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Lloyd’s predictions
Shortly before Lloyd’s own forecasts, Moody’s has predicted a combined loss of £3bn for the three years 1998 to 2000 – £1.1bn, £1.2bn and £700mn respectively, with no guarantee of profit in 2001.
Noting that the..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Solicitors’ scramble
Despite underwriters’ estimates that 10% of the 9,000 law firms in England and Wales requiring new professional liability insurance cover would fail to meet the 1 September deadline, most seem to have made last-minute arrangements.
And of..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Solicitors’ PI online
‘eFINPRO offers instant comparative quotations and coverage online’ for solicitors seeking professional indemnity cover on the open market.
Underwritten by Chubb and SVB Syndicates and on offer through Marsh, using a system built by..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Lawyers win churning claims, and US$90mn
Lawyers from 20 law firms who gained a class action settlement from Prudential Insurance of America will share US$90mn in fees and expenses.
This is part of a New Jersey district court acceptance of the US$3.5bn settlement of customer allegations..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Threat to Equitas
A significant and unexpected rise in asbestos claims could – if current trends continued – ‘exhaust Equitas’s reserves… logically Equitas would go under.’ So said chief executive of Equitas Michael Crall, speaking..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Gulf Air A40-EK loss
On 24 August, the flight GF072 Airbus 320 from Cairo crashed into shallow water when attempting to land at Bahrain. All 143 on board – 135 passengers and eight crew – died.
Flight recorders have been recovered, though no distress calls..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
‘Discorde’
The crash of Concorde at Charles de Gaulle Airport still reverberates more strongly than other recent crashes with greater implications for insurers.
An unusual reaction was the immediate grounding of the French Concorde fleet, followed soon..
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01 October 2000
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Case update
Subject Shareholders’ access to documents
Result The rule from Woodhouse & Co v Woodhouse
(1914) giving a shareholder entitlement to see a company’s documents, based on their fiduciary relationship, applied – whatever the..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
How to lose friends
The friendship between Firestone – provider of tyres for Henry Ford’s original Model-T almost a century ago – and Ford is under strain. Costly recalls and a growing range of lawsuits have been joined by the stress of Congressional..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Awards and settlements
Vibration white finger
compensation of £1.2mn between eight former water company workers. They were suspended in 1998 and subsequently dismissed due to ill health. Their claim was supported by their trade union, the GMB; water company..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
People on the move
Two new insurance litigation partners have been appointed to Manchester law firm James Chapman & Co.
Sue Drinkwater specialises in employers’ liability matters and health and safety prosecutions. Quentin Underhill specialises in..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
ACAS reorganisation
With employee actions against companies up by 27% to 167,354 in the year to 31 May, and calls for information showing a significant rise, arbitration service ACAS is planning to introduce online services for routine matters and centralised..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
French non-life market
Following three years of contraction, 1999 saw modest growth of non-life business in the French market. Linked to increased activity in the broader economy, intense competition remains, with too much capital chasing too little business.
Figures from..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Italian motor liability tariff
A document from the Italian antitrust authority claims motor liability tariffs have risen more steeply than any others in Europe since liberalisation in 1994. It goes on to explain the L700bn fine imposed on 40 insurers for anticompetitive..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Drake policies transferred
Provisional liquidator Deloitte & Touche has successfully transferred all the 100,000 Drake motor policies to new insurers, operative as from 1 September and with no additional premium charges.
Jamie Smith, one of the liquidators, commented:..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
PPB report
The report of the Policyholders Protection Board for the year ended 31 March 2000 shows payments of £25.2mn made in respect of 16 general insurers, with £15.9mn received under scheme payments. Since then the board has spent around..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Accident Line relaunch
The Law Society-sponsored personal injury service is to be relaunched in October, with a £2.5mn marketing campaign orchestrated by scheme administrator Abbey Legal Protection.
Set up in 1994, changes – such as the recoverability of..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Employment practices liability
A special issue, dated August 2000, of GeneralCologneRe’s
Liability Insurance Report addresses these issues on a global level.
Employers and insurers outside the US often regard employment practices liability as being purely a US phenomenon..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Andersen Legal
Global law network Andersen Legal, associated with Big Five accountants, is launching Dealsight, an interactive online deal room service for clients. This follows similar moves by Allen & Overy (Newchange) and Clifford Chance (Fruit Net).
