Claims Journal

Hiscox Policyholders File $50M Arbitration Claim in COVID Business Interruption Dispute

The law firm that represents the Hiscox Action Group has commenced an arbitration against Hiscox Insurance for non-payment of business interruption insurance totaling £40 million ($50 million). The action group, composed of disgruntled Hiscox policyh...

Posted: Jun 22, 2020

Insurers Move to Prevent Legionnaire’s Disease Outbreaks in Reopened Buildings

Commercial insurers are scrutinizing building managers’ efforts to avoid outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease as they re-open movie theaters, gyms, schools and offices that had been closed for months due to the coronavirus pandemic, industry sources to...

Posted: Jun 19, 2020

Texas, Midwest Weather Claims Make Up Most of Allstate’s $350M May Losses

Allstate says severe weather events in Texas and the Midwest account for the majority of its $350 million in catastrophe losses in May 2020. Northbrook, Illinois-based Allstate Corp. has estimated catastrophe losses for the month of May of $350 milli...

Posted: Jun 19, 2020

Worker Sues Store for $2M After Being Fired Following Racism Complaint

A former Fred Meyer employee who says he was fired from a Portland, Ore., store after he complained about a pattern of racism has filed a $2 million lawsuit against the grocery store chain. Michael Mangum, who is 26 and …

Posted: Jun 19, 2020

Insurer’s Argument Against Lost Income Claims Cites Takeout Services by Eateries

An insurer fighting business income claims from restaurants is arguing in part that there is no coverage because businesses were allowed to provide takeout and delivery service during lockdowns. Society Insurance, based in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, has...

Posted: Jun 19, 2020

Oklahoma Court Says Home Warranty Contract Is Insurance, Nixes Forced Arbitration

A home warranty contract is an insurance contract. That’s the conclusion of the Oklahoma Supreme Court in a case in which the plaintiffs challenged a mandatory arbitration provision in a home warranty contract, maintaining such provisions are not leg...

Posted: Jun 19, 2020

Coronavirus Disruption Drives Demand for AI-Powered Supply Chain Risk Software

For the past seven years, a Munich-based firm called riskmethods has tried to interest companies in buying software that allows them to track all their suppliers in a way that minimizes risks in operating globally spread supply chains. Until recently...

Posted: Jun 19, 2020

AmTrust, Ex-CFO to Pay $10.5M to Settle SEC Charges Of Improper Reserves Reporting

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged insurance company AmTrust Financial Services and Ronald E. Pipoly Jr., its former chief financial officer, with failing to disclose material facts about how the company estimated its insurance...

Posted: Jun 19, 2020

Profits Over Safety: Grand Jury Says PG&E Ignored Warnings in Wildfire That Killed 85

A scathing grand jury report released Tuesday after a 2018 Northern California wildfire killed 85 people found that Pacific Gas & Electric officials repeatedly ignored warnings about its failing power lines, performed inadequate inspections to focus...

Posted: Jun 18, 2020

U.S. Automakers Stressing Covid Safety at Work and Home as Plants Rev Up

Automakers are speeding up U.S. assembly lines to meet recovering demand, increasingly confident coronavirus safety protocols are working to prevent outbreaks in their plants but wary of the challenges workers face outside. Screening workers for COVI...

Posted: Jun 18, 2020

Supreme Court Rejects Appeals Over Police ‘Qualified Immunity’

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to take up a new test of “qualified immunity,” rejecting several appeals that challenged the legal doctrine that has become a broad liability shield for police officers accused of civil rights violations. Qualified immu...

Posted: Jun 18, 2020

Justice Department Outlines Broad Overhaul of Social Media Legal Protections

The Justice Department on Wednesday outlined a broad overhaul of legal protections for online platforms such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc. if they deliberately promote illegal speech on their websites. The proposals, which could upend t...

Posted: Jun 18, 2020

California Orders Workers’ Comp Carriers to Return Premiums Due to Stay-At-Home Orders

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has issued an order adopting emergency workers’ compensation regulations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The new regulations go into effect on July 1. The regulations require insurance companies to...

