The emerging global market for business services using drones is valued at more than US$127 billion, according to a report released earlier this week by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

As they move from theoretical use cases into the testing phase, insurance companies are witnessing the impact unmanned aircraft systems will have on claims and underwriting processes quickly.

For many insurers, agility and profitable growth is hampered by inflexible systems and inefficient processes that create execution gaps in underwriting operations. Even today, a large portion of the underwriting process is still performed using time-consuming and often redundant manual processes.

Liberty Mutual has introduced smart video technology to help enhance communications with injured workers and improve outcomes in its workers’ compensation line.

An Ontario jury has taken the unusual step of imposing $175,000 in punitive damages on insurance companies that denied compensation to a man who lost his home in a fire. Before the jurors came back with their award on April 19, a judge told jurors that punitive damages should only be imposed in exceptional instances of marked misconduct.

Product liability claims involve a myriad of products ranging from airplanes, to coffee makers, to component construction materials and parts. However, the legal basics are generally the same for all product liability claims: the plaintiff is injured from the use of a product and, as a result, sues the product manufacturer, supplier, and/or retailer of the product.