Claims Journal

World’s Insurers Face $203 Billion Losses From Coronavirus

Lloyd’s of London, the world’s largest insurance exchange, estimates the industry will suffer around $203 billion in losses from the coronavirus pandemic this year. The projected losses include about $107 billion from underwriting claims, with the re...

Posted: May 14, 2020

California Prepares for More Wildfires as Coronavirus Challenges Budget

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California has had 60% more wildfires so far in 2020 than last year because of drier weather, Governor Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday, and he promised increased funding for firefighting even as the state’s budget faces a …

Posted: May 14, 2020

LabCorp to Make COVID-19 Testing Services Available at Workplaces

May 14 — Diagnostic services provider LabCorp said on Thursday it would make its COVID-19 tests available at workplaces, as employers across the United States look to bring people back to work safely. The company said it would provide customized …

Posted: May 14, 2020

GOP Lawmakers Look to Limit Car Accident Claims in Louisiana

BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana’s Republican lawmakers Tuesday advanced proposals to limit damage claims against businesses in car wreck lawsuits, pushing ahead with the pre-coronavirus priority as Democrats argued the debate was inappropriate amid a pa...

Posted: May 14, 2020

Federal Hate Crime Charge in Missouri Islamic Center Fire

O’FALLON, Mo. — A man accused of setting a fire that destroyed an Islamic center in southeast Missouri has been charged with a federal hate crime, the U.S. Attorney’s office in St. Louis said Tuesday. A federal grand jury indicted …

Posted: May 14, 2020

Building Owner, Alarm Companies Sued Over Deadly Vegas Fire

LAS VEGAS — The owner of a downtown Las Vegas apartment building where six people died in the deadliest residential fire in city history has been hit with another lawsuit seeking damages. This time, several fire alarm manufacturers, sellers and …

Posted: May 14, 2020

Claims People: Nexus Specialty, ProSight and MedRisk

Nexus Specialty Hires U.S. Claims Head Nexus Specialty Inc. has hiredMike Fried to lead its new in-house U.S. claims team. The company is a division of Nexus Group, a London-based managing general agent. Fried’s appointment follows the launch of a …

Posted: May 14, 2020

Tesla, California County Reach Deal to Reopen U.S. Plant Next Week

Tesla Inc. and officials in California have resolved their acrimonious clash over safety procedures at the automaker’s sole U.S. assembly plant with a deal that allows production to resume as early as Monday, county officials said. The county said th...

Posted: May 14, 2020

Senators, Business and Labor Feel Their Way on Virus Liability

Congressional Republicans have made liability protection for employers a nonnegotiable demand in any new coronavirus stimulus, but Senator Lindsey Graham, an ally of President Donald Trump, says that regulators have a role to play in the workplace. T...

Posted: May 13, 2020

Virus Survivors Could Suffer Severe Health Effects for Years

More than one million people around the world have been deemed recovered from the coronavirus, but beating the initial sickness may be just the first of many battles for those who have survived. Some recovered patients report breathlessness, fatigue...

Posted: May 13, 2020

Trump Wants California to Let Automaker Tesla Reopen Assembly Plant

FREMONT, California — President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged that Tesla Inc be allowed to reopen its electric vehicle assembly plant in California, joining CEO Elon Musk’s bid to defy county officials who have ordered it to remain closed. “Californi...

Posted: May 13, 2020

Workplace Worries Mount as US Tracks New COVID-19 Cases

NEW YORK — Even as President Donald Trump urges getting people back to work and reopening the economy, thousands of new coronavirus infections are being reported daily, many of them job-related. Recent figures show a surge of cases in meat-packing …

Posted: May 13, 2020

Pa. Gov. Cites Denied Insurance Claims as Reason Not to Defy Shut-Down Orders

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The administration of Gov. Tom Wolf issued a warning Monday to businesses that choose to open in defiance of the pandemic shutdown, saying they could be jeopardizing their insurance coverage. With several counties in open rebellion...

