claim News

Florida Office of Insurance Fines Heritage for Ian Claims Issues

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation in recent weeks has fined five property/casualty insurers, including Heritage Property & Casualty Insurance Co., which was hit with a $1 million penalty for failing to properly handle hundreds of claims after Hurricane Ian. …

Microsoft Hit With $242 Million U.S. Verdict in Cortana Patent Lawsuit

Microsoft must pay patent owner IPA Technologies $242 million, a federal jury in Delaware said on Friday after determining that Microsoft’s Cortana virtual-assistant software infringed an IPA patent. The jury agreed with IPA after a week-long trial that Microsoft’s voice-recognition …

Spouse Married After Injury Can Still Seek Damages in Asbestos Claim, Florida High Court Rules

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. …

SC High Court Strikes ‘Troubling’ Denial of Comp Claim, Says Can’t Be Based on Stats

An employer cannot use an ergonomics report, showing that a work injury is statistically unlikely, to deny a workers’ compensation claim, the South Carolina Supreme Court said in an opinion that sharply questioned an appellate panel’s decision making. “Individual cases …

Egyptian Court Rejects Appeal Against Detention of Ship in Suez Canal

CAIRO — An Egyptian court on Tuesday ruled that the container ship which blocked the Suez Canal in March could continue to be held in the waterway, rejecting an appeal by its Japanese owner against its detention, a judicial source …

Dissatisfied with Claim Delay, Family Protests with Corpse

Old Mutual Ltd. is in the spotlight again for all the wrong reasons. The 174-year-old insurer was forced to apologize after a grieving family brought a corpse to one of its branches so the company would process a claim for …

Supreme Court Malpractice Ruling Concerns Doctors, Lawyers

MINNEAPOLIS — A recent ruling from the Minnesota Supreme Court saying doctors can be sued for malpractice even if they’re not directly treating a patient is causing angst in the state’s medical and legal communities. The high court said in …

Punitive Damages Not Insurable Under Rhode Island State Law

Rhode Island’s Insurance Superintendent Joseph Torti III issued a bulletin last week that affirmed that punitive damages are not insurable under the state’s law. “Punitive damages are not insurable under Rhode Island law. The department will, therefore, reject any form …

Insurance Fraud Investigation Leads to Arrest of Hawaii Police Recruit

An investigation by the Insurance Division’s Fraud Branch led to charges against a Honolulu Police Department (HPD) recruit just weeks before his graduation from the academy. Earl Danielson Jr., 28, pleaded no contest on Monday Dec. 12, 2011, to second …

Minnesota’s Claim Over Bridge Collapse Can Proceed

The Minnesota Supreme Court says the state may seek compensation from a California design firm that tried to block lawsuits over the Minneapolis bridge collapse. Wednesday’s ruling allows the state’s claim against Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. of Pasadena to proceed. …