Dog Breeds, Bites and Insurance Claims February 18, 2013 – According to the Insurance Information Institute, dog bites accounted for more than one-third of ALL homeowners liability dollars paid in 2011. It took a total of about $479 million to satisfy more than 16,000 claims that year. That’s $3.53 trillion in dog dollars. Laws vary…
February 18, 2013 – An article from last week’s issue of Claims Journal serves as a timely reminder to claims professionals everywhere of the interconnectivity between structured settlements, the current debate on income taxes and effective claims resolution. In short, rising tax rates make tax-free income more attractive when settling injury claims. This is but…
February 17, 2013 – Before the year gets away from us as years are wont to do, I thought we’d pause for a moment to reflect upon the number of people whose lives have been positively impacted in these first few weeks of 2013 as a result of our firm’s involvement in many changes in…
February 14, 2013 – Let’s start with the obvious: It depends on the event. But since it’s St. Valentine’s Day and our thoughts turn to romance, let’s start with the odds that any given person will ever date a Supermodel. The answer? 1 in 88,000. At least according to “What Are Your Odds Of Winning…
February 11, 2013 – An excellent blog written by Julie Brook for the Continuing Education of the Bar (CEBblog) last August is being revisited here today for one very good reason. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (ATRA). The straightforwardly titled “Is the Money You Got in Your Employment Case Taxable?” blog very succinctly…
February 3, 2013 Dear Phil, Congratulations on winning the 2013 Waste Management Phoenix Open! It was well deserved and, quite literally, couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. But knowing how you feel about your current tax situation (even though you backtracked a little on your original stance as one would expect a habitual nice guy…
ASRHipSettlement.com News January 31, 2013 – As the nation’s first trial alleging defective design among other causes of action against DePuy Orthopaedics regarding the recalled Articular Surface Replacement (ASR) artificial hip implant device moves forward in Los Angeles, some headlines are painting a bleak picture for the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary. Today’s New York Times…
January 31, 2013 – While most parties involved in settling Workers’ Compensation claims are familiar with the concept of Structured Medicare Set-Aside Arrangements (MSAs), it remains a surprisingly underutilized approach to satisfying the parties’ obligations under the Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) laws. That’s why we were pleased to read the straightforwardly titled “The Value of…
January 31, 2013 – A few days ago, we passed along the news that A. M. Best has just upgraded the outlook for American General Life from stable to positive. We cheered that good news. Today, we’re cheering even louder because of the 2 minute YouTube video we just watched which was produced by American…
January 30, 2013 – At first blush, this may seem like news to yawn about. But today’s close of the 10-Year Treasury yield above 2% for the first time in nine months is important for a couple reasons. Reason One Today’s close at 2.03% means the yield is 42% better than it was at its…