Insurance Journal

New York City Jail Guard Suffers Burns When Body Camera Ignites

A captain in New York City’s Department of Correction suffered burns and smoke inhalation when her body camera suddenly caught fire, prompting the department to stop using the equipment pending an investigation. The captain was on duty at the R...

Posted: May 10, 2024

Markets/Coverages: Mosaic Launches Suite of Professional Liability Products for Specialist Engineers

Mosaic Insurance, the Bermuda-based specialty insurer, has launched a suite of professional liability products for specialist engineers, offering $15 million in targeted primary coverage for unique risks. The new form offers a dedicated product, with...

Posted: May 10, 2024

Google Fights $17 Billion UK Lawsuit Over Adtech Practices

Google parent Alphabet has urged a London tribunal to block a mass lawsuit which accuses it of abusing its dominance in the online advertising market, in the latest case to focus on the search giant’s business practices. The lawsuit seeks &#823...

Posted: May 10, 2024

Google Fights $17 Billion UK Lawsuit Over Ad-Tech Practices

Google parent Alphabet has urged a London tribunal to block a mass lawsuit which accuses it of abusing its dominance in the online advertising market, in the latest case to focus on the search giant’s business practices. The lawsuit seeks &#823...

Posted: May 10, 2024

TWIA Board Approves $500M Line of Credit Ahead of 2024 Storm Season

The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) Board of Directors met in Austin on May 7 for its second quarterly meeting of the year, where it completed financial preparations for the 2024 storm season. TWIA’s board voted secure a $500 milli...

Posted: May 10, 2024

White House to Push Cybersecurity Standards on Hospitals

The Biden administration intends to require hospitals to meet minimum cybersecurity standards after a single hack exposed the data of 100 million Americans. “We look to putting in place minimum cybersecurity standards for hospitals in the near...

Posted: May 10, 2024

Tech Update: Aon Updates Its Pricing Platform to Enhance Underwriting Decisions

Insurance broker Aon plc announced an update to its Pricing Platform that aims to bring enhanced visualization and automation capabilities to re/insurance underwriters. The software update has also added new business lines including U.S. Financial li...

Posted: May 10, 2024

Former Louisiana Lawmaker James D. Cain Passes Away

Former Louisiana lawmaker James David Cain passed away on May 8, Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple announced. Cain served 20 years in the Louisiana House of Representatives and another 16 years in the Louisiana Senate, where he led the Insurance and...

Posted: May 10, 2024

Survivors of Alleged Abuse in Illinois Youth Detention Facilities Speak Out

CHICAGO (AP) — Three men who say they were sexually abused as children while incarcerated at Illinois juvenile detention centers came forward Tuesday as part of a lawsuit that chronicles decades of disturbing allegations of systemic child abuse. Calv...

Posted: May 10, 2024

Missouri Roofing Contractor Cited for 21 Violations in Fall Hazard Exposures

Federal workplace safety inspectors have cited a Missouri roofing contractor for 21 violations for illegally exposing roof workers — five times in seven weeks — at six Wentzville residential worksites to the dangers of fall hazards, the construction...

Posted: May 10, 2024

Mexico Is Battling 159 Active Wildfires

Mexico is fighting 159 active wildfires across the country amid the year’s second heat wave that has also put the nation’s power grid under stress. Mexico’s national weather service issued an alert that at least 12 states would expe...

Posted: May 10, 2024

EU Firms’ Appetite for China Investment Sinks to Record Low

China is losing its luster as a top country to invest in as firms seek to avoid geopolitical risks and turn to Southeast Asia and Europe, according to a survey by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. Only …

Posted: May 10, 2024

Nine Out of 10 Wrongful Death Lawsuits Settled Over Astroworld Crowd Surge

HOUSTON (AP) — Nine of the 10 wrongful death lawsuits filed after a deadly crowd surge at the 2021 Astroworld music festival have been settled, including one that was set to go to trial this week, an attorney said Wednesday. …

Posted: May 10, 2024

People Moves: Higginbotham Announces Executive Promotions in Financial Services, Employee Benefits

Higginbotham announced a series of executive promotions within the Financial Services division. These moves are intended to match current growth at Higginbotham and prepare for future milestones by drawing on deep bench strength to scale-up operation...

Posted: May 10, 2024

Texas Launches Compensation Program for Border Property Crime Damage

Texas landowners along the U.S.-Mexico border who have experienced damage caused by border property crime can now file for reimbursement of up to $75,000, attorney general Ken Paxton announced this week. Texas lawmakers last year approved a law to cr...

Posted: May 10, 2024

China Construction Bank Sued in US Over Reinsurance Fraud Losses

China Construction Bank Corp., the nation’s third-largest commercial lender, was accused in a US lawsuit of enabling a massive fraud in the reinsurance industry that left companies with “monumental losses” and sinking stock prices....

Posted: May 10, 2024

Markets/Coverages: FloodFlash Launches New Parametric Auto Dealer Program

FloodFlash has added a dealer program in their efforts to support more U.S. businesses ahead of a hurricane season that is widely anticipated to be amongst the worst in recent memory. Stored on large, flat areas of often impermeable land, …

Posted: May 10, 2024

Liberty Mutual Posts $1.5B Net Income for Q1, Reversing Loss

Liberty Mutual Holding Company on Thursday reported first quarter 2024 net income of $1.5 billion compared to loss of $74 million during the same period last year. The combined ratio for the first three months of 2024 improved to 95.8 …

Posted: May 10, 2024

Nuclear Verdicts Surge to $14.5 Billion in 2023 – Report

Nuclear verdicts of at least $10 million reached a 15-year high in 2023, while 27 verdicts were “thermonuclear,” or more than $100 million, according to a new study by research firm Marathon Strategies. The report, “Corporate Verdic...

Posted: May 10, 2024

Personal Auto Insurers Have Edge on Innovation: AM Best

After two years of challenges for personal auto insurers, rating agency AM Best delivered a positive assessment: U.S. personal auto insurers are the furthest ahead when it comes to innovation. Personal auto insurers’ innovative processes includ...

Posted: May 10, 2024

What Risks Do Advanced AI Models Pose in the Wrong Hands?

The Biden administration is poised to open up a new front in its effort to safeguard U.S. AI from China and Russia with preliminary plans to place guardrails around the most advanced AI models, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Government and …

Posted: May 10, 2024

Spouse Married After Injury Can Still Seek Damages in Asbestos Claim – Fla. High Court

The Florida Supreme Court has opened the door a little wider to wrongful death claims from people who weren’t married to victims at the time of injury, upsetting what defense lawyers said was a decades-old common-law practice. In Ripple vs. &#8...

Posted: May 10, 2024

Lawyers Handling Lawsuits Over Maui Wildfires to Get Investigation Documents

A judge on Friday forced the Hawaii attorney general’s office to turn over to lawyers involved in the hundreds of lawsuits over last summer’s Maui wildfires all documents, interviews and data collected by the outside team hired to investi...

Posted: May 10, 2024

California Construction Company Fined $371K for Fatal Trench Collapse

Cal/OSHA cited D’Arcy & Harty Construction Inc. $371,100 for failing to protect employees working in a trench excavation at a construction site in San Francisco. On Sept. 28, 2023, an employee was replacing sewer parts inside the eight-foot...

Posted: May 10, 2024

Mercury Insurance Taking Tokio Marine’s California Personal Lines Business

Mercury Insurance on Thursday announced a plan that the Los Angeles-based carrier says will help maintain insurance availability and provide coverage for thousands of California consumers as two insurers exit the state’s personal lines market....

Posted: May 10, 2024