It Figures

17.75%

The voluntary market rate cut in workers’ compensation ordered by Delaware Insurance Commissioner Matt Denn who also ordered a 22 percent cut for the state’s assigned risk pool. He said these are the largest premium cuts since 1994. With total workers’ compensation premiums in Delaware estimated at $103 million a year, the rate cuts should mean savings of at least $18.2 million.

2%

The workers’ compensation decrease in Maine recommended by the National Council on Compensation Insurance for next year. If approved, the new rates will reduce premiums by about $5.5 million.

$50,000

The amount GMAC Insurance has agreed to pay to settle charges that the company sent deceptive direct mail advertising to 22,000 New Hampshire residents last year. The state insurance commissioner said the mailing contained several deceptive statements, including one that promised people lower rates because they lived in neighborhoods with fewer accidents.

$5 Million

The amount Home Depot Inc. and a Connecticut insulation company have tentatively agreed to pay to settle lawsuits brought by survivors of a fire at The Station nightclub in Rhode Island that killed 100 people in 2003. They join a handful of defendants that have agreed to settle with more than 300 people who sued; about 90 defendants remain. The agreement brings to $18.5 million the total amount of settlement money offered so far. The fire began when pyrotechnics ignited by a rock band set ablaze flammable soundproofing foam around the stage. Polar Industries made the insulation. Home Depot sold the material. Home Depot confirmed that the insulation company’s insurer had agreed to pay the entire $5 million. Home Depot said it had not admitted any liability.

3,305

The number of coastal residents in New York whose homeowners insurance policies had not been renewed by Liberty Mutual partly because they did not have other policies with the company — such as life or automobile coverage — who will be offered the opportunity to get new homeowners coverage with Liberty Mutual. The agreement between Liberty and the New York State Insurance Department follows the department’s Aug. 28 directive banning the practice, called “tying.” Whereas Allstate originally resisted the anti-tying directive, Liberty cooperated from the start, said officials.

10

The number of recent fires in Provincetown on Cape Cod that the Massachusetts Fire Marshal believes were deliberately set. One destroyed a $2.3 million home.