Seattle Washington Building Expert Directory

Los Angeles Wildfires to Impact Profitability of US Property Insurers, Says GlobalData

February 03, 2025 — GlobalData
The Los Angeles (LA) area in the US has witnessed a devastating impact from a series of wildfires that erupted since the second week of January. There were 312 wildfires that resulted in 28 deaths and the destruction of 16,255 structures as of 29 January, with the Palisades and Eaton wildfires continuing to burn, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Estimates from the University of California suggest that the total damage from the LA wildfires could surpass $20 billion. Consequently, US insurers may see increased claims in 2025 across various insurance lines, potentially affecting their profitability, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. Manogna Vangari, Insurance Analyst at GlobalData, comments: "The recent LA wildfires are expected to impose significant financial burdens on property and casualty insurers, with damages potentially exceeding billions of dollars. The destruction affects both residential and commercial properties, particularly high-value homes and businesses, leading to anticipated insured losses to be among the highest in California's history." Property insurance claims are projected to represent a 13.1% share of total general insurance claims in the US in 2025, totaling $247 billion. Incurred losses are anticipated to rise by 7.5% in 2025, reaching $193.6 billion from $180.1 billion in 2024. However, the full effect of wildfires may push actual claims even higher. Consequently, the profitability of the US general insurance sector is expected to be notably affected, with the average combined ratio predicted to exceed 100% in 2025. According to GlobalData's Global Insurance Database, the US property insurance industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.3% over 2025–29, from $416.3 billion in 2025 to $551.1 billion in 2029, in terms of gross written premiums (GWP). Read the court decision
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Arbitration is Waivable (Even If You Don’t Mean To)

February 16, 2016 — Christopher G. Hill – Construction Law Musings
Be careful with how you act with arbitration clauses in your contracts. If you are not careful in how you act to enforce these clauses, you could find yourself stuck in court whether you like it or not. As I stated in a recent update to a post last month, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently weighed in on the issue of a contractor’s waiver of its rights to arbitration under a contract. Briefly, the facts of Forrester v. Penn Lyon Homes, et. al., No. 07-2171 are as follows. The Forrester’s sued Penn Lyon and its warranty company alleging among other things a breach of express warranty based upon a warranty contract containing a mandatory arbitration clause. Instead of immediately alleging an affirmative defense based upon the arbitration clause, the defendants removed the case to federal court and litigated for 18 months before raising the arbitration defense for the first time. The 4th Circuit (correctly in my opinion) affirmed the lower court and held that the defendants defaulted their right to arbitration because of their actions in defense of the court action and the prejudice to the plaintiffs caused by those actions. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Christopher G. Hill, Law Office of Christopher G. Hill, PC
Mr. Hill may be contacted at chrisghill@constructionlawva.com

Solutions To 4 Common Law Firm Diversity Challenges

April 27, 2020 — Alexandra DeFelice - Payne & Fears
Minority attorneys continue to depart law firms at a higher rate than those in the majority and continue to be substantially underrepresented at the partner level. With the continued demands of clients and other organizations to improve diversity, law firms need to embrace new and creative solutions. To address the concern, the California Minority Counsel Program, or CMCP, held an interactive workshop in February for members to brainstorm and develop solutions to specific diversity challenges and share them with their peers. This was a rare occasion for attorneys to be able to discuss real issues they are facing in their firms and to develop a potential road map to success as opposed to listening to a panel discussion followed by the usual Q&A session. Payne & Fears LLP is a member of CMCP, so our firm had the opportunity to participate in this workshop. Law firm leaders and HR professionals may want to pay particular attention to the suggestions outlined in this article as their firms strive to diversify. The topics can be uncomfortable, but if not addressed, the problem of underrepresentation will continue to spread. Many of these ideas do not cost much in the way of money, but they do require time and commitment to change. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Alexandra DeFelice, Payne & Fears
Ms. DeFelice may be contacted at adefelice@paynefears.com

Meet the Forum's In-House Counsel: J. PAUL ALLEN

May 28, 2024 — Jessica Knox - The Dispute Resolver
Company: Fischer Homes Email: paul@jpaulallen.com Law School: Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University (JD 1992) States Where Company Operates/Does Business: Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Georgia, Missouri, Florida Q: Describe your background and the path you took to becoming in-house counsel. A: I started at a large Cincinnati firm straight out of law school. I moved in-house for a client of the firm after about 8 years and have remained in-house ever since. The in-house experience has been rewarding and varied over the last 24 years. I have worked for a Fortune 500, publicly traded steel company, a private equity led construction products company, and, finally, a family-owned residential homebuilder. I had the good fortune to be General Counsel at the last 2 in-house companies and was able to establish a legal department from scratch at Fischer Homes. As time went on and I gained experience, I stayed in-house because of the ability to work for a single client and have a greater impact on the business side of things. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Jessica Knox, Stinson LLP
Ms. Knox may be contacted at jessica.knox@stinson.com

