker said led to a staph infection were acquired at his work site.

Posted: Nov 05, 2020

Insurer RSA sees pandemic exclusions limiting lockdown impact

England’s second national lockdown is unlikely to have much impact on RSA Insurance Group PLC as many policies now have pandemic-related exclusions, its CEO said on Thursday as it reported a rise in underwriting profit in the first nine months.

Posted: Nov 05, 2020

KEMI to issue $8 million comp dividend

Kentucky Employers Mutual Insurance announced Monday that it would issue an $8.1 million dividend to eligible workers compensation policyholders and an additional nearly $7 million to the state’s school boards insurance trust fund.

Posted: Nov 05, 2020

Liberty Mutual posts higher Q3 profit, net written premium

Liberty Mutual Holding Co. Inc. and its subsidiaries on Thursday reported $397 million in third-quarter earnings, up from $272 million in the year-earlier period.

Posted: Nov 05, 2020

Lloyd’s ditches plan to create its own electronic exchanges

Lloyd’s of London has dropped ambitious plans to set up its own electronic exchanges and will work with other existing platforms to speed up the underwriting process and cut costs, the commercial insurance market said on Thursday.

Posted: Nov 05, 2020

Reinsurer Conduit to issue $1.1 billion worth of shares

Conduit Holdings, a newly established reinsurance underwriting business, said on Thursday it plans to issue new shares worth $1.1 billion as it gears up for a London Stock Exchange listing.

Posted: Nov 05, 2020

Insurance prices increased sharply in third quarter: Marsh

U.S. commercial insurance prices increased 18% in the third quarter, driven mainly by higher rates for property exposures and financial and professional lines, according to a report released by Marsh LLC Thursday.

Posted: Nov 05, 2020

Movie rights were for Breakfast at Tiffany’s, not lunch or dinner

The trustee overseeing the rights to author Truman Capote’s work is not going lightly on Paramount Pictures Corp., claiming the studio’s 30-year-old rights to develop a prequel, sequel or television series inspired by the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffa...

Posted: Nov 05, 2020

Hannover Re’s P&C unit logs third quarter loss

Germany-based reinsurer Hannover Re SE’s property/casualty reinsurance unit reported an underwriting loss in the third quarter due claims associated with natural catastrophes and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Posted: Nov 05, 2020

Turkey quake designated as catastrophe: PCS

U.S.-based data analytics firm Verisk Analytics Inc.'s unit Property Claim Services Inc. has designated the 7.0-magnitude earthquake, which shook the Turkish region of Izmir on Oct. 30, as a catastrophe.

Posted: Nov 05, 2020

Pandemic, catastrophes hit insurers' profit

A report by Australia-based analytics consulting firm Finity Consulting Pty. Ltd. said that the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters and tumultuous financial markets have hit the local insurance industry's profitability hard.

Posted: Nov 05, 2020

Typhoon causes $120 million infrastructure damage

Super Typhoon Rolly that hit the Philippines on Nov. 1 has caused 5.8 billion Philippine pesos ($120 million) worth of infrastructure damage.

Posted: Nov 05, 2020

Lloyd’s reinsurance broker to buy South African counterpart

Lloyd's reinsurance broker MNK Re Ltd. is set to acquire a majority stake in South African counterpart Prospect Brokers Africa (Pty.) Ltd.

Posted: Nov 05, 2020

Pandemic unlikely to significantly impact nonlife insurers

A report by U.S.-based A.M. Best Co. Inc. said that the COVID-19 pandemic is unlikely to have a significant impact on the underwriting performance of Japan's nonlife insurers over the short to medium-term.

Posted: Nov 05, 2020

Lloyd's limits operations of underwriting room

Lloyd's of London plans to limit the operations of its underwriting room in response to the second lockdown, which begins on Nov. 5 and will last until Dec. 2.

Posted: Nov 05, 2020

Hurricane Zeta onshore insured losses estimated at $3B to $5B

Total onshore U.S. insured losses from Hurricane Zeta are estimated to be between $3 billion and $5 billion, according to Newark, California-based catastrophe modeler Risk Management Solutions Inc.

Posted: Nov 04, 2020

Worker not entitled to supplemental benefits for eye injury

A man who lost sight in one eye in a workplace accident failed to show that he should be entitled to supplemental earnings benefits, an appellate court held Thursday.

Posted: Nov 04, 2020

California comp division increases disability rates for 2021

The California Division of Workers Compensation announced Tuesday that minimum and maximum temporary total disability rates will increase Jan. 1, 2021.

Posted: Nov 04, 2020

SEC awards $28M to whistleblower

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday it has awarded more than $28 million to a whistleblower whose information led to successful enforcement action.

Posted: Nov 04, 2020