Posted: Jun 18, 2020

Arkansas Governor’s Order Grants Businesses Virus Lawsuit Protections

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has granted businesses protections from coronavirus lawsuits, while the state’s epidemiologist said she’s concerned loosened restrictions may have caused some to lower their guard against the virus. Hutchinson signed exec...

Posted: Jun 18, 2020

Lloyd’s of London Apologizes for Its ‘Shameful’ Role in Atlantic Slave Trade

The Lloyd’s of London insurance market has apologized for its “shameful” role in the 18th and 19th Century Atlantic slave trade and has agreed to fund charities and organizations promoting opportunities for black and ethnic minority groups. About 17...

Posted: Jun 18, 2020

U.S. Court Vacates Qualified Immunity in Excessive Force Case of 5 Police Officers

A federal appeals court has vacated part of a finding that cleared five West Virginia police officers on qualified immunity grounds in an excessive force lawsuit, which was filed by the estate of a homeless black man shot 22 times. …

Posted: Jun 17, 2020

Health Workers Dealing with Shock of Virus Fight, Uneasiness in Current Quiet

Outside a back door to a hospital where the coronavirus hit like a hurricane, a half-dozen staffers gathered recently to look back, and look inward. “I am still scared,” Dr. Gwen Hooley told her colleagues at Elmhurst Hospital, which was …

Posted: Jun 17, 2020

Liability Waivers Don’t Always Stop Lawsuits But Employers Hope for Best

As businesses reopen across the U.S. after coronavirus shutdowns, many are requiring customers and workers to sign forms saying they won’t sue if they catch COVID-19. Businesses fear they could be the target of litigation even if they adhere to …

Posted: Jun 17, 2020

Investors’ Suit Alleges Firm Inflated Stock with Misleading Claims About Its Covid Test

An investor lawsuit against a Utah company alleges its principals falsely claimed its coronavirus diagnostic test was “100% accurate” and before doubts about the claim became widely reported, directors and officers of the company were selling off the...

Posted: Jun 17, 2020

California Workers’ Comp Premium Continued to Fall Last Year

California workers’ compensation total direct written premium continued to decline in 2019, falling 7.0% to a five-year low of $11.42 billion, as nine out of the state’s 10 largest insurer groups wrote less premium in 2019 than in 2018, a …

Posted: Jun 17, 2020

Some Florida Bars, Restaurants Temporarily Close as Virus Cases Rise

Some Florida bars and restaurants are temporarily closing their doors after being back open for just a few weeks because workers or patrons have tested positive for the new coronavirus. The closures come as the number of new daily coronavirus …

Posted: Jun 17, 2020

Texas Man Sentenced to 78 Years in Prison for Arson, Insurance Fraud

A 52-year-old Groves, Texas, man has been sentenced to 78 years in federal prison for violations related to an arson and insurance fraud scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas. U.S. Attorney Stephen J. …

Posted: Jun 17, 2020

Health Experts Caution Over Coronavirus Disinfectants Used in Reopening

Businesses across the U.S. have begun intensive Covid-19 disinfection regimens, exposing returning workers and consumers to some chemicals that are largely untested for human health, a development that’s alarming health and environmental safety exper...

Posted: Jun 17, 2020

Rising Claims, Feared Covid-19 Surge, Push Firms to Seek D&O Insurance Alternatives

When Elon Musk said in April he was dropping the insurance policy that protects Tesla Inc.’s board from shareholder lawsuits, it got Skip McBride’s attention. To McBride, who used to manage law firm Bracewell LLP’s malpractice exposure, Musk’s decisi...

Posted: Jun 16, 2020

Louisiana Governor Edwards Vetoes Business-Backed Auto Insurance Tort Reform Bill

Gov. John Bel Edwards on June 12 vetoed eight bills passed by Louisiana lawmakers in their recently ended regular session, including the business lobby’s top priority, a measure to scale back damage claims against insurance companies in car accident...

Posted: Jun 16, 2020