Micropiles for bad soil: a Tarheel victory

March 14, 2011 — Melissa Brumback

Despite foundation challenges, construction is almost complete on the expansion at University of North Carolina’s Kenan stadium. The project started with a deep foundation system from design-build contractor GeoStructures. Known as the Carolina Student-Athlete Center for Excellence, the addition was built on a parcel with a knotty mix of fill soils, subsurface boulders and varying depths to rock. To achieve uniform foundation support, GeoStructures designed a Micropile system (also known as a Mini pile system) which could be drilled into the variable ground conditions.

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Reprinted courtesy of Melissa Brumback of Ragsdale Liggett PLLC. Ms. Brumback can be contacted at mbrumback@rl law.com.

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At Least 46 Killed in Taiwanese Apartment Building Inferno

November 01, 2021 — The Associated Press (Huizhong Wu)- Bloomberg
Kaohsiung, Taiwan (AP) -- At least 46 people were killed and another 41 injured after a fire broke out early Thursday in a run-down mixed commercial and residential building in the Taiwanese port city of Kaohsiung, officials said. Neighborhood residents said the 13-story building was home to many poor, elderly and disabled people and it wasn’t clear how many of the 120 units were occupied. Witnesses said they heard something that sounded like an explosion at about 3 a.m. when the blaze erupted in the building's lower floors, which housed a closed movie theater, abandoned restaurants and karaoke clubs. Read the court decision
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At $350 Million, Beverly Hillbillies Mansion Is Most Expensive in U.S.

August 10, 2017 — Matt Gross - Bloomberg
The story of Jed Clampett is, by now, a legend. A poor mountaineer, he could barely feed his family of four, but one day, while he was out hunting for food, he fired his rifle into the swamp behind his shack—and struck oil. The sale of the resource-rich land, in 1962, would eventually net him between $25 million and $100 million, and he did what anyone with sudden riches would do: He packed up his truck and moved his clan to Beverly Hills, where their adventures would be the subject of nine seasons of the Beverly Hillbillies. Now the Bel Air estate featured in the (fictional) show’s opening credits is up for sale—and as befits a wealthy, cultured oilman like Jed Clampett, it’s the most expensive listing in the country at $350 million. “Chartwell”—10.3 acres of land centering on a 25,000-square-foot mansion inspired by French Neoclassical design—went on the market this week, besting its closest competitor, a Beverly Hills spec house, by $100 million. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Matt Gross, Bloomberg

Lewis Brisbois Ranked Tier 1 Nationally for Insurance Law, Mass Tort/Class Actions Defense by U.S. News/Best Lawyers

November 21, 2022 — Lewis Brisbois
(November 3, 2022) - Lewis Brisbois has once again been ranked Tier 1 nationally by U.S. News & World Report/Best Lawyers for ‘Insurance Law’ and ‘Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants,’ as well as ranking Tier 1 in 14 different practice areas across 15 metro regions. In addition to Lewis Brisbois' national ranking, the firm also ranked Tier 1 for ‘Insurance Law’ in the Philadelphia, Reno, and Tampa metro areas, and Tier 1 for ‘Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants’ in the Los Angeles area. The firm was also ranked Tier 1 in the following regional categories:

‘Commercial Litigation’ in Akron;
‘Corporate Governance Law’ in San Francisco;
‘Corporate Law’ in Akron;
‘Environmental Law’ in Washington, D.C.;
‘Litigation - Health Care’ in Portland, Ore. and Roanoke;
‘Litigation – Municipal’ in Wichita;
‘Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants’ in Chicago and Roanoke;
‘Mergers & Acquisitions Law’ in Akron;
‘Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants’ in Chicago, Inland Empire, New York City, Orange County, Roanoke, and Seattle;
‘Product Liability Litigation – Defendants’ in Philadelphia;
‘Tax Law’ in Akron; and
‘Trusts & Estates Law’ in Akron.

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Reprinted courtesy of Lewis Brisbois

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