Titanic insurer Atlantic Mutual sinks

[The Straight Story]

Titanic insurer Atlantic Mutual sinks

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Atlantic Mutual Insurance Co. managed to pay out claims when the legendary Titanic passenger liner sank in April 1912, but the insurer couldn’t survive a wave of workers’ compensation claims, industry publication BestWire reported Friday.

The company was placed into liquidation and New York’s superintendent of insurance was appointed liquidator on April 27, according to the website of the New York Liquidation Bureau.

Atlantic Mutual Insurance was incorporated under the laws of the state of New York on April 11, 1842. A week after the RMS Titanic hit an iceberg and sank in April 1912, the insurer paid $100,000 in hull coverage, according to BestWire, part of insurance rating agency A.M. Best.

By early this century, Atlantic Mutual’s surplus was being whittled away by “severe” loss-reserve development in its commercial lines business, mainly from workers’ compensation and general liability policies, BestWire said.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/titanic-insurer-atlantic-mutual-sinks-2011-05-06