INSURANCE NEWS
Finland’s Sampo Makes $4.7 Billion Bid for Topdanmark
Finnish insurer Sampo has agreed to buy Topdanmark an all-share deal that values the Danish rival at 33 billion crowns ($4.73 billion), the two companies said on Monday. Sampo already owns 48.5% of the Danish property and casualty (P/C) insurer, …
Business Liability Claims Litigation Jumped in 2023: Lex Machina
After holding relatively steady for nearly a decade, the number of business liability policy claims cases jumped 28% in 2023, according to a litigation report from Lex Machina. The report found that 3,596 business liability cases covering third-party claims regarding …
Potent Hurricane Weather Pattern Continues to Take Shape, Forecaster Says
The hurricane season continues to look like it will be a highly active one, as a potent and portentous weather pattern continues to take shape, an AccuWeather meteorologist told Claims Journal on Friday. “It certainly looks like it’s going to …
Questions Raised about FIGA Board Changes, Now With No Auto Insurer Reps
In May, Florida’s chief financial officer sent out a notice that he had appointed new members to the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association’s board of directors. Just a week later, though, one of those appointees, a State Farm employee, was replaced. …
Judge Orders Retrial of Civil Case Against Contractor Accused of Abuse at Abu Ghraib
A judge on Friday ordered a retrial over allegations that a Virginia-based military contractor contributed to the abuse and torture of detainees at Iraq’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison two decades ago. A civil trial earlier this year ended with a …
Vermont Governor Vetoes Data Privacy Bill As Too Hostile to Business, Nonprofits
Vermont’s governor has vetoed a broad data privacy bill that would have been one of the strongest in the country to crack down on companies’ use of online personal data by letting consumers file civil lawsuits against companies that break …
Oregon Contractor Fined for Repeatedly Exposing Workers to Fall Hazards
The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division fined a Grants Pass roofing company $86,149 for workplace safety violations, including repeatedly failing to safeguard workers from fall hazards that could seriously injure or kill them. The division cited GB Roofing LLC …
People Moves: Krause Group Names Westervelt Vice President of Sales
Krause Group, headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, named Holly Westervelt to the newly created role of vice president of sales, a part of the leadership team for Krause Group’s expanding agency division, The Krause Agency. Westervelt joins Krause Group with …
Oklahoma Supreme Court Dismisses Reparations Lawsuit of Tulsa Race Massacre Survivors
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit by survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, dampening the hope of advocates for racial justice that the city would make financial amends for one of the …
Louisiana High Court Reopens Window for Adult Victims of Childhood Sex Abuse to Sue
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Officially reversing a controversial March ruling, Louisiana’s highest court Wednesday gave childhood victims of sexual abuse a renewed opportunity to file damage lawsuits. The state Supreme Court’s 5-2 ruling Wednesday upholds a so-called look-back law that …
For Shrinking Mississippi River Towns, Frequent Floods Worsen Fortunes
WEST ALTON, Mo. (AP) — Devastating flooding, driven in part by climate change, is taking an especially damaging toll on communities that once thrived along the banks of America’s most storied river. Flooding has pushed people out of their homes …
Judge Blasts Liberty Mutual in Declaring He Will Not Disqualify Because He’s an Insured
A federal judge in New Jersey, in a blistering opinion, has refused to disqualify himself from a case involving his insurer, Liberty Mutual, and accused the insurer of seeking his recusal and attacking his integrity because it did not like …