Monthly Archives: <span>January 2020</span>

U.S. Had 14 Weather Disasters Costing $1 Billion or More in 2019

The U.S. had 14 weather disasters costing $1 billion or more last year, with Midwest flooding accounting for almost half of the total, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Flooding from the Missouri, Mississippi and Arkansas rivers caused …

United Steelworkers Sues EPA Over Weakening of Chemical Safety Rule

NEW YORK — The United Steelworkers sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in federal court on Thursday in a bid to reverse its gutting of a safety rule at chemical plants, the union said. The largest U.S. industrial union’s lawsuit …

Subrogation Settlements and the IRS

Almost any time money changes hands in America, there are tax issues. The Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.) is over 2,600 pages long, and contains fives times as many words as the Bible. The federal tax rules and resources within the …

How Big Tech is Helping Transform Cars into Smartphones

LAS VEGAS — Technology companies transformed smartphones and televisions into continuous fountains of revenue. Now, big tech wants to work with automakers to do the same thing for your car. With the widespread rollout of autonomous vehicles still years away, …

Natural Disaster Losses Decline After Major Storms Spare U.S.

Insurance losses from natural disasters fell last year after the U.S. was spared the full wrath of a major Atlantic hurricane. That’s according to the reinsurance firm Munich Re, which recorded total losses of $150 billion from events like hurricanes, …

Judge to OK $215M Settlement for USC Gynecologist’s Patients

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge is likely to approve a $215 million class-action settlement with thousands of former patients of a campus gynecologist at the University of Southern California who has been accused of sexual abuse and misconduct, The …

Puerto Ricans Left Homeless After Biggest Quake in a Century

GUANICA, Puerto Rico — Cars, cots and plastic chairs became temporary beds for hundreds of families who lost their homes in southwest Puerto Rico as a flurry of earthquakes struck the island, one of them the strongest in a century. …

New Telematics Product Gives Adjusters Head Start on Crash Reports

The company that helped make driver safety monitoring ubiquitous among auto insurers is now offering a product that can write accident reports within minutes of a crash. Cambridge Mobile Telematics announced the launch of Claim Studio, an accident reporting system …

Amazon’s Ring Fired Staff for Trying to Access Customer Data

Amazon.com Inc. said its Ring subsidiary fired at least four employees for improperly seeking access to customer data over the last four years, the latest privacy headache for the video doorbell maker it acquired in 2018. “Although each of the …

Business News: Helmsman Management, MedRisk and Midwest Employers

Helmsman Completes Acquisition of Eberle Vivian Liberty Mutual’s wholly-owned third-party administrator, Helmsman Management Services, announced that it has closed on a deal to acquire Eberle Vivian Inc., a workers’ compensation claims administrator that serves the Pacific Northwest. Eberle Vivian, based …