Latest Agencies Headlines
All the headlines from our Agencies Topic Page, ordered by recency.
West Virginia Court Sides with Insurer on Antitrust Claim by Cancelled Agent
Dec 4 2009 // An insurance company has won a victory over one of its former West Virginia agents who claimed the insurer violated state antitrust law when it cancelled his contracts to sell its life and property/casualty insurance...
Reno Agent Pleads Guilty to Writing Fake Policies
Dec 4 2009 // A 38-year-old insurance agent in Reno has pleaded guilty to felony insurance fraud after he was accused of writing fake policies for friends and relatives who were unaware of what he was doing. Bradley Buchanan admitted to...
Insurance Agents Urge Reform of Estate Tax
Dec 4 2009 // Insurance agents are pleased that the House of Representatives is paying attention to the estate tax but want lawmakers to seize the opportunity to reform the tax rather than simply extend current provisions. Yesterday,...
Minnesota Fines Agent $250K
Dec 4 2009 // The Minnesota Department of Commerce has issued a $250,000 fine against Michael Antonello, an insurance agent the department previously accused of insurance fraud. It is the largest fine levied against an individual by the...
Louisiana Issues Additional Fines Against Marksville Agent and Agency
Dec 3 2009 // A Marksville, La., agent and her agency who was fined by the Louisiana Department of Insurance in November for allegedly allowing employees to conduct insurance business without a license has been fined again for similar...
Two Pennsylvania Insurance Agencies Merge
Dec 2 2009 // Pennsylvania insurance agencies, The Securus Group and The Dunlop Agency, have merged in a move they say is aimed at bolstering their market share in the Lehigh Valley and South Central regions of the state. The merged...
House Committee Passes Federal Insurance Office Act
Dec 2 2009 // The U.S. House Financial Services Committee has passed a measure to create a scaled-back federal office that would be a national insurance information agency with some authority in the area of international insurance...
Insurance Agent Accused of Peeping Pleads Not Guilty
Nov 24 2009 // An Illinois insurance executive accused of secretly making nude videos of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews pled not guilty during his arraignment in a Los Angeles federal courtroom on Monday. Michael Barrett is charged with one...
Kelley Named to Colorado’s Regulatory Agencies Department
Nov 23 2009 // Gov. Bill Ritter has appointed attorney Barbara J. Kelley of Denver to be the new executive director of the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, effective Dec. 1. She replaces Rico Munn, who became the executive...
M&A Wrap-Up: Insurance Brokerage Mergers Took a Third Quarter Vacation
Nov 23 2009 // Deal making wasn’t at the top of the list of summer activities this season, but deal vacation was. Third quarter merger and acquisition (M&A) activity continued declining to just 30 announced transactions...
Indiana Agents Group Names State Auto Company of the Year
Nov 23 2009 // Columbus, Ohio-based State Auto Insurance Group has been named 2009 Company of the Year by the Independent Insurance Agents of Indiana (IIAI). According to the IIAI, this award recognizes the company that most demonstrates...
Health Care Reform Dominates Trade Group’s Lobbying Agenda
Nov 20 2009 // Until this year, health care was a minor blip on the radar of insurance agents’ policy efforts in D.C. But with a major reform bill imminent, key trade groups are devoting nearly all of their time to try and tweak...
Ohio AG Sues National Ratings Agencies Over Securities Information
Nov 20 2009 // Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray has filed a lawsuit against national securities and credit ratings agencies Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch over what the AG’s office called “false...
North Carolina FAIR, Beach Plans Get New Board Members
Nov 20 2009 // North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin announced the appointment of five new members to the N.C. Joint Underwriting Association and the N.C. Insurance Underwriting Association, better known as the FAIR and...
Texas Agent Volunteers for 7th Home Building Trip to Nicaragua
Nov 19 2009 // In 2005, when Cory Brooke, a partner of TCOR Insurance Management in Beeville, Texas, traveled to Nicaragua with other insurance executives as a volunteer for non-profit Bridges to Community, he was the only Texan in the...
Insurance Associations Concerned on Financial Stability Improvement Act
Nov 18 2009 // In an open letter addressed to Barney Frank, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, the largest U.S. insurance trade associations expressed their concerns over the recently passed...
California Insurance Agent Arrested for $6 Million Scam
Nov 18 2009 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner said that William A. Sassman, 41, of Sacramento was arrested early Nov. 16 on 43 felony counts of grand theft, 40 felony counts of selling unauthorized securities, 16 felony...
Main Street America Launches Personal Lines System in Michigan
Nov 18 2009 // The Main Street America Group has introduced its new Main Street Connection for Personal Lines quoting and policy issuance system in Michigan. The super regional’s independent insurance agents now have 24/7 access to...
Insurance Agent Seeks GOP Nod in Pennsylvania Congressional Race
Nov 17 2009 // An insurance agent from Meadville, Pennsylvania says he’ll seek the Republican nomination for the 3rd Congressional District in northwestern Pennsylvania. Fifty-one-year-old Steven Fisher says he’ll challenge...
California Agent Collected Bogus Premiums While on Bail
Nov 17 2009 // California’s Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has announced that Louise May Batchelor, 55, of San Diego was sentenced Nov. 6 to 365 days of work furlough, five years probation and ordered to pay restitution...
