Casualty carriers are still digging out from a record reserve mess

Casualty carriers are still digging out from a record reserve mess

P&C carriers recorded $15.8 billion in adverse prior-year development across casualty lines — the highest figure on record for those segments, and more than double the $3.7 billion recorded the year before. The industry’s answer has been familiar: better claims management, stronger defense counsel networks, tort reform advocacy, and sustained rate increases. But the same brief says the hard-market accident years 2021, 2022, and 2023 are still developing adversely despite double-digit rate increases, and the Casualty Actuarial Society had already warned in 2022 that standard reserving methods can go biased when jury behavior shifts structurally. Everest Group then became the poster child: in 2025, its acting CEO told investors one thing, then three months later the company booked a $478 million net reserve charge, bought a $1.2 billion adverse development cover from Longtail Re to shield $5.4 billion in subject reserves, and exited its global retail insurance business. For homeowners, the broader takeaway is simple: when insurers are under this kind of pressure elsewhere, they do not get generous at the kitchen-table level.

Gobble's Take: If carriers are still fighting yesterday’s losses with today’s rate increases, homeowners should expect the bill to keep arriving.
Source: Perplexity Search (community news)

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