The Calm Before the Storm: Planning for Catastrophic Weather Events
A car accident, slip-and-fall, or other incident can turn your life upside down when catastrophic injuries occur. These serious injuries go beyond sprains or fractures, leaving you out of work and with long-term or permanent...more
Captive insurers can offer enhanced control over coverage, claims, and premiums; however, they also face specific challenges when dealing with large-scale coverage events that have highly uncertain scopes, particularly when...more
Data is generated faster than ever, and the magnitude of this reality is amplified during catastrophic events. The recent Los Angeles wildfires and other natural disasters bring to light the daunting challenge of managing an...more
As global threats evolve, so does the question of what constitutes a ‘war’ risk under a standard property insurance policy, and how this might impact coverage. Historically, a war was a physical conflict between two or...more
Severe Convective Storms (“SCS”) are one of the most common and most damaging natural catastrophes in the United States. SCSs are intense atmospheric disturbances that can cause powerful winds, large hail, heavy rainfall, and...more
Catastrophic events (CAT) include hurricanes, floods, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tornados, and wildfires (See Figures 1-4 below). “CAT season” is the phrase experts commonly use to describe the...more
Escalating Impacts of Catastrophic Weather - Large insurance losses are increasingly being caused by hazardous weather events such as hurricanes, floods, lightning strikes, high winds, large hail, and wildfires....more
In the construction industry, resilience generally refers to a building’s or infrastructure element’s ability to avoid, mitigate, absorb, or recover from physically destructive events, with an eye toward overall longevity. ...more
The Louisiana Insurance Department (“Department”) recently sent e-mail notifications to numerous third party administrators (“TPA”) regarding the failure to file their Catastrophe Response Plans with the Department by June 1,...more
As jury verdicts across the country are on an upward trajectory into the hundreds of millions and in some cases billions of dollars, this calls for a different litigation and trial strategy to contain the awards and minimize...more
Hurricane Ian brought “fierce winds, unrelenting rains and catastrophic flooding to southwest Florida. As Ian approached, Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis acknowledged that, “We all need to work together regardless of party...more
On September 29, 2022, the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) of the Department of the Treasury published a Request for Comment (RFC) related to cyber insurance and catastrophic cyber incidents....more
In this episode of “Don’t Take No for an Answer,” hosts Lynda A. Bennett and Michael Lichtenstein of Lowenstein’s Insurance Recovery Group provide recommendations for preparing corporate insurance policies for the next...more
The Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) is proposing a new rule which will exclude COVID-19 claims from an employer’s experience rating. In proposing the new rule, the BWC noted that pandemics are generally...more
A round table discussion with top litigators and social scientists exploring how major world events such as the COVID-19 pandemic can impact juror attitudes. History proves that major world events impact juror attitudes....more
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin - “It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.” – Howard Ruff - The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to confront an uncomfortable, ubiquitous reality...more
Over the past several weeks, we've seen legislators introduce bills to retroactively rewrite existing insurance policies to provide coverage for COVID-19 claims, and a flood of insurance coverage complaints filed across the...more
Over the past decade, as commercial property insurance rates softened, so too have terms and conditions. In some instances, attempts to broaden coverage have also had the effect of diluting the clarity and consistency of...more
Thirteen states and the District of Columbia are suing to block the $26 billion plan to merge T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corp. The trial is slated to begin today with state officials arguing the deal would create “a more...more
IN RESPONSE TO RECORD-BREAKING FIRE LOSSES IN 2017, THE CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR SIGNED THE INSURANCE ADJUSTER ACT OF 2019 INTO LAW ON OCTOBER 3, 2019, WHICH NOW TAKES IMMEDIATE EFFECT TO GOVERN THE USE OF OUT-OF-STATE ADJUSTERS...more
As referenced in our recent CAT-Law post on the Catastrophic Losses of 2018, at the end of 2018 Congress passed the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 (DRRA) in an effort to improve the nation’s overall capacity to respond...more
On April 24, 2019, the Florida Legislature passed a bill (the “Act”) to reform the requirements for the assignment of benefits of claims for residential and commercial property insurance. The Act is expected to become law....more
One of my recurrent business themes is the need for businesses to try to plan for unanticipated events that could devastate the business and destroy shareholder value. The event that convinced me of the need for formal...more
Thanks for the input on topics you’d like to see and on your own observations to reference in the weekly Update. In order to keep this report short, we’re shifting most book, movie and certain other categories to the full...more
We encourage larger companies to establish a committee to meet every six to twelve months to engage in “What-if” risk planning. If we have learned anything this year, it’s that businesses face more unexpected risk than ever...more