The family of a sailor aboard the cargo ship that sunk in roiling seas whipped up by Hurricane Joaquin filed a $100 million lawsuit Wednesday against the vessel’s owner and captain. Willie Gary, a Jacksonville attorney representing the family of … Source: Claims Journal

Deaths from heroin and opioid use outnumbered highway fatalities in Virginia for the first time last year, officials said. Records show that 728 Virginians died from drug overdoses in 2014, while 700 people died on the state’s roads. The increase … Source: Claims Journal

A Connecticut woman who sued her 12-year-old nephew for $127,000 over injuries she received when he exuberantly greeted her at his birthday party four years ago was forced to go to court over her medical bills, her lawyers said Wednesday … Source: Claims Journal

Just because the weather-roiling El Nino in the Pacific Ocean is still months from peaking, it doesn’t mean it’s too early to talk about La Nina. La Nina, sometimes thought of as El Nino’s opposite number, is a cooling of … Source: Claims Journal

U.S. and Alaska state officials announced on Wednesday they will no longer seek an additional $92 million from Exxon Mobil Corp. to pay for environmental cleanup and restoration stemming from the massive Exxon Valdez oil spill nearly three decades ago. … Source: Claims Journal

As the spotlight falls on Dutch crash investigators and their high profile probe into the downing of a Malaysian airliner, air accident detectives worldwide are waging a much more discreet daily battle to keep flying safe. The Dutch team’s findings, … Source: Claims Journal

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in SRM, Inc. v. Great American Ins. Co., 2015 WL 5011719 (10th Cir., Aug. 25, 2015), recently considered whether excess insurers, under Oklahoma law, were required to proactively initiate settlement discussions before the primary … Source: Claims Journal

The private email server running in Hillary Rodham Clinton’s home basement when she was secretary of state was connected to the Internet in ways that made it more vulnerable to hackers while using software that could have been exploited, according … Source: Claims Journal

Insurers handling wildfire damage from the Valley and Butte wildfires last month in Northern California has agreed to a claims handling process to help fire victims begin their recovery more quickly, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones announced on Wednesday. More than … Source: Claims Journal

York Risk Services Group, a claims management, managed care and risk management services provider, announced it has expanded it’s national catastrophe claims response capabilities with the acquisition of Missouri-based Quick Cat LLC. Quick Cat provides commercial daily and catastrophe claims … Source: Claims Journal