Newsletter Sign-up

RIMS Elects Leader

Ellen Vinck, vice president of risk management, benefits and safety for United States Marine Repair Inc., has been elected to a one-year term as president of the Risk and Insurance Management Society Inc., the trade group has announced. Vinck has served RIMS in a number of capacities since 1997. She served as first vice president in 2004-2005. Her term as president will expire next spring.

The Risk and Insurance Management Society Inc. has also announced that the following leaders have been elected: Michael Liebowitz, director of risk management for Bridgeport Hospital &

Healthcare Services Inc., was elected vice president and director; Janice Ochenkowski, senior vice president of risk management of Jones Lang LaSalle, was elected treasurer and director; Joseph A. Restoule, senior risk consultant, Nova Chemicals Corp., was elected secretary and director.

Also elected as directors were Janet Barnes, risk manager of Snohomish County, Washington; Kim A. Hunton, risk manager for the City of Ottawa; Dan Kugler, asst. treasurer of risk management of Snap- On Inc.; Deborah Luthi, director of risk management services for the University of California at Davis; and Leslie A. Seabrook, director of risk management, Emeritus Corp.

Companies Settle Dispute

Equitas has announced that it will pay The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company $22 million in an insurance settlement for asbestos and pollution related claims filed by the tire maker. Equitas will also place $39 million into a trust fund that can be used to reimburse Goodyear for costs it incurs in the future to resolve certain asbestos claims. The terms of the April settlement are confidential.

P/C Rates Soften In 1st Quarter

Commercial property/casualty premiums continued to soften during the first quarter of 2005, with the average rates for all sizes of accounts reaching their lowest levels since the commercial insurance market peaked in the fourth quarter of 2001, a new survey by the Council of Insurance

Agents & Brokers shows. The survey also shows that almost 80 percent of large accounts were down more than 10 percent during the first quarter of 2005. Premiums for eight of 10 commercial lines in the survey for all account sizes were either stable or down as much as 20 percent, according to the survey.

AIG Restates Earnings

American International Group Inc. will restate its financial statements for the years ended Dec. 31, 2003, 2002, 2001 and 2000, the quarters ended March 31, June 30 and Sept. 30, 2004 and 2003 and the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2003, the firm has announced. As a result, shareholders' equity at Dec. 31, 2004 will be cut by about $2.7 billion.

--Compiled by staff from news and wire reports.

June 1, 2005

Copyright 2005© LRP Publications