It Figures

86%
The percent of Virginians opposed to increasing fees on car insurance to help pay for transportation improvements. The Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. survey also found that 10 percent supported insurance fees and 4 percent were undecided.

$4,393
The total amount in her deceased mother’s workers’ compensation checks cashed by a Suffolk County, New York woman who pleaded guilty to insurance fraud, according to the New York State Insurance Fund.

850

The number of Delaware coastal business and home policies being non-renewed by Westfield Insurance Company of Ohio. The company’s move prompted Delaware Insurance Commissioner Matt Denn to issue a bulletin to property insurance companies telling them to better inform insureds of the option of coverage from the residual market, the FAIR Plan.

$500 million
The amount of the proposed initial public offering filed by OneBeacon Insurance Group Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd.

$117
The average private passenger auto insurance commission proposed by Attorney General Tom Reilly for Massachusetts agents in 2007. Agents have asked for $126.19. The current commission is $121.34.

10,000
The approximate number of Massachusetts individuals, households and businesses that have filed claims with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for this spring’s flooding in the northeastern part of the state that was the worst in 70 years. A total of $17.5 million in grants, with more expected, have been approved for disaster areas in Essex, Middlesex and Suffolk counties, where more than a foot of rain in May drove more than 4,000 people from their homes.

30
The number of minutes a federal jury in Portland, Maine, deliberated before ruling in favor of Wendy’s restaurant chain in a lawsuit filed by a Standish woman who claimed a Wendy’s hamburger made her violently ill.

$2 billion
What it cost Allstate Insurance in claims as a consequence of not buying reinsurance for Louisiana before Katrina struck. Allstate bought reinsurance to cover policies in Texas, Florida, New York and all along the East Coast last year, but not for Louisiana, the company told Louisiana officials during a public hearing.

12.4%
The average rate increase for all homeowners forms sought by the Massachusetts Property Insurance Underwriting Association (the Fair Plan) in its revised filing. The state had disapproved its previous request for a 12.5 percent hike. For dwelling policies, the Fair Plan is now seeking a 5.7 percent average increase; the original had requested a 6.4 percent hike. The proposed effective date is Oct. 1.

$9 million
The amount DuPont Co. agreed to donate to the nonprofit Children’s Health Forum when the state of Rhode Island dropped the firm from its lawsuit against former makers of lead paint last year. It turns out that Children’s Health Forum has extensive ties to the group. It was founded by a lawyer hired by DuPont to work on lead poisoning issues; it received most of its funding from the Wilmington, Del.-based company and most of its board members have ties to DuPont.

28
The number of states now belonging to an interstate compact to modernize state regulation of life insurance, annuity, disability and long term care products. Gov. Mitt Romney signed legislation into law making Massachusetts the 28th member of the Interstate Insurance Product Regulation Commission.