Legal..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Orange porn sackings
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Microsoft fined
A US district court judge in Bridgeport, Connecticut has fined Microsoft US$1mn for ‘wanton, reckless’ and deceptive tactics against a small software firm.
This decision, the first in many similar individual cases pending, comes days..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Electronic commerce directive
..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
ADR for e-commerce
The European Commission is working on binding regulations – which could be operative before the end of the year – on the resolution of e-commerce disputes through small claims and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures.
This is..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
‘Say sorry, properly’
‘Say sorry, properly’ is the message of a 28-page guide sent by the Law Society to its 40,000 members, advising them ‘not to be afraid of saying sorry to clients when things go wrong … even if you disagree with the complaint,..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Rejection of stakeholder approach
The Trades Union Congress has expressed ‘grave disappointment’ in proposals from the government-commissioned review of company law. Although earlier signals suggested directors’ duties apply to employees and other groups affected..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
RBS fined re PEPs
City watchdog IMRO has imposed a £250,000 compensation order and a £100,000 fine on Royal Bank of Scotland for breaches of rules on the administration of PEPs. Some 4,000 investors will regain money lost to their PEP accounts through..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Cape warning
The decision by the House of Lords to allow the hearing of asbestos-related Lubbe v Cape
in an English court, rather than the place of injury in South Africa, could lead to UK-based suits against other companies that had carried out their business..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Panatown not definitive
The tenet of English law that no one can seek damages for breach of contract unless they have suffered actual financial loss, was at issue in Alfred McAlpine Construction Ltd v Panatown Ltd
(see Case Update). The House of Lords ruled but the..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Scaffolding decapitation
Railtrack has been fined £200,000 for the death of a businessman who leaned out of a train window and was decapitated by scaffolding only four inches from the train (rather than the legal distance of 22 inches). This was blamed on a wrong..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Passive smoking in the workplace
Guidelines are in preparation by the Health & Safety Commission on control of passive smoking in the work-place. Public consultation showed more than 83% of respondents are in favour of an approved code, though only 5% wanted stronger..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
HSE lacks ‘full confidence’ in Tube safety
In a document leaked to The Times
and reported on 19 August 2000, the Health & Safety Executive’s Railway Inspectorate castigates London Underground managers for a range of failures along with ‘intransigence, prevarication or..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Health of the bottom line
The Health & Safety Administration Handbook
, published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development, argues that attention to health and safety can save money for businesses, and possibly even allow them to operate more..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
NZ employment law on course, with ACC reform to follow
The New Zealand government’s Employment Relations Bill (ERB) is set to become law on 2 October, after lengthy consultation failed to win opposition support. Key features include:
Clarification of the responsibilities of employers to staff in..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Racism at Ford of Dagenham
The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) has delayed an order for Ford at Dagenham to engage in formal investigation of racism at the plant, for completion by 13 October.
This stems from the successful case brought to tribunal by Sukjit Parma,..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Racial equality directive
The EC directive on equal treatment of persons irrespective of race or ethnicity applies broadly to public and private sectors. This not only covers employment but also education, supply of goods and a number of other social situations.
However,..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Internet misuse
Following mobile phone company Orange’s sacking of 45 call centre workers for exchanging internet pornography while at work, lawyers warn of the need for clear guidelines.
In the case at issue, the dismissed workers had broken the rule against..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
MoD compensation rises
A report leaked to the press on 9 August indicates that compensation paid by the MoD to injured personnel for the last year amounted to £83mn. Claims, and the size of settlements, against the Ministry of Defence are expected to continue..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
VCM report
A two-year investigation led by Prof Andy Watterson of De Montford University in Leicester, commissioned by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), addressed the effects of poisonous chemical vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) on Chesterfield workers making car..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
TUC seeks ‘next workplace plague’
Reacting to a recent Health & Safety Executive (HSE) report and call for unions to raise welfare awareness, a Trades Union Congress (TUC) campaign urges safety representatives to report health problems experienced by their fellow workers, so as..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Guidelines on violent pupils
Following the successful appeal of head teacher Marjorie Evans – earlier sentenced to a three-month suspended prison term – unions NASUWT and NAT are demanding changes in the way classroom complaints are handled.
