Monthly Archives: <span>January 2018</span>

Sex Harassment Cases Require Thorough Investigations, Rarely Go to Trial

Recent attention surrounding sexual harassment claims in the entertainment industry highlight the exposure. Though cases rarely go to trial, a thorough investigation can aid in limiting damages, according to two insurance defense lawyers. In employment practices liability insurance (EPLI) claims, …

New York, Mumbai Basements Seen as Uninsurable by Next Decade

Private property below ground in New York and Mumbai may not be insurable in the next decade if climate change advances, the head of one of Europe’s largest insurers said. “If you go much further to 2020, 2030, we can …

New Hampshire Considers Lowering Drinking Age to 20

As much as New Hampshire wants to attract more young people, lowering the drinking age is no way to do it, a public safety official said Tuesday. Christopher Casko, an attorney for the Department of Safety, testified against a bill …

Oklahoma High Court: Oil Firm Can Be Sued When Worker is Injured, Killed

The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that oil and natural gas companies can be sued when a worker is killed or injured on the job. The state’s highest court struck down a state workers’ compensation law that exempted oil and …

Rain Gutters Blamed for Many Home Drainage Problems

The person who coined the phrase “saving for a rainy day” must have been a property owner with home drainage problems. The financial costs of poor drainage can be substantial, and the human health costs significant too. Prevention is important, …

Alaska Earthquake Reveals Complexity of Tsunami Warnings

The powerful earthquake that struck beneath the Gulf of Alaska early Tuesday generated a tsunami, but before gauges could show that it was very small, warnings went out to a vast swath of the state and British Columbia, while a …

Striving for Quality IMEs

A good independent medical examination (IME) can assist in determining injury causation and disability rating, assist in formulating a treatment protocol and gauge return to work parameters. A recent white paper, “The Quality Divide: Are You a Leader or a …

U.S. Drivers Begin to Warm up to Riding in Self-Driving Cars

American drivers are slowly warming up to the idea of relinquishing the wheel to a robot. Although 63 percent of U.S. drivers say they’d be afraid to ride in a fully self-driving car, that’s down substantially from the 78 percent …

Maine Landlord’s Appeal in Fatal Fire Cites Vague Fire Codes

A landlord who was convicted of code violations stemming from Maine’s deadliest fire in decades filed a brief in his appeals case citing a vague fire safety code as a factor in the blaze. Gregory Nisbet was convicted following the …

NJ Transit’s Engines Parked Due to Positive Train Control Software Failure

New Jersey Transit’s race to fulfill a federal mandate for emergency train-braking has left it short of equipment, causing weeks of service cuts and crowding that are likely to worsen as the December deadline nears. About 8 percent of engines …