Mr Spitzer filed the lawsuit against Universal Life Resources in the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan.

The attorney general, who has won fame by crusading against corporate shenanigans, has said he is the insurance sector.

News that Mr Spitzer was filing another case battered US insurance stocks.

Mr Spitzer filed a lawsuit in October against the world’s biggest insurance broker, Marsh & McLennan.

This is about normal people paying too much for their health insurance Andy Barile, Fairbanks Consulting Group analyst

Since then, Marsh & McLennan has replaced its chairman and several senior . It is cutting 3,000 jobs, or 5% of its workforce, to offset an anticipated fall in revenues as a result of the court battle.

Hidden payments

Mr Spitzer’s suit against ULR alleges the California-based firm received corrupt payments for steering its customers towards certain insurers. A lawyer for ULR said Mr Spitzer’s team had not contacted the firm about the lawsuit, the Associated Press reported.

TAKING AIM AT INSURERS How far will the ripples spread?

The filing named the insurers as MetLife, Prudential Financial, and disability insurance specialist Unum Provident. They have said they are co-operating with the inquiry. Shares in all three fell by more than 3% on Friday.

The lawsuit alleges that about two-thirds of ULR’s $25m (13.4m) revenues in 2003 came from hidden fees paid by insurers in return for steering clients towards them.

ULR specialises in employee health insurance and life cover.

Healthcare

In a statement, Mr Spitzer said his latest filing demonstrated that “the corrupt practices first laid bare in the Marsh suit are present in additional sectors of the industry”.

“Secret payoffs and conflicts of interest that infected the market for property and casualty insurance have taken root in the employee benefit market as well.”

Insurance analysts believe ULR’s focus on employee benefits could make the lawsuit politically sensitive, though ULR is a smaller firm than Marsh.

“This suit may have more far reaching effects than the previous one because the entire country is up in arms about the cost of health insurance,” said Fairbanks Consulting Group analyst Andy Barile.

“This is about normal people paying too much for their health insurance not about a huge corporation buying property coverage around the globe,” he added.

ULR received a similar lawsuit in October from a group of , United Policyholders, a non-profit organisation and has denied those allegations.

Under the settlement, AIG also agreed to change the way it carries out its business to ensure proper accounting practices in the future.

The deal settles a civil suit brought against AIG last May by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

Investigators claimed AIG had attempted to deceive regulators and investors.

‘Financial ‘

AIG finds itself in this position solely because some senior managers thought it was to deceive the investing public and regulators New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer

The settlement, announced on Thursday, does not resolve current lawsuits against former AIG chief executive Maurice Greenberg and former chief financial officer Howard Smith.

A criminal case against Mr Greenberg, accusing him of manipulating the firm’s finances to boost its share price, was dropped by New York authorities in November last year.

Both men have denied any wrongdoing.

“AIG finds itself in this position solely because some senior managers thought it was acceptable to deceive the investing public and regulators,” Mr Spitzer said.

“This is a company that didn’t have to cheat. But once they began, they found it hard to stop. And like an addict, they grew dependent on financial gamesmanship that could destroy the company,” he told the Associated Press news agency.

Mr Spitzer said AIG’s promise to adopt new practices would improve the US market for property and casualty insurance.

The company is currently the world’s largest insurer by market value.

The West Yorkshire Casualty Partnership revealed the average cost of a road accident is 88,810, with serious ones costing 200,000.

Fatal accidents can cost well over 1m, meaning that the year’s total of 7,277 crashes worked out at around 650m.

With a population in West Yorkshire of 2m, it equated to every man, woman and child paying 313, the report said.

‘Irresponsible and selfish’

Chairman Steve Thornton said many accidents were caused by unsafe driver .

“This means that the vast majority of decent, law-abiding citizens are paying an additional local ‘tax’ to pay for the irresponsible and selfish behaviour of the few.”

He said the costs were not just for hospital . They included ambulances, paramedics, police time, vehicle and property damage, insurance costs and the loss of working days for .

There were also court case fees and the cost of benefit payments.

Mr Spitzer filed the lawsuit against Universal Life Resources in the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan.

The attorney general, who has won fame by crusading against corporate shenanigans, has said he is investigating the insurance sector.

News that Mr Spitzer was filing another case battered US insurance stocks.

Mr Spitzer filed a lawsuit in October against the world’s biggest insurance broker, Marsh & McLennan.

