The Interstate 4 construction project in Orlando may have been one of the most accident-plagued sites in Florida history, leading to the deaths of five workers and significant injuries for others, along with damage to vehicles. But one of those injured workers cannot claim punitive damages, despite his employer hiring a driver with an apparent history of license violations, a Florida appeals court decided last week. “When a defendant’s negligent actions are so outrageous in character and so extreme in degree that an average member of the community would exclaim, ‘Outrageous!,’ then the law may move beyond merely compensating the…
Author: Awais
Were he alive today, Albert Einstein would make for a fantastic expert witness in builders risk coverage litigation. Einstein’s testimony on the concept of entropy would be particularly insightful—assuming his hourly rate was affordable, of course.[1] In recent years, we’ve seen a substantial increase in builder’s risk claims related solely to defective work (in the absence of actual, physical damage). These claims rely on the notion that defective work will eventually fail, and likely sooner than non-defective work. On the surface, it is hard to argue with that concept: if something is built incorrectly it will likely break down sooner.…
A group of U.S. senators issued a letter to Labor Secretary Chavez-DeRemer and Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health David Keeling, outlining their concerns about new data showing a significant drop in workplace safety investigations and fines. U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Ill.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) released new data revealing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration performed 20% fewer inspections and issued 42% fewer fines for severe workplace violations in 2025. The letter urged both federal agencies to answer questions “regarding the decline in OSHA…
A U.S. economy that has weathered a year of trade, immigration and other shocks now faces a new test likely to ratchet up uncertainty after President Donald Trump’s decision to launch open-ended attacks against Iran with the stated goal of toppling the Middle Eastern country’s long-ruling Islamist government. With counter-strikes underway throughout the region and Trump saying the conflict could go on for weeks at least, analysts are focused on a long list of imponderables as oil prices jumped over the weekend from $70 to nearly $80 a barrel before slipping back somewhat and shipping through the strategic oil lanes…
Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud unit warned of prolonged disruptions to its services after revealing that drone strikes damaged three of its data centers in the Middle East in recent days. Amazon Web Services Inc. said for the first time that drones had “directly struck” two facilities in the UAE. In Bahrain, a drone strike near another facility damaged infrastructure, it said. “We are working to restore full service availability as quickly as possible, though we expect recovery to be prolonged given the nature of the physical damage involved,” the company said in a post. AWS customers are experiencing elevated error rates…
Hong Kong’s Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui explained today that the government aims to enhance its preferential tax regime and extend the eligible asset classes for tax exemptions to include insurance-linked securities (ILS), such as catastrophe bonds.The goal is to enhance competitiveness of its financial marketplace and attract more investors to it and to domicile in the Special Administrative Region. Hong Kong has been on a push in the institutional investor and sophisticated investor space, with family offices a particular area of focus. Already Hong Kong is a major hub for family weather and investment vehicles,…
“Every malpractice claim magnifies where patient care can be improved,” said Julie Ritzman, senior vice president, patient safety and risk management at The Doctors Company, part of TDC Group. “Analyzing neurology claims highlights trends that provide clinicians with actionable insights to strengthen communication, decision making, and overall patient care.”
The case traces back to 2013, when Eduardo Narciso, a worker employed by HB Construction, was knocked off a nine-foot concrete form at a job site and landed headfirst on the ground. He was left permanently and totally disabled and requiring constant care. Auto Owners, as HB Construction’s workers’ compensation insurer, began paying his medical and wage benefits.
Nephila Capital contributed an impressive $159.2 million in fund management revenues to its parent Markel in 2025, with the figure having risen 68% over the prior year and Tom Gayner, Markel CEO, said the ILS unit “delivered” for its investors as well.We’d already reported, based on information in Markel’s results announcement, that Nephila Capital, the specialist insurance-linked securities and catastrophe reinsurance investment manager, had grown the property catastrophe program premiums for its insurance-linked securities management activities in the last year. In fact, for 2025, Markel reported gross fronting premium volumes under these programs reached almost $1.855 billion for the year,…
Various threats are converging into a crisis the market saw coming – but hoped wouldn’t arrive
The race for advisors who understand the complexity is on
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chief Executive Officer Greg Abel vowed to keep Warren Buffett’s guiding principles intact and sought to reassure investors that the company would outlast the legendary executive. Abel began his inaugural letter to shareholders, published on Saturday as part of the company’s annual report, with a tribute to Buffett, the billionaire investor who ran the company for more than six decades with a focus on seeking out value and investing over the long term. “Warren is obviously a very hard act to follow,” Abel, 63, wrote. He called Buffett “arguably the greatest investor of all time,” but said…
Aspire today announced it has acquired California-based PolicyOne from One Inc. As part of the transaction, 21 PolicyOne employees are joining Aspire. Aspire plans to continue its long-standing relationship with One Inc. through the use of their PremiumPay and ClaimsPay services. Rancho Cucamonga, California-based Aspire is an auto insurance provider working through a network of independent brokers. PolicyOne is a supplier of electronic design automation services for the insurance industry. Topics Mergers & Acquisitions California Was this article valuable? Yes No Here are more articles you may enjoy. Interested in Mergers? Get automatic alerts for this topic.
Heather Cianfrocco, an executive vice president at UnitedHealth and former CEO of its health services division Optum, announced she was leaving the company after a 24-year tenure.