She had been accused of..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Bonus not merely incentive
Nomura, the Japanese investment bank, was criticised in the High Court by Mr Justice Burton as ‘perverse and irrational’ in refusing to pay a bonus to an equity trader who had been a ‘profit machine’.
Steven Clark was..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Holiday denial
A report from the National Association of Citizens’ Advice Bureaux (NACAB) indicates ‘deliberate non-compliance’ by many employers in the provision of annual paid holidays, as required under the working time regulations of 1998...
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Support at hearings
Employees now have the right to be accompanied – by colleague or trade union representative even where there is no union recognition – at disciplinary or grievance hearings. Under the ACAS code of practice, issued in relation to the..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Genetic screening of staff
A survey carried out by Geraint Day of the Institute of Directors found that only 8% of businesses favour compulsory genetic screening of staff to identify a potential for sickness.
However, 33% would be interested in the result where employees took..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Help, or discrimination
A stress claim could lead to clarification of the extent employers should try to assist those with disabilities through training.
Kevin Alderson was a chronic stammerer. His employer, Walker’s Crisps, asked him to join in training sessions..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Civilian workplace exposure
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Fen-Phen settlement approved
With enough accepters to make it worthwhile to American Home Products, the Philadelphia district court has given approval to a national settlement of 200,000 claims for injury from use of the diet drug.
It is to cost an estimated US$3.75bn;..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Gun litigation
The action brought by the city of Chicago seeking to hold gun makers and distributors liable for the related costs of violence, has been dismissed by Judge Schiller in the Illinois Cook County Circuit Court.
He held that the case lacked evidence of..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Gore bill sickens health insurers
A patients’ bill of rights, strongly supported on its way through Congress by vice-president Al Gore, is unwelcome to managed care companies and health insurers. In particular, a key provision would give consumers an expanded right to sue..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Litigation costs for insurers
A survey by KPMG on litigation costs found that over recent years 63% of corporate attorneys saw costs increasing (a third of these by a substantial 50% or more), though 22% said they had fallen. As a spinoff, in-house attorneys are adding to their..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
US D&O market fuelled by more investors
A Bestweek report on the D&O market includes comment from a number of leading professionals in the field. Investor suits against troubled Conseco and Reliance Group Holdings leave Robert Hartwig, vice-president and chief economist for the..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
US P/C plunges
Figures from the Insurance Services Office show a 32.5% income drop to US$10bn in the US property/casualty market in the first half of this year. Net loss, according to the National Association of Independent Insurers, doubled from the first half of..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Solutia to replace building
Solutia, the applied chemicals division of Monsanto, was required in a jury verdict to pay US$90mn to replace the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation HQ building.
The building was heavily damaged in a fire in 1994. Subsequent tests showed..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Tobacco update
Lorillard Tobacco joins Liggett Group
in negotiations for national settlement of punitive damages claims by individuals, union health funds and others. Liggett had earlier opened talks in group of class action suits in the federal court, New York..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
BSE , CJD and OPs
Asymptomatic BSE in animals
has been confirmed by the Medical Research Council’s Prion Unit, led by John Collinge.
Research using hamsters and mice shows that tissue from infected creatures, themselves showing no ill-effects, can infect other..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
More Alder Hey confusion
While the independent inquiry into the practice of storing organs for research without the permission of next of kin progresses, the Alder Hey hospital – having told 800 parents that their infants’ brains and other body parts had all..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Consideration of polio vaccine/AIDS link
Serious evaluation of evidence will be undertaken by experts of the Royal Society to the possibility that AIDS originated from an experimental live polio vaccine given to African children in the 1950s.
This is a variant of the generally-accepted..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
MMR : ‘incredible omission’
With less than 95% of children now receiving the controversial triple injection, Mike Catchpole of the Public Health Laboratory, speaking at the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, warns this could allow a..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Kursk and other subs
Although the loss of the Russian nuclear submarine should not impinge on the insurance world, leakage of radioactivity could muddy the situation.
However, such leaks are at present firmly lodged in the world of rumour – with contradictory..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
EC to prosecute over Windscale
The European Commission (EC) is taking steps to prosecute the UK for flouting European safety regulations in relation to a plutonium fire at Windscale (now Sellafield) in 1957.
