INSURANCE NEWS
Florida Ratings Crisis: Fannie and Freddie Agree to Accept Citizens-as-Backstop Plan
It took more than four months, but Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have now agreed to accept an innovative but temporary solution to Florida’s property insurer rating predicament. The mortgage-buying giants on Wednesday sent letters to primary mortgage lenders, notifying …
Judge Dismisses 1,000 Shingles Vaccine Claims Against Merck for Lack of Evidence
After four years of multidistrict litigation, a federal judge in Pennsylvania has dismissed 1,189 lawsuits claiming the Zostavax shingles vaccine by drugmaker Merck did not do what it was supposed to do and instead caused them to suffer from shingles …
Credit Suisse Clears 1st Hurdle Toward $440M Greensill Lawsuit Against SoftBank
Credit Suisse Group AG cleared the first hurdle toward kick-starting a long-awaited $440 million lawsuit against SoftBank Group Corp. stemming from the spectacular collapse of finance firm Greensill Capital. A London judge said Wednesday that the Swiss lender’s supply chain …
AM Best Revises Outlooks to Negative for Wisconsin’s Badger Mutual
AM Best has revised the outlooks to negative from stable and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a-” (Excellent) of Badger Mutual Insurance Company (Badger) (Milwaukee, WI). The Credit Ratings (ratings) …
Coast Guard Blames Pilot for Cargo Ship Grounding in Chesapeake Bay in March
A Coast Guard investigation into the grounding in March of a cargo ship in the Chesapeake Bay faulted the pilot tasked with helping the ship navigate the waterway, saying he relied too much on one piece of equipment to navigate …
Cosby, NBC, Studio Face New Sex Abuse Lawsuit Under New York’s Filing Extension
Five women who have long accused Bill Cosby of sexually assaulting them early in their careers have filed the latest lawsuit against the 85-year-old comedian — and this one calls NBCUniversal, a studio and a production company complicit in the …
Court Weighs Novel Issue of Crypto Ownership in Bankruptcy
A U.S. judge this week is considering for the first time the question of who owns bitcoin and other tokens in frozen accounts at a bankrupt digital asset exchange in a case that could shape customer protections in the cryptocurrency …
G7’s Price Ceiling on Russia Oil Isn’t Low Enough to Hit Putin’s War Budget: Economists
The Group of Seven’s price ceiling on Russian oil exports isn’t low enough to take a big bite out of the Kremlin’s revenues next year and economists say even if it does lead to a drop in crude production, Vladimir …
Millions of Barrels of Oil Stuck Near Turkey on Sanctions-Related Insurance Glitch
A backlog of oil tankers at the Turkish straits continues to build up as negotiations failed to produce a solution to an insurance glitch caused by sanctions on Russian crude. Twenty-six tankers holding more than 23 million barrels of oil …
AmTrust: Mental Stress, Other Restaurant Injuries Up Since COVID
According to a new report by AmTrust Financial Services, while overall restaurant injuries are down, specific injuries, including crushing, fainting, inflammation, strains and mental stress, are up significantly compared to pre-pandemic numbers. Amtrust’s findings were based on nearly 170,000 claims …
NHTSA Opens Safety Probes Into Honda, Jeep, Ram Vehicles
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is opening new safety probes into 1.72 million Honda vehicles, 230,000 Jeeps and 390,077 Ram trucks. The auto safety regulator said it will begin preliminary evaluations into issues involving loss of power …
Florida OIR Wants Longer Notice on UPC’s Policy Cancellations for Runoff
United Property & Casualty Insurance Co., now in the midst of an orderly run-off after years of heavy losses, had planned on giving 60 days cancellation notice to policies still in force as of May 31, 2023. But Florida regulators …