Esurance—the Allstate unit that sold its first policy online in 1999 and now offers car insurance in 43 states, plus homeowners, renters, and motorcycle insurance—is being phased out in 2020 as a separate brand. Technology has been at the core of the Esurance brand, with a focus on helping policyholders do things quickly and easily […]
Asbestos Claims Prompt Bankruptcy by Owens-Illinois Affiliate
Paddock Enterprises LLC, an affiliate of Owens-Illinois Group Inc., voluntarily filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. on January 6, 2020 under the weight of thousands of asbestos claims alleging injury. The Wall Street Journal reported the news in a January 6 article titled, “Asbestos Costs Drive Owens-Illinois Affiliate […]
Lien Doctors Grow in Popularity
Lien doctors follow an arrangement similar to contingency fee arrangements used by plaintiff lawyers in the sense that lien doctors agree to be paid for the medical services they provide to injured accident victims after the victim’s lawsuit has wrapped up, according to a January 8 article in The Wall Street Journal titled, “Who Wins […]
Windhaven Insurance to Liquidate
Windhaven Insurance Company was ordered into receivership for purposes of rehabilitation by the Second Judicial Circuit Court in Leon County, Florida on December 12, 2019. The Florida Department of Financial Services is the court appointed Receiver for Windhaven. Windhaven Insurance Company was later ordered into liquidation, effective on January 6, 2020. The policy cancellation date […]
Travelers Ups Loss Reserves Due to Tort Awards
Loss reserves are being increased by some P&C insurance carriers as a result of “social inflation,” reports The Wall Street Journal in a December, 2019 article titled “A Specter that is Haunting Insurers.” High tort awards are one of several forms of social inflation. “Social inflation” is described by the Journal as “… an upward […]
Panel Counsel Growth with a Market Penetration Study
A market penetration study at the state level can help an insurance defense law firm answer the perennial question, “How Can I Get on More Insurance Panels?”. By “market penetration,” we are referring to an analysis that identifies which property and casualty (P&C) insurance companies have the leading market share positions within a state by […]
P&C Insurance Industry Mergers & Acquisitions
The impact of consolidation within the property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry on insurance defense law firms is best understood when looking at the number of insurance industry mergers and acquisitions that have taken place in the last five years, as listed below. In many instances the existing defense panel counsel program was consolidated at […]
Active Shooter Insurance & Defense Law Firms
Protection through active shooter insurance is growing as the number of shootings accelerates. FBI records indicate 16.4 annual events between 2007 and 2013, more than double the yearly average of 6.4 incidents between 2000 and 2006. Employment defense law firms in particular are advised that guidance and counsel offered to employer clients following recent events […]
Uber Insurance Coverage for Liability
Uber’s valuation is $80-$90 billion despite slowing revenue and user growth and the loss of $1.8 billion last year alone when excluding certain business sales, according to its recent IPO filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The offering will be the biggest share sale since Alibaba Group went public on the New York Stock […]
Potential Clients in Grocery and Meal Delivery
Restaurants and grocers are experimenting with various methods of grocery and meal delivery to customers’ homes and offices, in part because these industries are not experiencing significant growth in foot traffic. Venture capital firms invested $5 billion into meal and grocery delivery services in 2018 alone, a four-fold increase from 2017. Some meal and grocery […]
