Claims Journal

Deadly Storm Buffets N.Y. and East Coast After Lashing South

A powerful storm that unleashed deadly tornadoes across the South is now shaking trees and snapping power lines in New York and other cities along the U.S. East Coast. Rainy gusts of as much as 60 miles (97 kilometers) per …

Posted: Apr 14, 2020

U.S. Backs Contentious Meat-Plant Change With Supply at Risk

As American meat producers are forced to shutter and slow output at plants amid coronavirus outbreaks, the U.S. government is giving companies a green light to run some facilities at higher speeds — something experts and labor advocates have long …

Posted: Apr 14, 2020

Viewpoint: Leaders Need to Resist Re-Writing Insurance Contract Language

Soon after the attacks on the World Trade Center and other locations on the morning of September 11th, President Bush declared that the atrocities were “an act of war.” That statement prompted a call to me from a friend and …

Posted: Apr 14, 2020

Transit Workers Risking Lives With Little Protective Gear

NEW YORK — While many Americans are cloistered inside their homes, transit workers are out there making sure that other essential workers can get to their jobs. But they often lack the masks or gloves they need to protect themselves …

Posted: Apr 13, 2020

Business Owners Shut Doors or Turn to Telephone Sales During Pandemic

LAKE CHARLES, La. — After the mandatory shutdown of nonessential businesses in Louisiana during this coronavirus pandemic, several small business owners have been faced with making a new way of life. Two local businesses _ Bauhaus Salon and Haus Spa...

Posted: Apr 13, 2020

Telemedicine Surges in Michigan as Doctors Close Offices

DETROIT — The closure of doctors’ offices across Michigan during the new coronavirus pandemic has spurred a statewide surge in the embrace of telemedicine, a practice that allows doctors to treat patients remotely by phone or computer, officials said...

Posted: Apr 13, 2020

Facebook Sues Over Deceptive Ads Linked to Coronavirus Scams

Facebook Inc. sued the founder of a software company for running deceptive advertisements on its social-media platforms, including links to investment scams and bogus information about the coronavirus pandemic. Basant Gajjar’s “LeadCloak” software, d...

Posted: Apr 13, 2020

New York, East Coast Face Power-Outage Threat from Deadly Storm

New York and the rest of the U.S. East Coast face a day of shaking trees and the threat of broken power lines as a deadly storm that hammered the South and Midwest over the weekend rolls toward large cities. …

Posted: Apr 13, 2020

Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells Endangering Pennsylvania Forests

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Ten thousand acres of Pennsylvania’s only national forest have given way, tree by tree, over the last 70 years to an oil drilling operation unique in its scope in the northeastern United States. A network of wells, …

Posted: Apr 12, 2020

Business News: Charles Taylor, Verisk and Starr Aviation

Charles Taylor Expands Marine Technical Services Insurance services company Charles Taylor has expanded its marine technical services offering by integrating Bowditch Marine, Pilot Marine and the marine surveyors of Charles Taylor Adjusting U.S. As o...

Posted: Apr 12, 2020

Viewpoint: 6 Ways to Handle Work Comp Claims for Coronavirus; Only 1 Makes Sense

Workers’ compensation disability claims based on COVID-19 are already rolling in and thousands more are expected. Here are six approaches to handling these claims: Act based on “gut reaction.” It just seems intuitively “right” to cover nurses and doe...

Posted: Apr 12, 2020

Trump Tells Insurers to Pay Virus Claims if Pandemics Not Excluded

President Donald Trump on Friday staked out his position in a legal battle over business-interruption claims: Unless the policy excludes pandemics, insurers should pay. Trump spoke about the issue for a minute and a half during his daily coronavirus...

Posted: Apr 10, 2020

Trump Tells Insurers to Pay Virus Claims If Pandemics Not Excluded

President Donald Trump on Friday staked out his position in a legal battle over business-interruption claims: Unless the policy excludes pandemics, insurers should pay. Trump spoke about the issue for a minute and a half during his daily coronavirus...

Posted: Apr 10, 2020

Insurers Chartering Flights to Ship Gold to Ease Supply Logjam

Insurance firms have started covering charter flights to carry gold, helping to ease logjams in the bullion supply chain that caused prices to diverge sharply in different markets, the London Bullion Market Association said on Thursday. Gold is usual...

Posted: Apr 09, 2020

Railroads Push Against Oil Industry Demands for Storage in Rail Cars

NEW YORK — Railroads are clamping down on rising demand from oil companies to store crude in rail cars due to safety concerns, sources said, even as the number of places available to stockpile oil is rapidly dwindling. Oil demand …

Posted: Apr 09, 2020

Judge Refuses to Approve Fire Victims Letter Attacking PG&E

BERKELEY, Calif. — A federal judge has refused to put his stamp of approval on a letter to Northern California wildfire victims from attorneys who allege that Pacific Gas & Electric may be breaking its promises as it tries to …

Posted: Apr 09, 2020

U.S., U.K. Issue Alert on Growing Use of Covid-themed Hacks

Coronavirus-themed phishing attacks have become so pervasive that the governments of the U.S. and U.K. issued a joint warning Wednesday about their growing use. Advanced hacking groups seek to further “long-standing priorities” including espionage an...

Posted: Apr 09, 2020

Deaths Expose Fears for Strength of U.S. Food-Supply Chain

Some of the workers who help produce America’s food are starting to die because of the coronavirus. At least three people who worked at plants owned by top U.S. meat packer Tyson Foods Inc. and a local unit of Brazil’s …

Posted: Apr 09, 2020

Viewpoint: With Sailors Stranded, Shippers Face a Hard Choice

Before the pandemic, 100,000 seafarers traveled in and out of the world’s ports every month. Some had spent weeks or months aboard the cargo ships, tankers and other merchant vessels that are essential to moving products and commodities across the …

Posted: Apr 09, 2020

Viewpoint: The Coronavirus’ Impact on Property Losses and Subrogation Claims

Will COVID-19 impact subrogation? Like so much else, the answer is “yes.” The global effect of COVID-19 is unlike any event in human history. More than 4 billion people—over half of the world’s population—are currently under confinement measures. In...

Posted: Apr 09, 2020

Economic Loss Rule Bars Insurer Recovery for Utility’s Damaged Turbine

The economic loss rule established by Texas courts bars recovery for an insurance company that sought nearly $8 million in damages from a company that installed faulty software that led to extensive damages to an electric utility’s generating equipme...

Posted: Apr 09, 2020

Buffett’s Geico Offers $2.5 Billion Credits as Coronavirus Cuts Driving

Geico Corp, part of billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc, said on Tuesday it will offer about $2.5 billion of credits to its 19 million auto and motorcycle policyholders, reflecting the decline in driving stemming from the coronavirus...

Posted: Apr 08, 2020

Estate of Walmart Worker Who Died From COVID-19 Sues for Wrongful Death

The family of a Walmart Inc employee in Illinois who died after contracting COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, has filed a lawsuit accusing the retail giant of failing to adequately screen and protect workers. The lawsuit filed …

Posted: Apr 08, 2020

Calif. DMV Approves Test of Autonomous Deliveries

California’s Department of Motor Vehicles on Tuesday authorized autonomous technology startup Nuro to test two driverless delivery vehicles in nine cities, a decision that comes as coronavirus concerns lock down many in the state. U.S. companies that...

Posted: Apr 08, 2020

You’ve Been Served: Court Notices Carry New Risks Amid Virus

Even in the best of the times, not many people are happy to see a process server. The people who hand-deliver court paperwork — including divorces, evictions, and lawsuits — are accustomed to being threatened and cursed at. Now, they …

Posted: Apr 08, 2020