It Figures

$72 Million

The value of assets seized from Martin Frankel, a former financier convicted of stealing from insurance companies. Outgoing Mississippi Insurance Commissioner George Dale said the assets were seized by the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service as a result of Frankel’s conviction for taking over and looting insurance companies in Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Tennessee. Since Frankel’s arrest, Dale said the states have pursued the assets which were looted by Frankel and his co-conspirators. He said a federal judge in Connecticut recently ordered that funds and assets in forfeiture accounts were the property of the receivers/liquidators of the insolvent insurance companies in the five states.

7

The number of years that the federal terrorism insurance program will be renewed under a bill signed by President Bush just days before the old program was to expire.

124

The number of claims alleging medical malpractice filed against Dr. John A. King, a former West Virginia doctor who has field for bankruptcy. A court recently ruled that the lawsuits can continue toward trial while he settles his debts in bankruptcy court, a judge has ordered.

4.6%

The average statewide increase for homeowners insurance proposed by The Travelers Companies Inc. that was rejected by Florida’s insurance commissioner.

6%

The average home insurance cost increase nationwide in 2006 with homeowners in non-catastrophe zones experiencing smaller increases while those in catastrophe-prone areas, such as Florida and the Gulf Coast, incurred larger rate hikes, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

120

The number of motorcycle fatalities in South Carolina in 2007 compared with 106 fatalities the previous year and 94 deaths in 2005.