Litigation

The House has passed legislation that allows recovery of noneconomic damages for maritime death victims' families, starting with the 11 workers that died in British Petroleum's current oil rig disaster.

New York Supreme Court Judge James A. Yates has thrown out the convictions of two former executives of Marsh after their 2008 conviction on felony monopoly charges for accepting contingent commission kickbacks.

American International Group Inc. (AIG) is now free to proceed with a lawsuit alleging other insurers conspired to underreport workers' compensation premiums, which the company said skewed the market.

The new federal Affordable Care Act could potentially have a positive effect on medical malpractice liability, actuaries were told at a recent Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) Seminar on Reinsurance.

Reinsurers are increasingly questioning the sustainability of a good casualty claims environment, and their dimmer views of future profit margins on primary business are putting them at odds with potential cedents.

There are signs of tort inflation in 2010 and 40 percent of companies anticipate it, said the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) in a recently released report.

In the first jury trial of a case involving Chinese drywall, a Miami-area couple was awarded nearly $2.5 million, while drywall manufacturer Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co.

A federal judge is encouraging defendants currently outside the scope of a recently announced $712.5 million World Trade Center settlement to join the settlement, calling it fair and reasonable for injured plaintiffs.