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Oct 8 2007 // Former franchisees challenge Brooke agent dealings But fast-growing franchisor denies misleading any agents Overland Park, Kan.-based insurance agency franchisor Brooke Corp. has been hit with a number of lawsuits that...

Oct 8 2007 // People The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America has named Deputy Secretary of Commerce David A. Sampson to serve as the association’s president and chief executive officer. Sampson takes over the reins...

Former franchisees challenge Brooke agent dealings

Oct 8 2007 // Overland Park, Kan.-based insurance agency franchisor Brooke Corp. has been hit with a number of lawsuits that raise questions about its business dealings with agents who bought into its nationwide operation, which now...

State of Louisiana clears Brooke of wrongdoing

Oct 8 2007 // The Louisiana Department of Insurance investigated complaints earlier this year against Brooke from former franchisees in that state and cleared the company of all wrongdoing except for a few minor licensing snafus. The...

News Currents

Oct 8 2007 // California clarifies surplus lines rules for retail agents California retail agent-brokers not transacting insurance on behalf of surplus line broker organizations are not required to follow a new law affecting surplus...

Niche writing and the soft market

Oct 8 2007 // The wise program manager takes yet another step forward and commits their organization to multiple niches. As the property casualty market softens, insurance carriers will strive to figure out new ways to maintain recent...

Programs Unplugged

Oct 8 2007 // Some of today’s most successful program managers have pulled the plug on association endorsements. They’re not anti-association but they have decided that these endorsements are not always worth the trouble or...

News Currents

Oct 8 2007 // House-passed flood insurance bill provides optional windstorm coverage The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a measure updating the nation’s flood insurance program that will give homeowners the option of...

BOPs deliver more now than in the old days

Oct 8 2007 // The business owner policy (BOP) of today is not the BOP of yesterday, industry experts agree. When the first BOP coverage was introduced in the late 1970s, it was mostly utilized by direct writers whose niche in the...

Superior Access Launches Ground-Breaking Web Application for Independent Insurance Agents

Oct 5 2007 // Irvine, CA, Oct. 05, 2007 – Superior Access, the nation’s leading online insurance distributor, launched its most advanced web application to date: Superior Access 2.0. Crafted to provide independent insurance...

Congressional Report Questions Germ Labs’ Security

Oct 5 2007 // Federal terror-fighting agencies can’t identify all the American research laboratories that could become targets of attackers, congressional investigators have found. The Government Accountability Office asked a...

Arthur J. Gallagher Acquires Calif. Benefits Broker BIS

Oct 5 2007 // Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired BIS Insurance Services Inc. located in Sacramento, Calif. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 1979, BIS Insurance Services is an employee benefits insurance...

Harleysville Looks to Boost Benefits Sales Through Commercial P/C Agents

Oct 5 2007 // Pennsylvania-based Harleysville Life Insurance Co. says it sees great opportunity—and a natural market connection—for developing employee benefits programs through the commercial lines business generated by the...

Agents, Insurance Skills Center Host Agribusiness Program in Des Moines

Oct 5 2007 // Insurance Skills Center and the Independent Insurance Agents of Iowa will present a two-day conference focusing on farm and agribusiness insurance risks, Oct. 22-23, 2007 in Des Moines, Iowa. The Midwest Agribusiness...

Big ‘I’ Installs New Officers; Fulwider Named Chair

Oct 4 2007 // Robert E. Fulwider was inaugurated as the new chair of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big “I”), with C. Brett Nilsson, and J. David Daniel assuming the offices of chair-elect...

Mich. Agents Association Names Stoor New President

Oct 3 2007 // The Michigan Association of Insurance Agents recently announced Roger Stoor of the Lud Stoor Agency in Crystal Falls, Mich. has been named president. . As president, Stoor will work with the Association Board of Directors...

Willis AG Acquires Swiss Insurance Broker, Burkart Risk

Oct 3 2007 // In a move that it says underscores its commitment to achieve a leadership position in Switzerland, Willis AG, the Swiss branch of global insurance broker Willis Group Holdings, has acquired Burkart Risk Consulting &...

U.S. Risk Expands Brokerage Operations in Australia

Oct 3 2007 // Dallas, Texas-based U.S. Risk Insurance Group Inc., the seventh largest managing general agency and surplus lines wholesaler in the nation, expanded its operations by opening a brokerage operation in Sydney, Australia. The...

Judge Dismises Corruption Charges Against Marsh, Brokers, Insurers

Oct 2 2007 // The same federal judge who early in September dismissed all federal antitrust charges against Marsh & McLennan Companies and a group of other brokers and insurers has now thrown out all related federal charges of...

Chicago SUA Contracts with Partner Agent Writing Trucking in Southeast

Oct 2 2007 // Chicago-based Specialty Underwriters’ Alliance, Inc. (SUA) recently announced that the company has entered into a new Partner Agent contract with First Light Program Managers, Inc. (“First Light”) to...