Claims Journal

It’s Mostly Conference-as-Usual For Insurance Amid Coronavirus (Except No Handshakes)

As the coronavirus and its COVID-19 disease spread, Insurance professionals going to industry conferences over the next few weeks and months could find themselves having their temperature taken at the door and being told not to shake hands with fello...

Posted: Mar 04, 2020

One Square Kilometer of Wetlands Worth $1.8M in Storm Damage Prevention
One Square Kilometer of Wetlands Worth $1.8M in Storm Damage Prevention

U.S. protection of wetlands has expanded and contracted dramatically over the last five years, as Democratic and Republican administrations rewrote Clean Water Act rules to their constituencies’ liking. The lack of high-quality economic analysis has...

Posted: Mar 03, 2020

Alphabet’s Waymo Raises $2.25 Billion For Driverless Cars
Alphabet’s Waymo Raises $2.25 Billion For Driverless Cars

Waymo raised $2.25 billion from a slate of private equity investors, venture capitalists and automotive companies, the first time Alphabet Inc.’s autonomous vehicle unit has taken outside funds. Silver Lake Management LLC, a private equity firm, led...

Posted: Mar 03, 2020

Mass Killings Database: Workplace Shootings Remain Rare
Mass Killings Database: Workplace Shootings Remain Rare

The mass shooting at a brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was the 13th in the U.S. since 2006. Workplace mass shootings remain a rare event but there are some trends among who carries them out and why. The Associated Press/USA TODAY/Northeastern …

Posted: Mar 03, 2020

N.C. High Court: Actual Cash Value Includes Depreciation for Labor Costs
N.C. High Court: Actual Cash Value Includes Depreciation for Labor Costs

An insurer whose policy covers the “actual cash value” of a property may deduct for depreciation of labor costs when it calculates the amount of the loss, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled. The court noted that the question of …

Posted: Mar 03, 2020

Americans Are Paying $34 Billion Too Much for Houses in Flood Plains
Americans Are Paying $34 Billion Too Much for Houses in Flood Plains

At least 3.8 million U.S. homes lie in flood plains. Together, they may be overvalued by $34 billion. New research published today in a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper shows that markets fail to incorporate risks from flooding …

Posted: Mar 03, 2020

Coronavirus Rumors Spread on App Cripple Los Angeles’ Koreatown
Coronavirus Rumors Spread on App Cripple Los Angeles’ Koreatown

LOS ANGELES — In a Koreatown restaurant known for its beef bone broth soup, the lunchtime crowd Friday was half its normal size. The reason was a virulent rumor about a customer with coronavirus. Han Bat Shul Lung Tang was …

Posted: Mar 02, 2020

Iowa Court Drastically Cuts Insurer’s Payment to Paralyzed Worker
Iowa Court Drastically Cuts Insurer’s Payment to Paralyzed Worker

DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday dramatically reduced the compensation a paralyzed northeast Iowa man received from a jury in a lawsuit against an insurance company even while finding the company’s actions were “reprehensible.” Des...

Posted: Mar 02, 2020

Apple to Pay Up to $500 Million to Settle U.S. Lawsuit Over Slow iPhones
Apple to Pay Up to $500 Million to Settle U.S. Lawsuit Over Slow iPhones

Apple Inc. has agreed to pay up to $500 million to settle litigation accusing it of quietly slowing down older iPhones as it launched new models, to induce owners to buy replacement phones or batteries. The preliminary proposed class-action settlemen...

Posted: Mar 02, 2020

Mixed Messages, Test Delays Hamper U.S. Coronavirus Response
Mixed Messages, Test Delays Hamper U.S. Coronavirus Response

Even as U.S. officials warn of an inevitable outbreak of coronavirus in the United States, and are alerting Americans to take precautions, some health agencies charged with protecting the public appear unprepared to deal with the threat. Barely more...

Posted: Mar 02, 2020

U.S. Regulators to Rate New Auto Tech, but Europe Leads in Safety Testing
U.S. Regulators to Rate New Auto Tech, but Europe Leads in Safety Testing

Autopilot, Super Cruise and Drive Pilot are different names given to technology that automates steering and braking in a growing number of vehicles, but none of it can safely “pilot” cars without regular human intervention. These systems and the pote...

Posted: Mar 02, 2020

U.S. Farmers and Shippers Face Huge Losses From Flooding Again
U.S. Farmers and Shippers Face Huge Losses From Flooding Again

For the second year in a row, much of the U.S. is primed to suffer multi-billion dollar flood losses, with farmers already steeling themselves for planting delays. Relentless storms that have marched across the Midwest and into the South this …

Posted: Mar 02, 2020

FAA Tells Boeing More Training For 737 Max Pilots May Be Needed
FAA Tells Boeing More Training For 737 Max Pilots May Be Needed

U.S. regulators have told Boeing Co. that pilots may require additional training to properly respond to emergencies on the 737 Max after airline crews failed to perform proper procedures in simulator tests. In a Feb. 19 letter to Boeing reviewed …

Posted: Mar 02, 2020

Business News: Nationwide and Notion, FileTrac and Hover, Octo and ICBC
Business News: Nationwide and Notion, FileTrac and Hover, Octo and ICBC

Nationwide Teams With Notion for Smart Home Monitoring Nationwide has teamed up with Notion to offer smart home monitoring products to policyholders to guard against theft, fire and water damage. The Notion smart home monitoring system uses sensors w...

