Search

The article discusses several decisions issued by U.S. federal and state courts between October 1, 2016, and September 30, 2017 concerning reinsurance industry. Topics discussed include reinsurer's liability in excess of the "Reinsurance Accepted" amount in a facultative certificate; interpretation of the facultative certificate; and the First Circuit's decision in the case "Mountain Valley Property, Inc. v. Applied Risk Services Inc." related to powers of arbitration panels.

In this paper we describe and explain a variety of problems experienced by Amerasian youths upon their resettlement in the United States. We examine a matrix of contextual, household and individual behavioral predictors of Amerasian youths' problems and we argue that, taken individually, existing theoretical frameworks do not adequately explain the Amerasian adaptation process. The most significant predictors of Amerasian youths' problems are an unstable home environment, gender (maleness), whether or not the mother reported mental and physical problems, and the type of assistance provider (mutual assistance association). We add to existing research on Amerasians' process of adaptation by incorporating a wider variety of youths' problems into the dependent variable, by including hitherto unavailable independent variables into the analysis, and by suggesting some immediate strategies and new policy initiatives aimed at helping resettlement agencies deal with this specialized immigrant population. In sum, we demonstrate that Amerasians' unofficially "mixed" immigration status -- they are designated as immigrants who are treated as refugees but are simultaneously half-American -- compounds theorists and policy makers' difficulties in dealing conceptually with this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major debate continues about whether immigrants receive benefits by virtue of their attachment to ethnic communities and ethnic organizations. On one side of the controversy, a large body of literature suggests that the ethnic community, which often contains resources that promote immigrants' adaptation and assimilation, actually hinders adaptation because the resources of mainstream institutions are less accessible to immigrants (often because they are also minorities). On the opposite side of the argument, critics contend that the ethnic solidarity school emphasizes the positive effects of ethnic communities and ethnic organizations on immigrant populations, while ignoring many of the negative consequences of migrants' involvement in ethnic groups and ethnic institutions. The purpose of this article is to reconsider whether ethnic communities and ethnic institutions facilitate immigrants' socio-economic adaptation. Specifically, the study analyses the impact of ethnic organizations on public assistance utilization among South-East Asian and Eastern European refugees in the Chicago metropolitan area in the late 1980s. The paper proceeds in five stages. As a background to the overall study, the literature on ethnic communities and ethnic organizations is reviewed. This is followed by a discussion of the development of mutual assistance associations (MAAs) in the US. Third is a concise description of the data and methods. Fourth is a presentation of the results. The article concludes with an assessment of the implications of the findings and suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the impact of various sociodemographic variables on refugees' employment propensities in the greater metropolitan Chicago area. It extends existing research and knowledge of forced migrants' labor force activities by exploring the impact of region of origin and refugees' access to support systems and organizations on employment retention and job maintenance. The analysis shows that refugees' labor force participation patterns and experiences are influenced differentially both by their background characteristics and by their exposure to U.S. assistance systems. Southeast Asian asylees are less successful in maintaining stable job placements when compared to their more socially advantaged and often more suitably placed Eastern European counterparts. Refugee self-help initiatives require greater empowerment and increased acceptance and status to assist other refugees in adjusting to the host society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]