Our consultants have been involved with numerous engagements across a wide variety of environmental exposures. Below we have described our experience in these areas.
Asbestos
- Assisted a state insurance liquidation department to develop commutation proposals for an estate in liquidation where most of the unpaid claim liabilities related to assumed A&E and other mass tort exposures. We used top down and ground up approaches to estimate reserves.
- Estimated retained asbestos reserves for self-insured corporation by evaluating total exposure from various products over a long period and combining with remaining insurance coverage.
- Reviewed other actuaries’ reserve estimates for A&E exposures and other latent injury exposures over the course of hundreds of financial examinations. For some of these examinations, we have prepared fully independent estimates of A&E reserves.
- Engaged with an audit firm to estimate the ultimate liability claims related to the asbestos exposure of a ship yard corporation.
- Prepared reserves estimates for insurance company clients in support of our actuarial statement of opinion on reserves.
Through this work, as well as other work involving very long tail exposures like products liability, we have substantial knowledge of the pre-1986 environment related to general liability coverage.
Mines
- Engaged by the Kentucky Coal Association to review an actuarial report written by another actuarial firm on behalf of the Kentucky Department of Natural Resources. This report set forth a number of calculations and estimates underlying the establishment of the Kentucky Reclamation Guaranty Fund at the request of the DNR.
- Actuarial support to the Ohio Mine Subsidence Insurance Underwriting Association that involved bi-annual studies of the voluntary and mandatory rates by county. Also, a special study providing a rate comparison to three states close in proximity.
- Actuarial support related to rates and an opinion of solvency for the Indiana Mine Subsidence Insurance Fund.
- Developed rates for mine subsidence exposure coverage for several captive insurance companies. This work involved estimating expected losses.
- Experience assisting coal companies with year-end reserves and allocation of rates and reserves to underground and above ground mines, includes analyses of claims associated with occupational diseases and long term disability claims.
Black Lung
As part of our review of NCCI filed loss costs in several coal mine states, we thoroughly reviewed the impact of the Byrd Amendment, which was passed as part of the Affordable Care Act.
- Conducted a thorough review of the impact of this law change on behalf of several coal mine states. Analyzed over 10 years of federal black lung claims from the Department of Labor in order to project the expected increase in claim frequency and severity.
- Used this data to analyze the actual mortality rates of black lung claimants compared to standard US mortality tables for males, and the expected lag time between the date of a claimant’s last coal mine exposure and the eventual onset of black lung disease and subsequent filing of a claim for benefits.
Underground Storage Tanks
- Participated in examinations of insurance companies insuring seepage from underground storage tanks. We have also dealt with these exposures as part of insurance company rehabilitation/liquidation engagements.
- Engagements with Funds that insure damage caused by abandoned gasoline tanks/gasoline storage facilities.
Sinkholes
- Extensive experience with sinkholes in the state of Florida, where we regularly develop and file rates and perform reviews of loss reserves for carriers that insure sinkhole exposures.
- Financial examination assistance involving carriers that insure sinkhole exposures.
- Presentations and panel participation on the topic of sinkholes at the Southeastern Regulators Association annual meeting.
Other
- Engaged to work on liability issues for client in the environmental contractor’s clean-up industry.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Tom Vasey
678-684-4851
tvasey@merlinosinc.com