This is about normal people paying too much for their health insurance Andy Barile, Fairbanks Consulting Group analyst

Since then, Marsh & McLennan has replaced its chairman and several senior executives. It is cutting 3,000 jobs, or 5% of its workforce, to offset an anticipated fall in revenues as a result of the court battle.

Hidden payments

Mr Spitzer’s suit against ULR alleges the California-based firm received corrupt payments for steering its customers towards certain insurers. A lawyer for ULR said Mr Spitzer’s team had not contacted the firm about the lawsuit, the Associated Press reported.

TAKING AIM AT INSURERS How far will the ripples spread?

The filing named the insurers as MetLife, Prudential Financial, and disability insurance specialist Unum Provident. They have said they are co-operating with the inquiry. Shares in all three fell by more than 3% on Friday.

The lawsuit alleges that about two-thirds of ULR’s $25m (13.4m) revenues in 2003 came from hidden fees paid by insurers in return for steering clients towards them.

ULR specialises in employee health insurance and life cover.

Healthcare

In a statement, Mr Spitzer said his latest filing that “the corrupt practices first laid bare in the Marsh suit are present in additional sectors of the industry”.

“Secret payoffs and conflicts of interest that infected the market for property and casualty insurance have taken root in the employee benefit market as well.”

Insurance analysts believe ULR’s focus on employee benefits could make the lawsuit sensitive, though ULR is a smaller firm than Marsh.

“This suit may have more far reaching effects than the previous one because the entire country is up in arms about the cost of health insurance,” said Fairbanks Consulting Group analyst Andy Barile.

“This is about normal people paying too much for their health insurance not about a huge buying property coverage around the globe,” he added.

ULR received a similar lawsuit in October from a group of , United Policyholders, a non-profit organisation and has denied those .

The West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership revealed the average cost of a road accident is 88,810, with serious ones costing 200,000.

Fatal accidents can cost well over 1m, meaning that the year’s total of 7,277 crashes worked out at around 650m.

With a in West Yorkshire of 2m, it equated to every man, woman and child paying 313, the report said.

and selfish’

Chairman Steve Thornton said many accidents were caused by unsafe driver behaviour.

“This means that the vast majority of decent, law-abiding citizens are paying an additional local ‘tax’ to pay for the irresponsible and selfish behaviour of the few.”

He said the costs were not just for hospital treatment. They included ambulances, paramedics, police time, vehicle and property damage, insurance costs and the loss of working days for .

There were also court case fees and the cost of benefit payments.

Mr Spitzer filed the lawsuit against Universal Life Resources in the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan.

The attorney general, who has won fame by crusading against corporate shenanigans, has said he is investigating the insurance sector.

News that Mr Spitzer was filing another case battered US insurance stocks.

Mr Spitzer filed a lawsuit in October against the world’s biggest insurance broker, Marsh & McLennan.

This is about normal people paying too much for their health insurance Andy Barile, Fairbanks Consulting Group analyst

Since then, Marsh & McLennan has replaced its chairman and several senior executives. It is cutting 3,000 jobs, or 5% of its workforce, to offset an anticipated fall in revenues as a result of the court battle.

Hidden payments

Mr Spitzer’s suit against ULR alleges the firm received corrupt payments for steering its customers towards certain insurers. A lawyer for ULR said Mr Spitzer’s team had not contacted the firm about the lawsuit, the Associated Press reported.

TAKING AIM AT INSURERS How far will the ripples spread?

The filing named the insurers as MetLife, Prudential Financial, and disability insurance specialist Unum Provident. They have said they are co-operating with the inquiry. Shares in all three fell by more than 3% on Friday.

The lawsuit alleges that about two-thirds of ULR’s $25m (13.4m) revenues in 2003 came from hidden fees paid by insurers in return for steering clients towards them.

ULR specialises in employee health insurance and life cover.

Healthcare

In a statement, Mr Spitzer said his latest filing demonstrated that “the corrupt practices first laid bare in the Marsh suit are present in additional sectors of the industry”.

“Secret payoffs and conflicts of interest that infected the market for property and casualty insurance have taken root in the employee benefit market as well.”

Insurance analysts believe ULR’s focus on employee benefits could make the lawsuit politically sensitive, though ULR is a smaller firm than Marsh.

“This suit may have more far reaching effects than the previous one because the entire country is up in arms about the cost of health insurance,” said Fairbanks Consulting Group analyst Andy Barile.

“This is about normal people paying too much for their health insurance not about a huge corporation buying property coverage around the globe,” he added.

ULR received a similar lawsuit in October from a group of policyholders, United , a non-profit and has denied those .