It Figures

54%

The statewide average increase of 54 percent for homeowners rates that Nationwide Insurance requested in Florida last year. The request has been granted but due to a new law it will likely be much less. The increase would take effect this summer or when policies are renewed. The new law is expected to lower rates primarily by giving insurance companies more access to cheaper backup coverage through the state’s Hurricane Catastrophe Fund.

$210 million

The estimated losses incurred in the counties, Americas and Sumnter, in Georgia from early March storms and tornadoes that killed nine people. President Bush has authorized additional relief and promised the federal government would pick up the full tab for debris removal and other eligible expenses instead of requiring a local match.

$26 million

The fees that the Scruggs Katrina Group is supposed to earn representing Katrina victims in claims suits against insurers. Now a Jackson, Miss., law firm has sued Scruggs for allegedly withholding its share of the fees. Jones, Funderburg, Sessums, Peterson & Lee law firm alleges that Scruggs and others conspired to “freeze out” the Jones firm and offered it a “ridiculously low figure” for its “substantial” work. Jones claimed his firm was offered a $1 million payment but that it is entitled to 20 percent of all past attorney fees collected by SKG and 20 percent of all future attorney fees SKG collects.

$1.7 million

The settlement for the family of a 73-year-old South Carolina man who died after receiving the wrong drug during surgery. According to attorneys for Martha Cogan, widow of Herbert Cogan, Piedmont Medical Center will pay the bulk of the settlement, about $1.275 million. The remainder will be paid by an insurer for the doctors and other medical personnel involved in the case. According to the lawsuit, an anesthesiologist accidentally gave Herbert Cogan the wrong drug during his heart surgery in 2002 and a surgeon failed to tell the family how Cogan died.

8

The number of years that Florida officials say the owner of Don Estlund’s Tree Service in Florida operated without workers’ compensation insurance. The owner allegedly admitted to operating for eight years without the state-mandated coverage, after an employee incurred a staggering medical debt due to an injury he received on the job. If convicted on the charge filed against him, Estlund could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison in addition to restitution and fines.

35

The number of suspected arsons being investigated by Mem-phis, Tenn., fire officials. The fires have been in vacant homes in the city since January. Police and firefighters are combing local neighborhoods trying to track down suspects. There have not been any known deaths or injuries from the fires being investigated.

Topics Florida