California Department of Insurance detectives arrested nine individuals involved in a complex scheme allegedly targeting more than 230 workers’ compensation insurers and self-insured employers. Siblings Francisco Javier Gomez, Jr. and Angela Rehmann,  owners of G&G Interpreting Services, allegedly fraudulently billed … Source: Claims Journal

U.S. safety regulators have slapped German automaker BMW AG with a $40 million penalty for moving too slowly to fix Mini brand cars that failed federal crash tests. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also said Monday BMW failed to … Source: Claims Journal

As winter approaches, stores, cities and homeowners are stocking up on salt, gravel and sand in anticipation of slippery roads. But this annual ritual in colder climates could soon become unnecessary. Researchers report in ACS’ journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry … Source: Claims Journal

New Jersey-based Restaurant Programs of America (RPA) and Innovative Coverage Concepts (ICC) announced that Susan LaBar joined the sister restaurant insurance company in order to develop and implement customized risk solutions. In her new role as director of Claims Management, … Source: Claims Journal

More than a third of the $3 billion in federal disaster recovery funds available for Texas after 2008 hurricanes Ike and Dolly remains unspent, as legislators prepare for hearings on how to speed up the process. Several state reports and … Source: Claims Journal

Alex Theil lost his innocence the day an envelope landed on his desk. It was filled with money from a counterfeiter of Toyota auto parts he’d busted, mistakenly delivered to him by a lawyer hired to help with the raid. … Source: Claims Journal

Fourteen northwestern South Dakota ranchers are suing the U.S. Forest Service for a 2013 prescribed burn that escaped its boundaries and scorched private land. Two lawsuits filed this past week in federal court in Rapid City allege that the Forest … Source: Claims Journal

You’re faced with a big disaster, like an earthquake, plus a small one – say, running out of diapers. What can you do? Cut open a plastic supermarket bag, place a small towel on it and wrap your baby up. … Source: Claims Journal

Underwriting profitability for private passenger automobile insurance has deteriorated in 2015 for many leading US writers, says Fitch Ratings. The weakening results through the first nine months of the year reverse a trend in underwriting profitability improvement since 2012. The … Source: Claims Journal

The 1990s may be over but patents from that era live on. U.S. courts are seeing a rash of lawsuits involving old and sometimes expired patents as companies try to squeeze the last bit of profits from their 20-year-old inventions. … Source: Claims Journal