Claims

Another chapter has closed on the contingent-commission kickback saga with an agreement reached between a group of insurers and insurance brokers—and their clients who alleged the industry tried to manipulate the business.

A group of banks seeking to prevent guaranty insurer MBIA Insurance Corp. from splitting into two companies says the company underestimated its losses by as much as $10 billion to the N.Y. State Insurance Dept.

Employers and their insurers will have a new tool, grounded in the science of human behavior, available to assess an organization’s vulnerability to employment practices liability lawsuits when Montage Analytics officially rolls out its EPL Risk Index later this year.

Several Bermuda companies have reported loss estimates from first-quarter catastrophes, but all of the companies excluded the March 11 magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck Japan, stating that it is too early to give an estimate.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments March 29 in what is being classified as one of the largest sex-discrimination or employment-practices liability cases in history.

Employers are increasingly being confronted with users of medical marijuana on the payroll. Thus far, the courts have sided with the right to terminate or deny employment, but employers are still being advised to shore up drug policies to avoid liability from potentially impaired workers.

The use of social-media sites—Facebook, YouTube, Twitter—has surged at a record-breaking pace over the past few years, and they are now used by employees and employers in almost every workplace—a development that has opened new vehicles for harassment, discrimination and employment-related defamation.

As demonstrated by the case of Lilly Ledbetter, which spawned the Fair Pay Act of 2009, what appears a non-issue today might not be tomorrow. This makes the purchase of employment practices insurance vital for small and midsize businesses, according to Burns & Wilcox Manager Dick Weaver