Pile owner the UK Atomic Energy Authority has now contracted dismantling..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
BNFL’s long-term liabilities
Annual accounts from state-owned British Nuclear Fuels show a loss of £337mn, stemming mainly from problems arising from falsification of records of reprocessed fuel shipped to Japan plus additional costs of closing plants. A provision of..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
US civilian worker exposure
Following the recent declassification of many documents, USA Today
has reviewed a wide range of government records to assess the scope and impact of nuclear weapons work at private facilities. In addition to this, reporters have visited sites and..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Boeing not invoking insurance cover
While denying liability, Boeing has agreed in principle to settle (at up to US$54mn) two claims alleging that defective bearings on Chinook military helicopters caused two separate crashes in which five servicemen died and both helicopters were..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
EgyptAir report
‘It is important to note that only factual information is being released today,’ said Jim Hall of the National Transportation Safety Board, launching the 1,664-page report on the 217-death crash of a Cairo-bound Boeing 767 last..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
TWA report
Following the longest and costliest air transport investigation, US investigators have reported to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that the most likely cause of loss of TWA flight 800 was a short circuit in wiring near the fuel..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
First court award for Little Rock landing accident
In the first jury award arising from an American Airlines jet leaving the runway when landing in a thunderstorm – with 11 deaths and 80 injured – an aspiring opera singer was awarded US$11mn, the bulk of it relating to the loss of..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
US divers investigate Estonia
Despite protests from Nordic and Baltic countries which, by international agreement, have declared the wreck a burial site, a private enterprise diving party has started work on the Estonia
, which sunk in 1994 with the loss of 852 lives. They..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Savarese blames Rina
The owner of the Erika
, Giuseppe Savarese, publicly blamed the Italian class society Rina and the Maltese registry for the loss of the tanker: ‘I paid Rina to verify that my ship was in proper condition. They did verify that my ship was in a..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Treasure syndicate in runoff
Syndicate 329, Jonathan L Jones & Others, has gone into runoff due to non-profitability mainly in hull and machinery.
South African claimants from Treasure
pollution, fearing at least delay – in particular the SA Foundation for the..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Falling merchandise at Wal-Mart
Not the falling prices we are to expect as Wal-Mart establishes a UK presence, but goods falling from shelves in the UK. It is not only at Wal-Mart stores, but many others, including Home Depot and Sam’s Club.
The Kansas City Star
carries..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Mobile phone labels
US manufacturers, developing a common measuring standard, will label mobile phones to show the levels of radiation emitted. This will occur from autumn this year, with European manufacturers following suit next spring.
While arguing they are all..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Mitsubishi coverup
After July denial, Mitsubishi Motors has now acknowledged it withheld information on customer complaints about tens of thousands of vehicles sold since 1971.
Such disclosures are required by law both in the US and Japan – where the majority of..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Continental recalls tyres
In the first knock-on from scrutiny of the tyre industry due to Firestone, German tyre group Continental is to recall 160,000 ContiTrac AS tyres fitted to Ford’s Lincoln Navigator SUVs over safety concerns including tread separation.
Field and..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Al Fayad sues over GM seed
..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Holocaust survivors sue SNCF
An action by some survivors of the Holocaust has been launched in a New York District Court against French national railway SNCF.
Compensation is sought in respect of the estimated 75,000 Jews sent to Nazi death camps, of whom only about 2,500..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
EgyptAir pilot’s family to sue US media
Relatives of Gamil al-Batouti, the co-pilot of EgyptAir flight 990, which crashed off the US coast last October, are taking legal action against the US media over their backing of the theory that he brought the plane down deliberately.
‘The..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Disabled access to cruise ships
The Federal Appeals Court in Atlanta has confirmed right of action against Premier Cruises, operator of the cruise ship Oceanic
, for failing to provide wheelchair access to Florida resident Tammy Stevens, who had booked a cruise.
This is the first..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Scottish exam claims
The fiasco of incorrect and delayed examination results for Scottish students could lead to compensation claims, according to Cameron Fyfe of Ross Harper Murphy.
Many students risk having to take a year off: even though universities are holding..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000
Human Rights Act: ‘a subtle cultural shift’
The Human Rights Act comes into force early in October, introducing an overarching set of laws under which the courts must interpret existing legislation – even to the extent of discarding time-honoured precedents.
Where a judge decides an..
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01 October 2000
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123 - 01 October 2000