New York Times, "Study says malpractice payouts aren't rising"

When Mike Kreidler was an optometrist in Olympia, Wash., he railed against trial lawyers. He believed that aggressive trial lawyers were the reason he faced rising insurance premiums. Dr. Kreidler, now in his second term as Washington State's insurance commissioner, has changed his mind. He has decided that the problem is not the lawyers - although they have contributed - but also the insurance companies. "I came full circle," he said. "I started out with a strong bias against trial lawyers and lawsuits, and now I see the trade-off and I have both sides, the trial lawyers and the insurance companies, mad at me."

The high price of medical malpractice insurance is a notoriously nebulous and highly politicized subject. Insurers and doctors contend that the insurance is more expensive because of a surge in jury awards and settlements. Consumer advocates and their political allies assert that insurers have raised rates because they can, arguing that insurers' claims have slowed significantly while premiums have shot up.

A study to be released today by the Center for Justice and Democracy, a consumer advocacy group in New York, may add fuel to that debate. The study, compiled from regulatory filings by insurers to state regulators, finds that net claims for medical malpractice paid by 15 leading insurance companies have remained flat over the last five years, while net premiums have surged 120 percent. From 2000 to 2004, the increase in premiums collected by the leading 15 medical malpractice insurance companies was 21 times the increase in the claims they paid, according to the study. (The net totals in the study are calculated after accounting for reinsurance.) Of the 15 companies examined, 9 are mutual insurers owned by their policyholders, 3 have publicly traded stock but are part of larger conglomerates and 3 are publicly traded and focus primarily on medical malpractice. The stock prices of those three companies have each risen more than 100 percent since May 2002. "In recent years, medical malpractice hasn't been unprofitable but it's been phenomenally profitable," said Jay Angoff, the former state insurance commissioner of Missouri and a consultant on the study.

Associated Press, "Man Awarded $2.7 million for Popcorn Plant Injuries"

          A former popcorn plant worker who claimed his respiratory illness was the result of a harmful chemical used to make butter flavoring has been awarded about $2.7 million in damages.
            Kenneth Moenning, 36, of Lockwood, is one of about 30 current and former workers at Jasper Popcorn Co. who have sued International Flavors and Fragrances Inc. and subsidiary Bush Boake Allen Inc. The plaintiffs say the manufacturers should have known the chemical diacetyl, used to make the popcorn's butter flavoring, causes lung damage.
          Moenning worked in the flavoring room at the Jasper plant from 1993 through 1995. Doctors testified he has bronchiolitis obliterans, a rare, progressive lung disease that eventually could require that he receive a lung transplant.