Posted: May 13, 2020

Virus Unleashes Wave of Fraud in US Amid Fear and Scarcity

WASHINGTON — A 39-year-old former investment manager in Georgia was already facing federal charges that he robbed hundreds of retirees of their savings through a Ponzi scheme when the rapid spread of COVID-19 presented an opportunity. Christopher A....

Posted: May 13, 2020

Language in Emergency Orders Gives Ammo to Plaintiffs in Business-Interruption Suits

Cities and counties across the country may have handed plaintiff’s attorneys an argument to use in lawsuits against insurers that seek business-interruption coverage for losses caused by coronavirus closure orders. Jurisdictions as far asunder as Los...

Posted: May 13, 2020

Viewpoint: To Restart Business, Protect Workers

States that are reopening their economies even as cases of Covid-19 are still rising are threatening their own residents and the whole country. But they are also running into two challenges that all states will face: Employees don’t want to …

Posted: May 12, 2020

Major Insurers Increase Cover For Trans Mountain Oil Pipeline – Filings

Major insurers Zurich, Chubb increased their insurance cover for a Canadian oil sands pipeline over the last year, Canadian regulatory filings show. The Trans Mountain pipeline, which ships types of crude oil and refined products to British Columbia...

Posted: May 12, 2020

U.S. Pipeline Regulator Strikes Down Washington State’s Crude-by-Rail Safety Limits

WASHINGTON — The U.S. pipeline regulator late on Monday blocked an effort by Washington state to tighten vapor pressure restrictions on the transport of crude oil by rail, saying the measures would not lower the risk of explosions. The decision …

Posted: May 12, 2020

Russia to Investigate Safety of Ventilators After Hospital Fire Kills Patients

Russian authorities said they would look into the safety of artificial lung ventilators being used at two hospitals after a fire broke out in St Petersburg at one of them on Tuesday (May 12) morning and killed at least four …

Posted: May 12, 2020

In Midst of Pandemic, Resorts Prepare For Summer Guests

RICHMOND, Minn. — Families are waiting to see what their summer vacations will look like in the midst of a pandemic, but some of the places preparing to host them are still making plans. At Riverside Resort on the Horseshoe …

Posted: May 12, 2020

Infections Near U.S. Meat Plants Rise at Twice National Rate

The coronavirus spread at more than twice the national rate in U.S. counties with major meatpacking plants in the first week after President Donald Trump issued an executive orderdirecting that they be reopened. Confirmed Covid-19 cases jumped 40% du...

Posted: May 12, 2020

Meat Giant Sued for Worker’s Covid-19 Death in Philadelphia

The family of a beef plant worker who died because of the coronavirus has brought a wrongful death lawsuit in a Philadelphia court against JBS SA, the world’s biggest meat company. Ferdinand Benjamin filed the suit on Thursday after his …

Posted: May 12, 2020

Southwest Jet Hits, Kills Man While Landing on Texas Runway

Authorities are investigating how a man managed to get onto a runway at the airport in Austin, Texas, where he was struck and killed by a landing Southwest Airlines Co. jet. No one on the jet was hurt but the …

Posted: May 11, 2020

Iran-Linked Hackers Recently Targeted Coronavirus Drugmaker Gilead -Sources

LONDON/WASHINGTON — Hackers linked to Iran have targeted staff at U.S. drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc in recent weeks, according to publicly-available web archives reviewed by Reuters and three cybersecurity researchers, as the company races to deploy...

Posted: May 11, 2020

Tesla Sues California County in Virus Factory Closure Fight, Threatens to Leave

Tesla Inc. sued local authorities in California on Saturday as the electric carmaker pushed to re-open its factory there and Chief Executive Elon Musk threatened to move Tesla’s headquarters and future programs from the state to Texas or Nevada. Musk...

Posted: May 11, 2020