Articles by Jim Sams

Sams is editor of ClaimsJournal.com, the online resource and daily newsletter for property/casualty insurance claims professionals. ClaimsJournal is a member of the Wells Media Group. Sams can be reached at jsams@wellsmedia.com

Florida Driver Could Get $12M After Insurer Did Not Respond to Settlement Offer

A Florida accident victim gets a second chance to compel an auto insurer to pay a $12.7 million judgment after the insurer failed to respond to a $10,000 settlement offer, a federal appellate court ruled Tuesday. A divided panel of …

US Supreme Court Declines to Review Minnesota Ruling on Marijuana Use in Workers’ Comp

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to review a pair of decisions by the Minnesota Supreme Court that held employers cannot be required to reimburse workers for marijuana used to treat on-the-job injuries because the substance is illegal under …

NC High Court Restores Verdict Against Health Care Co. in Home Invasion

An elderly couple who survived a home invasion robbery plotted by an employee of a home health care business that they’d hired to care for them is entitled to the $750,000 that a jury awarded to them because of the …

Oklahoma Court: Tort Reform Law Allows Lawsuit Against Employer

Jerry Harwood couldn’t collect workers’ compensation benefits after he was paralyzed when he was struck by a car while trying to cross US Route 66 after leaving his workplace. But a split decision by the Oklahoma Supreme Court gives him …

Appeals Court First to Rule in Favor of Coverage for COVID Shutdown

The attorney who filed the first U.S. lawsuit seeking insurance coverage for a business shut down because of coronavirus won the first policyholder victory in a state or federal appellate court that interpreted the meaning of “direct physical loss or …

U.S. Supreme Court Refuses to Hear COVID Business Interruption Case

The US Supreme Court decided Monday that it will not hear an appeal of a decision that denied coverage for losses caused by COVID-19 shutdown orders, effectively closing the last door for such claims in the federal court system. The …

Iowa Supreme Court: 911 Dispatcher’s PTSD Claim Compensable

The 911 dispatch center that employed Mandy Tripp denied her workers’ compensation claim for post-traumatic stress syndrome because fielding calls involving death and injury are part of the job. A divided Iowa Supreme Court rejected that reasoning on Friday, ruling …

Circuit Court Clears Way For Suits Against Army Corps Over Harvey Floodwater Releases

A federal appellate court last week cleared the way for thousands of Houston-area property owners and their insurers to pursue claims for damages after the US Army Corps of Engineers emptied two reservoirs that were holding back floodwaters from Hurricane …

Oklahoma Court: Tort Reform Law Allows Lawsuit Against Employer

Jerry Harwood couldn’t collect workers’ compensation benefits after he was paralyzed when he was struck by a car while trying to cross US Route 66 after leaving his workplace. But a split decision by the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Wednesday …

Ohio Supreme Court: Ditch Diggers Misclassified as Independent Contractors

Ditch diggers who accepted work assignments online and used their own spades and shovels to do the work cannot be classified as independent contractors by a company that contracted with Time Warner Cable to install underground lines, a divided Ohio …