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The moderate earthquake that struck Los Angeles late Tuesday (July 29) morning at 11:42am PDT has not caused major damage or serious injury, according to early eyewitness reports and the Los Angeles Fire Department.Based on the latest available information on the seismic parameters of this event, insurance forecaster AIR Worldwide said it does not expect significant insured losses. The firm says part of the credit for the few losses goes to the state’s building codes.“Building codes in California are among the strictest in the world,” said Mehrdad Mahdyiar, director of earthquake hazard at AIR Worldwide. “AIR expects minimal to no… Read More »Building Code Helps Minimize Losses from California Earthquake

Imagine you need to send letters containing personal information… Now imagine you sent it to a wrong address… The largest health insurer in Georgia has sent letters containing personal information to the wrong addresses, exposing more than 200,000 Georgians to possible identity theft. Do you have insurance coverage to cover a claim arising out of such operations? Ask you insurance broker now!

One auto insurance company is offering New Jersey motorists discounts of up to 60 percent if they install a high-tech monitoring device.The wireless devices will tell Progressive how many miles are driven, how fast people accelerate and hit the brakes.Under the pay-as-you-drive concept, good drivers will get discounts and lead foots could face surcharges as high as 9 percent.New Jersey will be the fifth state to offer the option.Progressive says in other states, about one-third of the company’s customers have enrolled. They’re saving about 10 to 15 percent.The program will begin Aug. 8.New Jersey motorists have the highest auto insurance… Read More »Pay-As-You-Drive Auto Insurance

Workers’ compensation laws have evolved and expanded since the beginning, but these are the roots of the modern American workers’ compensation system.This history begins a workers’ compensation series that will cover various topics and concepts surrounding the modern workers compensation system.Read full story

In an article on its web site (http://www.lloyds.com/), Lloyd’s looks at the increasing concerns over coverage for vacant properties. “As the economy worsens it’s expected that more and more businesses will fail, leaving commercial property owners possibly struggling to fill their factory and office space,” said the article.“Empty buildings are a magnet for potentials risks such as theft, vandalism and arson, and as such, owners can struggle to find insurance coverage for their real estate if it is unoccupied. Vacant property is traditionally one of the most difficult risks to cover for the property sector.”Lloyd’s notes that one commercial underwriting… Read More »Insuring Vacant Property – Lloyd’s Analyzes

Survey: Private Firms More Exposed to Liability Risks, But Less Protected More than one-third of U.S. businesses do not purchase any type of management or professional liability insurance. Yet, two out of three U.S. private companies have experienced some type of event related to management or professional liability in the past five years.The majority of survey participants do not purchase employment practices liability (63 percent), crime (66 percent), directors and officers liability (63 percent) and cyber liability (91 percent) insurance.In 2008, one in three (31 percent) companies expect to experience a crime-related event, 26 percent a directors and officers liability… Read More »Buy Insurance for Protection

American Guarantee & Liability Insurance Co. has filed a lawsuit against Payless ShoeSource Inc. in the U.S. District Court of Kansas, seeking a declaration that the $305 million in damages the discount shoe retailer recently incurred from a legal battle with adidas Group is not covered under its policy. New York-based American Guarantee & Liability, a subsidiary of Zurich Financial Services Group, filed its suit in response to the verdict, which was handed down in May. According to court documents, the insurer claims that Payless’ policy doesn’t cover numerous aspects of the jury’s decision, including the charge that Payless “willfully… Read More »Trademark and Copyright Infringment – Covered or Not?

Tuesday’s Los Angeles-area earthquake should not result in insured property losses of more than $100 million, catastrophe modeler EQECAT said in a note to its clients. Meanwhile, Boston-based AIR Worldwide Corp. said Wednesday that the quake should not result in significant insured losses, in large part because of California’s building codes. The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 5.4 earthquake was followed by nearly 50 aftershocks and was felt as far away as Las Vegas.

A suicide sufficiently connected to an industrial injury is compensable under Nevada’s workers compensation system, the state’s highest court has ruled. State law barring family members from collecting workers comp benefits if a worker’s death resulted from a “willful intention to injure himself” does not apply when a “sufficient chain of causation is established,” the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled in Sharon Vredenburg vs. Sedgwick CMA and Flamingo Hilton-Laughlin. To establish such a chain, claimants must demonstrate that the employee suffered an industrial injury that in turn caused a psychological injury severe enough to override rational judgment. Claimants must then establish… Read More »Workers Comp Benefits for Suicide

The California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA) operates under Articles 14 and 14.25 , Sections 106 3106 3.68 of the California Insurance Code.  CIGA provides a mechanism for the payment of covered (as defined by the insurance code and case law) property, casualty and workers compensation insurance claims of insolvent insurance companies. It is the mission of the association to pay claims on a timely basis with no excessive delays and to help relieve the financial burden placed on claimants when insurance companies fail. California Insurance Guarantee Association Reimbursed $56 Million Continental Casualty Co. has reimbursed the California Insurance Guarantee Association… Read More »California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA)