Many of you are aware of the term Nuclear Verdicts, which refers to cases in which a plaintiff is awarded what is considered an excessive dollar amount. This trend of exceptionally high jury awards has significantly impacted virtually every industry in recent years. Marine is suffering more than most.
The escalation of both the frequency and severity of these claims is amazing over the last 2-3 years and seems to have no signs of abating.
The excess market has suffered more from these losses with the effective erosion of the lower layers and the higher limit claims. It’s difficult to see how the excess market can survive if these trends continue without significant price changes.
Here are a handful of examples of lawsuits that we’ve seen in the last few years in the Marine Industry where jury awards or settlements have been quite significant.
I am sure many of you have other examples. Please share in the comments or send them to ASK@LIGMarine.com, and we will include them in a future post.
Ian Greenway
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