12-Year-Old Sues Parents For Drunk Driving

Photo by RTEFaith, now 12, is suing her parents for the physical and psychological injury they caused. Faith and her brother, John, sustained severe injuries when their alcoholic mother passed out while driving the children home from school. Ava, Faith’s 6-year-old sister, and friend Michaela Logan, 9, died when the vehicle crashed into an embankment.The children’s mother, Mary Carberry, was “in the middle of a pub crawl and decided to pick up the four kids from school.” Mary remembers bits of the accident that killed her youngest daughter. “All I remember is the thump. Then the flashing blue lights,” she testified in court in 2007. “I...

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Facebook Link Helps Break insurance Fraud Case

The value of analytics as a fraud tool has become well accepted.   The concept has been borrowed from social media platforms like Facebook where users can reach out to past friends who share similar characteristics such as attending the same school, summer camp or workplaces.  The case below illustrates that even without sophisticated analytics, social connections can help identify potential fraud cases. Four Sacramento women are suspected of working together to defraud auto insurers of more than $37,000, according to the California Department of Insurance (CDI). CDI spokesman Dave Althausen said Susan Lee, 24; Angelique Jones, 20; Angela Medeiros, 40; and, Krystelmaree Marquez, 23 denied knowing each other but investigators obtained Facebook records and determined the ...

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Before Halle, There Was Vanessa

Most readers would readily acknowledge that Halle Berry is the prettiest African American woman around. But before there was Halle, there was Vanessa Williams. I think Vanessa's story and career are so much more exciting and eventful. Plus she got talent. Born in March 1963, she made headlines as the first African American woman to be crowned Miss America back in 1983. Fairytale right?! Wrong, she was later forced to renounce her title after Penthouse bought and published naked photos of Vanessa. To me that is a sham. Its like giving the Nobel Prize for physics to Einstein for E=mc2, and then taking it away from him cause he posed naked for Men's...

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Update - Murasaki ts

Some readers must be wondering why my blog has not been updated with the normal frequency. Yes, been busy with Murasaki ts. Since this is my blog, I think I should also chart the journey of starting up a company.Since the soft launch two weeks back, we have been inundated with a surge in trial users, much more than we anticipated. I was hoping for 200 but we had more than 800 and counting. As for paid subscribers, I was hoping to hit 30-40 by now and the actual figure is doubled that, so I am cautiously optimistic. For all that and my office is still being renovated which is why we are having to hold the Masterclass at cafes.To have over 800...

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California Proposition 33, Automobile Insurance Persistency Discounts

In California, a ballot proposition is a proposed law that is submitted to the electorate for approval in a direct vote. Propositions have been part of the California political landscape for quite some time.A ballot proposition may be proposed by the State Legislature or by a petition signed by members of the public under the initiative system. One of the best known was Proposition 13 in 1978 which decreased property taxes and imposed a 2/3 requirement for budget votes and tax increases. Some Propositions have been passed but found unconstitutional such as Proposition 22 in 2000 which banned same-sex marriages but was struck down by the California Supreme Court. On November 6th, there will be eleven propositions on the ballot including Proposition 33 which if passed would change current...

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Plunge Protection Team - Urban Legend?

Some may be wondering if they even exist. Well, they do. The Plunge Protection Team is officially known as the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets – was created after the 1987 crash. It appears to have powers to support the markets in a crisis with a host of instruments, mostly through buying futures contracts on the stock indexes (Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq and Russell) and key credit levers. And it has the means to fry “short” traders in the hottest of oils. The team is led by Treasury chief Hank Paulson, ex-Goldman Sachs, a man with a nose for market psychology, and includes Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and the key exchange regulators.PPT...

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American International Assurance

American International Assurance known as AIA (Chinese: 美國友邦保險) is an insurance company based in Hong Kong. It has offices in Asia-Pacific region including Taiwan, China, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Macau, South Korea, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Brunei and Vietnam. Holdings include Philippine American Life and General Insurance Company and minority stakes in TATA AIA Life Insurance and TATA AIG General Insurance.It was a member of American International Group, but separated from the group in 2009 after it was finalized that AIA as well as ALICO (another AIG subsidiary) were placed under the administration...

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Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA)

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) is a federation of 38 separate health insurance organizations and companies in the United States. Combined, they directly or indirectly provide health insurance to over 99 million Americans. The history of Blue Cross dates back to 1929, while the history of Blue Shield dates to 1939. The Blue Cross Association dates back to 1960, while its Blue Shield counterpart was actually created in 1948. The two organizations merged in 1982, forming the current association.HistoryBlue Cross and Blue Shield developed separately, with Blue Cross plans providing coverage for hospital services, while Blue Shield...

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Assurant

Assurant, Inc. is a holding company with businesses that provide a diverse set of specialty, niche-market insurance products in the property, casualty, life and health insurance sectors. The company’s four operating segments are Assurant Employee Benefits, Assurant Health, Assurant Solutions and Assurant Specialty Property.The company, formerly known as Fortis, Inc., was spun off from Dutch and Belgian financial-services company Fortis Insurance N.V. in 2004. The company’s initial public offering on Feb. 5, 2004 at $1.76 billion was the fourth largest that year. In connection with the public offering, the company changed its name to Assurant,...

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Amerigroup

Amerigroup (NYSE: AGP) is an American managed care company, with two main goals: to meet the needs of Amerigroup members while keeping costs low. Amerigroup has more than 2.7 million members, and currently operates in 13 states nationwide including Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York State, Ohio, Tennessee, Washington, Texas, and Virginia and expects operations to its 14th state, Kansas, as a result of a previously awarded state contract. It is a Fortune 500 company.HistoryAmerigroup began as AMERICAID Community Care in 1994 and was initially aimed at the health care problems of children, mothers and...

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TOP 10 ANIMAL STORIES OF THE DECADE

10. California Condor Pulls Back from Brink California Condor Pulls Back from BrinkSome of the best animal news in recent years has been about recovery from the brink of extinction.On Oct. 31, 2009, conservationists had every right to celebrate. A survey of California condors determined that 351 of the critically endangered birds were alive and well, with 180 living in the wild. Those might seem like small numbers, but the California condor “has made an astonishing comeback,” San Diego Zoo spokesperson Yadira Galindo told Discovery News.The bird came about as close to extinction as a species can get. In 1982, just 23...

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5 Things to Consider About Health Insurance

View of the current hospital as more and more congested. Therefore, various diseases come and go which makes people even more vulnerable to attack. Ranging from mild such as a runny nose or cough, to very risky as cancer, as more and more familiar with our society.Therefore, the portion of medical and health care should be a priority now. Therefore, if at any time sick, sometimes the cost is not small. Moreover, if it had to do surgery or medical treatment due to a variety of dangerous diseases.Therefore, the health insurance needs to be considered. Because, at the time of the emergency, health insurance will be the solution in terms of financing...

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TOP 10 TECH STORIES OF THE DECADE

10. iPod Crushes Internet Music PiracyiPod Crushes Internet Music PiracyThis has been the decade of portable electronics: the Blackberry, the digital camera, the GPS device. But the digital music player, the iPod, has steamrolled the market and put a stranglehold on Internet piracy. It was released on Oct. 23, 2001, and by the end of 2002, Apple had sold 376,000 units. Around the same time, online music was becoming popular, with people sharing or downloading digital music for free. In 2003, one million tracks were illegally downloaded. But then came Apple’s iTunes Store in April 2003. It made downloading music legal and inexpensive, with...

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