Claims Magazine September 2009
Cover Story
The Front Line of Defense
For many years, the public in general did not regard insurance fraud as a serious crime.
Features
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Quantifying Moisture Exposure
Most research efforts that test the effects of moisture exposure on wood building products evaluate the effects of water vapor -- in other words, the relative humidity (RH) -- rather than exposure to free water.
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It's Not Easy Being Green
Green building practices have grown annually, adding complexity to the analysis of construction projects, building systems, and building performance expectations.
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Wheeling and Stealing
Thieves broke into a truck parked in a hotel lot and made off with a large shipping crate.
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Customer Is King
Last year was one of the costliest years for insurers in history, with record-setting Atlantic hurricane losses amounting to $43 billion, as well as man-made catastrophic disasters culminating at $7 billion -- nearly double the annual averages from 2007.
Columns
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Decoding Hammer Letters
MC Hammer, rapper/dancer extraordinaire, burst on the early 1990s music scene with his hit song, "U Can't Touch This."
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Ruthless Objectivity
A recent fire loss serves as yet another cautionary tale in making a coverage decision before all of the evidence has been gathered.
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Fraud and Justice
It is a subject that plagues the claim adjuster daily: how much is pain worth?
Departments
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Finding the Right Words
Citing insurer sensitivity to certain words, Insure.com recently advised policyholders to avoid using five particular words when discussing a claim with an agent or a claim adjuster.
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Nullifying Anti-Steering Law a "Hard Sell"
Consumer advocates are concerned about a bill that could ostensibly undo a current Calif. law preventing insurers from "steering" customers to auto body shops under contract with the insurer.
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Thunderstorms Top First-Half Catastrophes
Severe thunderstorms caused more than $6 billion in insured damages during the first six months of 2009, making it the leading cause for insurance losses so far in what has been called a moderate year for natural disasters.
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Ward's Top 50 List Replaces 16 Companies
The Ward Group has released its top 50 P&C insurance companies in the United States, and the list looks significantly different from just one year ago.
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Putting the Brakes on Texting
Texting has become socially acceptable -- or at least socially tolerated -- almost everywhere today.
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No Love for Gangsters
Scottish Gangster Ian "Blink" McDonald, 48, continues to not-so-subtly contest Aviva's refusal to pay ?26,000 to replace his Mercedes Kompressor, which was firebombed in May.
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Speaking Of: Market Conduct Exams
Wolters Kluwer Financial Services recently released its annual list of the top 10 reasons insurance companies are found to be out of compliance during market conduct examinations, and many of the issues were related to claims.
