{
  "id": 19747122,
  "title": "Inflation, legal system abuse cost liability insurers up to US$337bil in past decade",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/13/inflation-legal-system-abuse-cost-liability-insurers-up-to-us-337bil",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-11-13T02:12:34.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "New Straits Times",
    "slug": "new-straits-times",
    "url": "https://www.nst.com.my/business/economy/2026/11/1576642/inflation-legal-system-abuse-cost-liability-insurers-us337bil-past"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "From 2016 to 2025, auto and general liability insurers in the United States faced up to $337 billion in extra losses due to inflation and abuse within the legal system, research from the Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I) revealed. These additional losses accounted for between 16% and 19.6% of total booked losses, according to the institute's analysis. Sean Kevelighan, Triple-I's CEO, emphasized the necessity of tackling excessive litigation costs and fostering a balanced legal environment that guarantees fair compensation for the injured while avoiding imposing undue burdens on others.\n\nIn personal auto liability, claim severity for bodily injuries surged 62.4% compared to the period before the pandemic. Inflation added around $120.1 billion in losses and cost containment expenses, representing 10.8% of booked losses. In commercial auto liability, additional costs amounted to up to $86 billion, equivalent to up to 34% of booked losses. Triple-I's research discovered that claim severity rose by 8.2% annually from 2016 to 2025, despite claim frequency returning to levels seen prior to the pandemic.\n\nThe study showed that commercial auto insurers demonstrated the strongest actuarial evidence of increasing inflation among all lines, with economic inflation outpacing claim severity since 2008. Product liability saw rising inflation in 33.6% of booked losses, with claim severity growing at an annual rate of 22.8% since 2016. Other liability categories incurred additional costs of up to $125 billion, or up to 36.8% of booked losses.\n\nThe report cautioned that until claim severity growth slows down broadly across these lines, insurers can anticipate continued upward pressure on liability premiums, leading to ever-increasing premium costs for consumers. Triple-I published on October 30 an analysis demonstrating that US tort costs nearly doubled between 2014 and 2023, increasing from $299.7 billion to $579.7 billion and significantly surpassing economic growth.",
  "summary": "WASHINGTON: Auto and general liability insurers in the US incurred up to US$337 billion in additional losses from 2016 to 2025 because of inflation and legal system abuse, according to new research from the Insurance Information Institute.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}