Putting profits over policyholders: insurance companies regularly plead poverty, saying civil justice is costing them untold grief - and money. Behind those crocodile tears, they're doing everything they can to avoid paying legitimate claims, while their profits soar to record heights.

Trial, July, 2007 by Ratcliff, David

Each February, the Insurance Information Institute (III) gathers Wall Street analysts and insurance executives to produce its forecast of the property-casualty industry. But unlike February's more famous prognosticator, Punxsutawney Phil, the gathered experts are almost certain to see their shadows, because for the last 20 years they have been predicting the imminent doom of their storm- and tort-ravaged industry. In fact, the industry's annual hand-wringing resembles the endlessly repeating day Bill Murray suffered in the movie Groundhog Day.

Consider 1987. Twenty years ago, III's state-of-the-industry report showed that insurance company earnings had improved substantially but not enough to compete with the Fortune 500. To address this imbalance, III said,...

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