Yearly Archives: <span>2021</span>

Travelers Weigh Canceling, Delaying Trips as Countries Tighten Rules on Omicron Fears

SYDNEY/SINGAPORE – Some would-be travelers are considering canceling or delaying trip plans in response to fresh curbs prompted by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, travel agents said on Monday, threatening an already fragile recovery for the global tourism industry. …

Ship Master Spent 50 Hours Sleepless Before Crash off Louisiana

An oil tanker hit an offshore oil platform at night off Louisiana because its Turkish operating company didn’t give the ship’s master time to recover from days of sleepless travel, federal investigators have found. The master, or person in charge …

Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner Stepping Down

Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner Mark Afable is stepping down next month, Gov. Tony Evers said. Evers appointed Afable to the post in December 2018. Afable had previously worked for American Family Insurance and served as the company’s chief legal officer before …

Openly Moves into Alabama

Openly, a homeowners’ insurance platform, announced it has expanded into Alabama, its eighth new state in 2021. Openly, which lets website users choose an agent, get a quote or file a claim, is now in 15 states, the company said …

Alabama DOI Relaxing Rate Filing Requirements on Flood Insurance

In an effort to increase the number of flood insurance policies in the state, the Alabama Department of Insurance is relaxing requirements that carriers file flood insurance rates, except for those covering vehicles. “More than 20% of the claims filed …

Florida Appeals Court Dismisses Lawyer’s Complaint Against CFO in Rubin Saga

Florida’s top financial and insurance regulator may have landed in the middle of a political mess, but he and other state officials were within their rights in hiring an agency head who was later forced out over allegations of sexual …

Florida Lawmaker Holds Town Hall Meetings on Insurance Crisis

In a sign that Florida’s property insurance problems continue to be a hot-button issue, a Florida state representative will hold town hall meetings next week to hear from stakeholders. State Rep. Kamia Brown, D-Orlando, announced the “State of the Insurance …

When Is Employer Immune from Tort Claims? Florida High Court Could Review

One of the largest utility companies in Florida may, after all, be shielded from tort claims by the grand bargain of workers’ compensation law, even though it had contracted maintenance work to another firm, a Florida appellate court has decided …

Organized Fraud Ring in California Sentenced for 15 Staged Collisions

Los Angeles, California residents Victor Valle-Diaz, 55, Eduardo Retana, 25, and Ausencio Gomez, 46, were sentenced to serve in state prison after pleading no contest to charges of insurance fraud and assault for their involvement in the organized ring. The …

Memo Cites Lessons from Ransomware Payments by CNA, JBS and Colonial Pipeline

In March 2021, CNA Financial Corp., one of the country’s largest insurance companies, suffered a ransomware attack from a cybercriminal group called Phoenix. The attackers pressured the insurer to pay up quickly by raising the ransom demand, claiming the data …