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Insurers Relieved After Calif. Court Clarifies Small Claims Appeal Rules

Defense attorneys hope a published opinion issued last week by a California appellate court will curb a tactic used by plaintiff’s attorneys to steer minor cases to small claims court in hopes of winning default judgments that carriers won’t bother …

Court Says Insurance Doesn’t Cover Attacker in School Fight

DOVER, Del. — Delaware’s Supreme Court has overturned a judge’s ruling that an insurance company must extend liability coverage to a teenager who was convicted of criminally negligent homicide after a school bathroom attack that left a 16-year-old girl dead. …

Los Angeles High-Rise that Caught Fire Lacked Sprinklers

LOS ANGELES — A 25-story West Los Angeles apartment tower that caught fire, forcing firefighters to pluck stranded people from the rooftop and a ledge, had no sprinklers even though the same building burned seven years ago, authorities said. Flames …

Helicopter Company in Kobe Bryant Crash not Certified to Fly in Poor Visibility

The charter company whose helicopter crashed and killed basketball star Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others on Sunday was not certified to fly in conditions requiring pilots to fly using only cockpit instruments, media reports said. Island Express Helicopters, …

All Tesla Directors But Musk Settle Investors’ SolarCity Suits

All Tesla Inc. directors except Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk agreed to a $60 million settlement to resolve shareholder lawsuits over the company’s purchase of SolarCity, according to court filings. Insurers covering Tesla’s directors and executives will foot the bill …

Wine ‘Smoke Taint’ Disputes Linger 2 Years After Wildfires

Recent wildfires in California Wine Country, particularly those that devastated parts of Napa and Sonoma counties in October 2017, have focused attention on whether insurance covers smoke taint damage to grapes and wine. Many wineries and grape growers have notified …

Viewpoint: Does Artificial Intelligence Know Who’s Barn is the Next to Burn Down?

I shudder at the thought that an algorithm developed by artificial intelligence will allow the insurance industry to no longer spread the risk among all policyholders, but stick it to the few whom the data points identify as the most …

U.S. Refiners, Chemical Makers Pare Insurance Coverage as Accidents Boost Costs

U.S. refineries and petrochemical plants are cutting back on insurance because several years of severe accidents have driven up the cost of coverage, industry and insurance sources said. With less insurance coverage for physical damage and business interruption, energy companies …

J&J Ordered to Pay $344 Million Over Vaginal-Mesh Marketing

Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay $344 million for misrepresenting the risks of vaginal-mesh implants to consumers in California, the first state to bring its claim against the company to trial after thousands of U.S. women sued and some …

CEO Walks Back Pledge to Fix Homes Damaged in Houston Blast

HOUSTON — The head of a company involved in a massive explosion in Houston that killed two workers and injured 20 others on Tuesday backtracked on a pledge he had made earlier in the day to fix the hundreds of …

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