Claims Journal

Viewpoint: Be Like Mike and Look to Fundamentals to Recover COVID-19 Losses

Michael Jordan, the National Basketball Association icon, once said, “get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.” His insight here also holds value for insurance lawyers who are facing their own game seven. Many of …

Posted: May 29, 2020

Driving Hasn’t Found Its New Normal Yet

Memorial Day weekend, the typical start of the U.S. summer driving season, has come and gone. Data on just how much driving Americans did is trickling in, and it’s a bit noisy. Apple mobility trends show searches for directions down …

Posted: May 28, 2020

PG&E Nears End of Bankruptcy Amid Persisting Safety Worries

BERKELEY, Calif. — limped into bankruptcy vilified for its long-running neglect of a crumbling electrical grid that ignited a succession of horrific Northern California wildfires. After nearly a year-and-a-half of wrangling during one of the most com...

Posted: May 28, 2020

Lake of the Ozarks Business Owner Defends Actions

O’FALLON, Mo. — The owner of a business that hosted crowded pool parties over the Memorial Day weekend at Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks says no laws were broken and safety measures were in place to protect against the spread …

Posted: May 28, 2020

Big Oil Loses Appeal, Climate Suits Go to California Courts

LOS ANGELES — Big Oil lost a pair of court battles Tuesday that could lead to trials in lawsuits by California cities and counties seeking damages for the impact of climate change. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected …

Posted: May 28, 2020

U.S. Democrats Urge Probe of Allegations Regarding TikTok and Children’s Privacy

WASHINGTON — Fourteen Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives wrote to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Thursday to urge it to consider probing the short video app TikTok for “blatant disregard” of a consent decree related to …

Posted: May 28, 2020

Bertha Weakens to Tropical Depression After Making Landfall In South Carolina

Bertha, the second named storm this Atlantic hurricane season, has weakened to a tropical depression but was still expected to bring heavy rain and possibly life-threatening flash floods to parts of the Carolinas and Virginia, the U.S. National Hurri...

Posted: May 28, 2020

U.S. Sanctions Advisory Raises Hurdles For Global Maritime Industry

LONDON/WASHINGTON — Ship owners and insurers say it may be impossible for the maritime industry to fully comply with the Trump administration’s new guidelines on how to avoid sanctions penalties related to Iran, North Korea and Syria, raising the ris...

Posted: May 28, 2020

WCIRB Lowers Mid-Range Estimate of COVID Workers Comp Costs by $10B

The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California published estimated costs of allowing state workers to receive benefits for COVID-19 claims without proving virus exposure at work, dropping a prior mid-range estimate by $10 billion. In...

Posted: May 27, 2020

Tropical Storm Lands in South Carolina Ahead of Atlantic Season

The Atlantic’s second storm of 2020 made landfall just east of Charleston, South Carolina, with the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season still almost a week away. Tropical Storm Bertha, with top winds of 50 miles per hour (81 …

Posted: May 27, 2020

Cyclone Shows Cost of Delaying $38 Billion Bangladesh Delta Plan

Mizanur Rahman recalls the last time a major tropical storm hit Bangladesh, when Cyclone Sidr killed more than 3,000 people in 2007. In the aftermath of the destruction, he watched the dead body of a woman being washed ashore by …

Posted: May 27, 2020

Poconos Water Park Shuttered by Pandemic Faces Mortgage Woes

One of America’s biggest indoor water parks, normally packed with frolicking families, has gone dark — a casualty of social distancing. Now, the mortgage on the property is in trouble. The Kalahari water park and resort in the Poconos, with …

Posted: May 27, 2020

Company Owner of Two Killed Workers Had Been Cited 27 Times

STARKVILLE, Miss. — The owner of the contracting company of which two workers were killed in a trench collapse in Mississippi earlier this month was previously issued 27 federal citations for safety violations. Shane Henderson was the president of th...

Posted: May 27, 2020

Australia Targets Litigation Funders In Class Action Clampdown

The Australian government is tightening regulatory scrutiny of wealthy litigation funders, clamping down on the industry following a surge in costly class action lawsuits. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said on Friday that litigation funders will be requi...

Posted: May 27, 2020

Federal PRIA Bill Officially Introduced for Biz Interruption, Event Cancellation

During a press conference on Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-New York, officially announced the introduction of the much-anticipated Pandemic Risk Insurance Act of 2020, a federal backstop for pandemic-related business interruption insurance mo...

Posted: May 27, 2020

Bayer Reaches Deals on Big Share of 125,000 Roundup Weedkiller Suits

Bayer AG has reached verbal agreements to resolve a substantial portion of an estimated 125,000 U.S. cancer lawsuits over use of its Roundup weedkiller, according to people familiar with the negotiations. The deals, which have yet to be signed and …

Posted: May 27, 2020

U.S. Lawmaker Wants Insurers, Govt to Share Future Pandemic Business Losses

U.S. legislation introduced on Tuesday would create a taxpayer-backed insurance program to protect businesses from revenue losses during future pandemics and require insurers to pay a slice of the claims. The legislation, introduced by Rep. Carolyn M...

Posted: May 27, 2020

Deadly Air-Ambulance Crash Revealed Widespread Safety Lapses

An air-ambulance helicopter crash in Ohio last year that killed three crew members revealed sweeping safety lapses and rule violations, federal accident investigators concluded Tuesday. The Survival Flight Inc. copter slammed into a wooded hillside i...

Posted: May 26, 2020

COVID-19 Lawsuit Takes on McDonald’s Like it Was a Rowdy Bar

May 26 — As U.S. businesses reopen, worried workers and their advocates are borrowing a legal strategy commonly used to shut down rowdy topless bars to try and force employers to strengthen protection against further spread of the coronavirus. Worker...

Posted: May 26, 2020

Pandemic Forces Virtual Safety Checks for Oil Tankers

LONDON — Ship assessors are resorting to virtual inspections of oil tankers to keep vessels afloat, as the coronavirus pandemic makes physical visits to check for seaworthiness tougher and a slump in fuel demand increases the need for ships as …

Posted: May 26, 2020

Forecasters Predict Busy 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — With forecasters predicting another intense Atlantic hurricane season with as many as 13 to 19 named storms, disaster preparedness experts say it’s critically important for people in evacuation zones to plan to stay with frien...

Posted: May 26, 2020

Warehouse Fire Devastates San Francisco’s Fishing Industry

SAN FRANCISCO — A huge fire that tore through a warehouse on San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf has destroyed fishing gear used to deliver about two-thirds of the city’s fresh seafood, threatening to disrupt the upcoming Dungeness crab season, local f...

Posted: May 26, 2020

CDC, States’ Reporting of Virus Test Data Causes Confusion

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Elected officials, businesses and others are depending on coronavirus testing and infection-rate data as states reopen so that they will know if a second wave of contagion is coming _ and whether another round of stay-at-home order...

Posted: May 26, 2020

Join the Coronavirus Survey for the Entire Property/Casualty Insurance Industry

How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting you, your life, your work and your industry? Now and going forward? No matter where you work in the P/C insurance industry, your experience is important. Learn how your experience compares with that of …

Posted: May 26, 2020

Restoration Firm Says Disinfectant Foggers Can Damage Electronics

A restoration company is warning that using foggers to disperse disinfectants — a common practice as businesses reopen after COVID-19 closures — may cause permanent damage to electronic equipment. Envista Forensics, a global restoration provider base...

Posted: May 26, 2020