Source: Business Insurance

Claire Wilkinson July 30, 2019 Insured losses from global natural catastrophes totaled $15 billion in the first half of 2019, below the long-term average of $18 billion and down from $23 billion in the same period of 2018, according to a report released Tuesday by Munich Reinsurance Co. Tornadoes and severe thunderstorms in the U.S. Midwest in May produced insured losses of around $2.5 billion, making this event the costliest insured catastrophe loss in the first half of this year, Munich Re said. Two further tornado/thunderstorm events in the U.S., flooding in Australia in January and February, and winter storm Eberhard in Europe rounded out the top five most costly insured catastrophes in the first half of the year, according to Munich Re’s review. A total of 370 loss events around the world produced overall economic losses of $42 billion in the first half of 2019, lower than the 30-year average of $69 billion on an inflation-adjusted basis, Munich Re said in a statement. This figure excludes losses from severe floods in southeast China in June that reportedly caused billions of dollars in damage. For many events, the insured loss total was small due to low insurance penetration in many of the affected countries, according to the review. Munich Re said around 4,200 people died in natural disasters in the first half of 2019, relatively unchanged from around 4,300 in the year-ago period.

Source: Business Insurance

Judy Greenwald July 30, 2019 A class action lawsuit that Google has settled for $11 million could encourage more litigation, particularly against other high-tech companies, which are viewed as favoring younger workers, say experts. Some experts believe that these age discrimination lawsuits will eventually rise to the level of the pervasive #MeToo litigation, although others say this is unlikely. Google may have settled the failure- to-hire litigation, which is often more difficult to prove than lawsuits filed by current employees, because of the evidence in this particular case, experts say. But other observers say $11 million is not a major expense for a company the size of Google, whose parent company, Mountain View, California-based Alphabet Inc., had almost $137 billion in 2018 revenue, and settling it was less of a hassle than continuing to defend it. The litigation in Robert Heath and Cheryl Fillekes v. Google LLC, which was filed in April 2015, alleged that Google engaged in a “systematic pattern or practice of discrimination against applicants 40 and older.” Mr. Heath was 60 when he applied for a job with Google in 2011. Ms. Fillekes was 47 when she joined the litigation in June 2015. Mr. Heath subsequently reached his own settlement with the company. The litigation was certified as a class action in October 2016. Besides Ms. Fillekes, there are 226 other “opt-ins” into the settlement agreement. In addition to paying the $11 million, Google agreed to train employees and management on age-based bias.

Source: Business Insurance

Thomson Reuters July 30, 2019 (Reuters) — Capital One Financial Corp.’s assurances that a major data breach would have a limited impact on customers or profits failed to convince investors on Tuesday, with the bank’s shares down more than 7%. Capital One said the prior day that 106 million people who had applied for credit cards in the United States and Canada had their personal data exposed. The bank expects the incident to cost $100 million to $150 million this year, some of which may be covered by a sizeable insurance policy. It also confirmed prior guidance that operating efficiency would improve. However, investors are wary, given the scale of the breach, the reputational impact on Capital One and likelihood of additional costs, analysts said.

Source: Business Insurance

July 26, 2019 (Reuters) — A California judge on Thursday reduced a $2 billion jury verdict, slashing the award for a couple who blamed Bayer AG’s glyphosate-based weed killer, Roundup, for their cancer to $86.7 million. Superior Court Judge Winifred Smith of the California Superior Court in Oakland said the jury’s billion-dollar punitive damage awards were excessive and unconstitutional, but rejected Bayer’s request to strike the punitive award outright. Under Judge Smith’s final order, California couple Alva and Alberta Pilliod would receive roughly $17 million in compensatory damages and $69 million in punitive damages, down from $55 million and $2 billion, respectively. The plaintiffs still have to formally accept the reduced awards. Brent Wisner, a lawyer for the Pilliods, in a statement on Friday welcomed the decision.

Source: Business Insurance

July 29, 2019 More than two million hectares of forests are on fire in Siberia, The Siberian Times reports. Around 784,931 hectares of wildfires are raging on permafrost zones including the Arctic in Yakutia and the Khanty-Mansi autonomous region, causing possibly irreparable damage to the Tundra. Other infernos are burning through boreal forests.

Source: Business Insurance

July 29, 2019 A survey by Brazil’s police found that more than 22,000 cargo trucks were attacked in 2018, costing businesses about 2 billion Brazilian real ($530 million), Segs.com reported. The survey found that half of the thefts were carried out by employees. Insurance experts called for increased use of technology and risk assessments to curb cargo thefts in Latin American countries including Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

Source: Business Insurance

July 29, 2019 A report by U.K.-based Aon P.L.C. found that catastrophes caused $2.4 billion in insured losses in the Asia-Pacific region in the first half of this year, up 14% from $2.1 billion in average losses since 2000, Asia Insurance Review reported. The catastrophes caused $73 billion in economic losses with cyclone Fani in India accounting for more than $8 billion and floods in China accounting for $7.7 billion of losses.

Source: Business Insurance

July 29, 2019 U.K. building inspectors said that a lack of insurance could force 15 firms to stop work by the end of October, delaying construction projects across the country, Architects’ Journal reported. The Association of Consultant Approved Inspectors said insurers are increasingly refusing to provide professional indemnity and public liability cover after the June 14, 2017 Grenfell Tower fire.

Source: Business Insurnace

July 25, 2019 A fuel outage at the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands on July 24 forced airlines to cancel 180 flights and reduce the number of incoming flights to one-third of normal capacity, Reuters reported. A fault in the systems of Netherlands-based Aircraft Fuel Supply B.V. prevented airlines from refueling at least 70 planes.

Source: Business Insurance

July 25, 2019 Evan Greenberg, chief executive of U.S.-based insurer Chubb Ltd. said that recent insurance rate hikes are spreading to new lines of business and new territories worldwide including the London wholesale market, Artemis.bm reported. Mr. Greenberg said that commercial insurance buyers are increasingly moving towards quality risks, providing more opportunities for the insurance-linked securities sector.