Latest Agencies Headlines

Lawmakers Say Insurance Reform Veto Will Cost Oklahoma Agencies

Jun 22 2010 // Republican lawmakers in Oklahoma say a gubernatorial veto will keep numerous agencies, including some of the state’s largest, from saving millions in health care costs. Legislation that supporters say would have...

Florida Approves MedMal Direct for Sale of Malpractice Insurance

Jun 22 2010 // Jacksonville-based MedMal Direct Insurance Co. has officially launched operations as a medical malpractice insurance company in Florida. The company, which sells insurance directly to physicians community without the use...

Wood Elected President of the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas

Jun 22 2010 // The Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT) elected David Wood, vice president and partner at Bogan, Dunlap & Wood Insurance in Odessa, to serve as the association’s president for 2010-2011. Other newly...

Beazley’s Broker Relations Head Lauds Value of Broker Networks

Jun 21 2010 // Christopher Branch, Head of Broker Relations at Beazley, speaking at the second day of BrokersLink’s second annual global conference in Portugal on Friday, urged underwriters to increase the utilization of the...

2 West Virginia County Agencies Drop Insurer BrickStreet

Jun 21 2010 // Two Kanawha County agencies have decided not to use a state-created insurance program for workers’ compensation coverage. Both have told BrickStreet Mutual Insurance Co. that its proposed rates have prompted them to...

Storm Management

Jun 21 2010 // The Atlantic hurricane season forecasts are in and they aren’t pretty. All the major forecasters have predicted the season will be much more active than last season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric...

FAIA’s Grady: Florida Needs to Improve Its Insurance Reputation

Jun 21 2010 // The following are excerpts from a wide-ranging interview by Insurance Journal’s Andy Simpson with Jeff Grady, president and CEO, Florida Association of Insurance Agents, from Grady’s Tallahassee...

Florida Market Still Frustrates Surplus Brokers

Jun 21 2010 // It has been quiet on the oceanfront in Florida in terms of hurricanes and tropical storms the past few years. However, the low catastrophe frequency has contributed to an extremely soft and competitive insurance market for...

Latin Agent Groups Growing, Starting Up, Going ‘Mainstream’

Jun 21 2010 // Florida Group Stresses Educational Offerings, Serving Non-Latin Agents Following the success of agents in Florida and California, a group of New York insurance agents has launched a new trade group for Latin insurance...

People

Jun 21 2010 // Lloyd Eisenrich, president of Weatherby-Eisenrich Inc. in Andrews, Texas, has been elected president of Combined Agents of America LLC (CAA), headquartered in Austin. The other members of the 2010 CAA management committee...

Storm Management

Jun 21 2010 // The Atlantic hurricane season forecasts are in and they aren’t pretty. All the major forecasters have predicted the season will be much more active than last season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric...

State Farm Won’t Add New Flood Policies but Agents Will Still Sell Them

Jun 21 2010 // State Farm Insurance Co. has decided to discontinue writing new flood insurance policies with the National Flood Insurance Program but the company says it will still service existing policies, and State Farm agents will...

Jun 21 2010 // The success in this space, for anybody, is going to be the relevance and authenticity of their message. People who wonder why social networking has gone viral should consider rocking out to The Beatles. Borrowing a line...

People

Jun 21 2010 // U.S. Risk Insurance Group Inc. named Julie Sylim a vice president and branch manager for the company’s Oakland, Calif., office. Julie has more than 20 years of insurance experience, most recently in the wholesale...

E&O Insights: ‘Let Me Think About It’

Jun 21 2010 // Why Agents Should Stress Importance of Umbrella Coverage When uttered together by a client, the five words in the headline of this article are – potentially – very dangerous words. Note the following claim and...

Specialized Independence

Jun 21 2010 // Top 100 Agency Profile Agency Name: The Horton Group Inc. Headquarters: Orland Park, Ill. Year Founded: 1971 Locations: 15 2009 Total P/C Premiums: $258.3 million Commercial Lines: $221.4 million Personal Lines: $36.8...

NAS Lowers Rates, Minimum Premiums for Insurance Agents E&O

Jun 18 2010 // NAS Insurance Services, Inc. has released new rates for insurance agents and brokers E&O. Agents managing 100 percent personal lines have new reduced rates and a new minimum premium starting at $2,000. Agents handling...

Worldwide Facilities Names Sawyer VP/Broker for Healthcare Practice

Jun 18 2010 // Worldwide Facilities Inc. in Phoenix has named Eric Sawyer a vice president and broker for the healthcare practice group. Sawyer brings more than 10 years of medical malpractice experience to the group. He will be working...

BrokersLink Appoints Chartis Senior V.P. Battifarano as CEO

Jun 18 2010 // BrokersLink, one of the world’s largest independent insurance broker networks whose members manage premium volumes in excess of $7 billion, announced the appointment of Leonard J. Battifarano as its CEO, effective...

Connecticut Warns Agents over Surplus Lines Placements

Jun 18 2010 // The Connecticut Insurance Department is warning producers against placing coastal homeowners in the surplus lines market if an admitted insurer has offered to renew their policies. Doing so violates state law. In a...