Posted: Mar 02, 2020

Insurers Say Malpractice Claims Rising for Architects and Engineers
Insurers Say Malpractice Claims Rising for Architects and Engineers

Increased billings by architecture and engineering firms generated bigger professional liability premiums in 2019, but also led to the first upswing in claims activity in several years, Ames & Gough said in a report this week. The brokerage, based in...

Posted: Mar 02, 2020

Woman in Fatal Wrong-Way Wreck Arrested After DUI Crash
Woman in Fatal Wrong-Way Wreck Arrested After DUI Crash

PHOENIX — A Phoenix woman who was out of jail on reduced bail while awaiting trial on murder and other charges in a fatal wrong-way DUI crash on a freeway was arrested and charged in a second DUI wreck, authorities …

Posted: Feb 28, 2020

Opioid Companies Say Lawyers’ Fee Demand Threatens Settlement Talks
Opioid Companies Say Lawyers’ Fee Demand Threatens Settlement Talks

Johnson & Johnson and other drug companies facing thousands of lawsuits over their role in the opioid epidemic have warned that settlement talks will be “severely” jeopardized if plaintiffs’ lawyers are allowed to assess a fee payment worth billions...

Posted: Feb 28, 2020

Bayer Cools Prospect Of Imminent Glyphosate Settlement
Bayer Cools Prospect Of Imminent Glyphosate Settlement

German drugs and pesticides company Bayer was at pains on Thursday to quell expectations it was nearing an out-of-court settlement laying to rest claims its glyphosate-based cause cancer. Bayer said after publishing its earnings outlook for 2020 it w...

Posted: Feb 28, 2020

Child Abuse Claims Lead Buffalo Diocese into Bankruptcy
Child Abuse Claims Lead Buffalo Diocese into Bankruptcy

The Diocese of Buffalo, New York, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing child abuse lawsuits that resulted in financial uncertainty. New York State passed legislation in January 2019 that modified the statute of limitations on child abus...

Posted: Feb 28, 2020

J&J Ordered by Jury to Pay $9 Million in Talc-Cancer Case
J&J Ordered by Jury to Pay $9 Million in Talc-Cancer Case

Johnson & Johnson was ordered by a Florida jury to pay $9 million to an 82-year-old woman who blamed asbestos-tainted talc for her cancer, the latest court loss for the company in U.S. litigation over its iconic baby powder. Jurors …

Posted: Feb 28, 2020

PG&E Faces Record Fine of $2.1 Billion for Role in Wildfires
PG&E Faces Record Fine of $2.1 Billion for Role in Wildfires

California regulators increased penalties against PG&E Corp. to $2.1 billion for violations tied to the catastrophic wildfires ignited by the company’s power lines in 2017 and 2018. The penalty would be the largest ever imposed by the California Publ...

Posted: Feb 28, 2020

J.D. Powers: Policyholders Have Never Been Happier With Property Claims Process
J.D. Powers: Policyholders Have Never Been Happier With Property Claims Process

You wouldn’t know it from news coverage in the aftermath of Texas hailstorms or Florida hurricanes, but U.S. homeowner insurers are doing a better job than ever of pleasing their customers when responding to claims, according to J.D. Power. Results …

Posted: Feb 28, 2020

J.D. Power: Policyholders Have Never Been Happier With Property Claims Process
J.D. Power: Policyholders Have Never Been Happier With Property Claims Process

You wouldn’t know it from news coverage in the aftermath of Texas hailstorms or Florida hurricanes, but U.S. homeowner insurers are doing a better job than ever of pleasing their customers when responding to claims, according to J.D. Power. Results …

Posted: Feb 28, 2020

New Tool Fools Hackers into Sharing Keys for Better Cybersecurity
New Tool Fools Hackers into Sharing Keys for Better Cybersecurity

Instead of blocking hackers, a new cybersecurity defense approach developed by University of Texas at Dallas computer scientists actually welcomes them. The method, called DEEP-Dig (DEcEPtion DIGging), ushers intruders into a decoy site so the comput...

Posted: Feb 28, 2020

Advocates Say New Oil Safety Training Redundant
Advocates Say New Oil Safety Training Redundant

BISMARCK, N.D. — A new program designed to streamline required oilfield safety training in North Dakota has drawn thousands of people, but some say the training is redundant and time-consuming. More than 16,000 people have participated in the One Bas...

Posted: Feb 27, 2020