nuclear verdicts News

Dash Cams in Fleet Vehicles are Key to Avoiding Nuclear Verdicts, Risk Managers Say

ORLANDO, Fla. — Cameras. One showing the driver and another facing forward. Those can be the keys to avoiding nuclear verdicts after auto and truck crashes, especially for companies with fleets of vehicles and relatively inexperienced drivers, two Crum & …

Webinar Examines Good, Bad and Ugly of Litigation Financing

In insurance defense attorney Dennis Kass’ world, litigation financing firms lurk behind the scenes, pushing plaintiffs to undergo as much treatment as possible so lawyers can maximize the value of claims. “In a lot of ways, the plaintiffs become pawns …

Viewpoint: The Need for Defensive Anchoring in Response to Rising Jury Damages

In 1989, I began practicing law as a civil defense attorney in Chicago. I had the privilege of working for a law firm and partner who allowed me to gain a wealth of litigation and trial experience as a young …

Claims Business: CompScience, EagleView, Schaefer City and GGA

CompScience Now an MGA for Nationwide, Swiss Re CompScience Insurance Services has entered into a managing general agent agreement with Nationwide and Swiss Re to underwrite, bind and service workers’ compensation policies. CompScience, a San Francisco technology company, says its …

Report Says Social Inflation Adds Up to 11% to Physician Malpractice Claims

Social inflation accounts for 8 to 11 percent of all medical malpractice losses for carriers that insure physicians, according to an actuarial analysis commissioned by The Doctors Co. TDC hired Moore Actuarial Consulting to estimate how much insurers’ average losses …

One Law Firm’s Insurance Industry Predictions for 2023

Attorneys with Clyde & Co., an international law firm, offer these predictions for the insurance industry in the coming year: Courts show less willingness to consider extravagant policyholder coverage arguments post-COVID Onslaught of litigation has subsided but some changes are …

Viewpoint: Jury Blasts Defense with a $464.5 Million Nuclear Verdict

Plaintiffs’ California dreamin’ became a reality when a Los Angeles jury went nuclear with a verdict of $464.6 million after an eight-week trial in June. The verdict included $24.6 million in compensatory damages and a staggering $440 million in punitive …

Miami Jury Returns $95M Verdict Against Bar that Served Drunken Driver

A Miami-Dade jury has returned one of the largest verdicts ever in an automobile accident, awarding $95 million in damages plus attorneys’ fees to a South Florida family whose daughter was killed and whose son was catastrophically injured by a …

Sedgwick: Attorneys Involved in Claims Sooner and More Often

Attorneys are involved in a growing share of insurance claims and they are being retained much sooner, Sedgwick said in a paper released Tuesday. The private claims administrator said its data shows that in 2021, attorneys were involved in about …

Condo Collapse and COVID Court Rulings Among the Top Stories for 2021

The collapse of a Miami-area condominium tower and efforts to achieve a fair resolution for the victims was the Claims Journal’s top story in 2021. Readers were also keenly interested in court rulings involving litigation by policyholders seeking coverage for …