claim News

Insurer Says Pollution Exclusion Sinks Coverage for Pool Chemical Injuries

A commercial general liability policy with a pollution exclusion does not protect a Virginia homeowners association from lawsuits filed by swimmers alleging they were injured by chemicals discharged into the community pool. That is the argument made by Philadelphia Indemnity …

Worker Injured While Drunk on the Job Wins Claim Approval

A worker injured when he fell from a ladder is entitled to workers’ compensation benefits despite the fact he was intoxicated at the time of the accident. An appellate court in New York has upheld a decision of the Workers’ …

Claim on Seized Hemp Shipment Barred, Showing Trickiness of Coverage

International treaties preempt state-based legal actions, giving an air transport company an escape from claims on what a hemp producer said was botched paperwork for an overseas hemp shipment, a federal appeals court said. The ruling by the U.S. 4th …

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 …