During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the shutdowns gave insurers and corporate risk managers a brief reprieve from the boom in huge jury verdicts for personal accident claims. However, when courts reopened in 2021, the juries went back to awarding liability claimants huge damages, shaking up the Excess Casualty insurance market.
So far in 2021, there have been 11 auto liability settlements of $15 million or more, according to Advisen. While the number of claims above that threshold has been on the rise for more than a decade, a handful of massive verdicts issued in 2021 have been very disruptive. So far this year, three auto accident verdicts have exceeded $100 million.
