Special insurance. (Products & Services).
The Chubb Group of Insurance Cos. has developed insurance for small to midsized firms seeking insurance protection from intellectual property and communications lawsuits. Reputation Injury and Communications Liability is designed to protect against copyright and trademark infringement, libel or slander, product disparagement, violations of the rights of privacy and...

Malpractice crisis blamed; Fewer U.S. seniors match to ob.gyn. residency slots: the fill rate for this group falls to 65.1%.
Fewer U.S. medical students matched to ob.gyn. residency positions again this year, renewing concerns that the medical liability crisis is driving students away from the profession. A total of 1,142 ob.gyn. positions were offered this year, 9 fewer than in 2003. Graduating seniors filled 1,066 of those...

The changing builders' risk marketplace. (Inland Marine).
Inland marine insurance is unique to the United States with roots going back to the 1600s. Inland marine, which is defined at length by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Nationwide Marine Definition, embraces many divergent types of risks. These risks include covering property in the course of...

Doctors, insurance and unnecessary operations.
The concerns of doctors, especially obstetricians, about the rising costs of medical indemnity insurance are frequently in the news at the moment. While one has sympathy for an obstetrician who is sued when a baby is unexpectedly disabled, there is another area of this specialty which deserves no sympathy:...

Assessing the state of the market: companies will be defined by the ability of the reinsurance market to handle future losses.
In July, Risk & Insurance brought together a group of key players in the Bermuda reinsurance market to assess the state of the industry. They included W. David Brining, executive vice president of Max Re; James P. Bryce, president and CEO of IPC Re," Dwight R. Evans, president of...

ACOG survey: one in seven quit obstetrics from 1999 to 2003; These ob.gyns. say the risk of liability claims or lawsuits forced them out.
One in seven fellows with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has stopped practicing obstetrics because of the risk of medical liability claims, an ACOG survey found. Of the fellows surveyed, 14% said that the risk of liability claims or lawsuits forced them to stop doing...

Small company, big plans: Olympus Reinsurance Company, one of the newest companies in Bermuda, is taking a conservative strategy and remaining small as a way to respond to market changes. (Special Report: Bermuda).
In the fourth quarter of 2001, so much capital was destined for Bermuda, in such large parcels, that some of the smaller start-ups became merely footnotes in a sea of ink. The prevailing attitude within the industry was that the price of admission to the reinsurance market was now...

From the Editor.
In an age of new media, it's expected that every print publication offer a Web site as well, and those of you familiar with riskandinsurance.com know that our Internet presence has been a helpful adjunct to this magazine. It provides a variety of content links and capabilities for contacting...

NEWS IN BRIEF.
Peso closed at P51.32 The peso closed at P51.32 to the US dollar last Friday at the Philippine Dealing System of the Bankers Association of the Philippines. The weighted average rate stands at P51.348. Market downtrend seen Local share prices are expected to...

Doctors for Medical Liability Reform: specialty societies join forces in campaign for federal tort reform.
SAN ANTONIO -- A new and rapidly growing specialty society coalition called Doctors for Medical Liability Reform is poised to wrest the helm of the tort reform campaign from the American Medical Association. With $10 million in its coffers so far, Doctors for Medical Liability Reform (DMLR)...