It Figures

Article

6.4%

The workers’ compensation rate increase approved by Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty effective April 1. The increase reflects the impact from the Oct. 23 Florida Supreme Court opinion in the case of Emma Murray v. Mariner Health Inc. That decision eliminated the statutory caps on attorney fees.

1.4%

The auto insurance rate increase request from insurers that is under consideration by North Carolina Commissioner Wayne Goodwin. The filing comes at a time when the industry is appealing the state’s denial of a 16.1 percent increase for last year; the state allowed only 9.4 percent.

30,000

The number of State Farm property insurance policies a Florida domestic insurance says it wants to write. John Jerger, president of American Traditions Insurance Co. and Modern USA Insurance Co., said his companies can not only take on that many new customers but save a lot of them some money, about $1,300 a year on average for a $200,000 home. Jerger’s companies now write about $60 million in business in the state.

0.08%

The blood alcohol level at which a new penalty system for drunk drivers in South Carolina kicks in. A new law creates a tiered penalty system based on how many times drivers are convicted and how much alcohol they have in their system. The penalties get harsher at 0.10 percent and again at 0.16 percent.

$3.9 Million

The amount awarded to the Alabama family of a woman who died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning that is now to be reconsidered. The jury in 2007 found that Mobile Gas Service Corp. had supplied gas to a furnace even though company inspectors had tagged the furnace as being defective. The state’s high court said in a 6-0 ruling that errors in the trial required the judgment to be set aside.

9.9 Million

The number of Americans ensnared by identity theft in 2008, a 22 percent rise from 2007. The good news, however, is that the cost per incident — including unrecovered losses and legal fees — fell 31 percent to $496, according to Javelin Strategy & Research.

Topics Florida

Was this article valuable?