RJ and Makay

Besieged by waves of workers compensation claims, Atlantic Mutual was placed into liquidation April 27 with New York’s superintendent of insurance appointed as liquidator, according to BestWire.

Workers’ Compensation insurance covers the cost of medical care, lost wages and rehabilitation for on–the-job injuries.  It also provides benefits for the family of any worker killed in a work-related accident.

Though March saw commercial property & casualty (P&C) rates fall yet again, the average decline of 4% was at least smaller than the 5% drop that occurred in each of the previous four months. Also, several lines of coverage — workers comp, property, business interruption, small commercial, general liability, and automotive — are showing a moderation of rate cuts, MarketScout reports.

“We have finally broken out of the doldrums. Rates are moving,” remarks MarketScout CEO Richard Kerr. “It looks like the soft market from 2005 to 2011 will end with workers compensation and catastrophe exposed property risks leading the way out.”

Good news for the P&C industry: an overwhelming majority of industry executives — 94% — believe the worst of our economic woes are over and 2011 will be more profitable.

That's a key finding of a survey of 100 P&C executives by the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.). The survey findings were presented recently at the I.I.I.'s 15th annual Property/Casualty Insurance Joint Industry Forum in New York City.