LIBERTY MUTUAL FILES APPEAL OVER WORKERS' COMP DEAL

Boston-based Liberty Mutual Group has filed an appeal against the $450m settlement that AIG reached with Safeco and other workers' compensation writers over the bailed-out insurer's under-reporting of workers' comp premiums for decades, shifting a greater burden of contributions to state workers' comp pools to rival carriers. Liberty Mutual argues that the settlement should have been larger given that AIG was found by state regulators to have under-reported $2.1bn in premiums. In February, US District Judge Robert Gettleman in Chicago deemed the settlement "fair, reasonable and adequate". In addition to the settlement with rival carriers, AIG agreed to pay $146.5m to settle a multi-state investigation into the under-reporting of premiums.