Latest Agencies Headlines

All the headlines from our Agencies Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Worldwide Facilities Hires Broker

Dec 19 2005 // Worldwide Facilities Inc. has hired Dat Nguyen as a casualty broker in its Los Angeles office. He will be reporting to Daniel Colacurcio in Worldwide’s Construction Division. Prior to joining Worldwide, Nguyen spent...

Words Mean a Lot in Vows Between Program Administrators and Carriers

Dec 19 2005 // As in a marriage, if you’re in a good relationship, you never have to consider the contract. But if things go badly, words mean everything,” Greg Thompson, president of THOMCO brokerage in Kennesaw, Ga., told...

People

Dec 18 2005 // Ohio Casualty Corporation has completed a new five-year agreement with its current president and chief executive officer, Dan R. Carmichael. The prior contract with Carmichael was to expire on Dec. 31, 2005. Carmichael...

Calif. Court Rules in Favor of Earthquake Policyholders

Dec 18 2005 // An insurance broker was a representative for the California Fair Plan Insurance Co. with regard to the Northridge earthquake revival statute, which gave policyholders another year to file lawsuits against their insurers in...

Duty to or Non Duty to Defend: What is the Best Defense Provision?

Dec 18 2005 // As insurance professionals, we are all familiar with “duty to defend” language commonly associated with general liability policies. But are you familiar with, or did you even know there is, “non duty to...

Dan Carmichael

Dec 18 2005 // William Granato Brandon Hickey Ohio Casualty Corporation has completed a new five-year agreement with its current president and chief executive officer, Dan R. Carmichael. The prior contract with Carmichael was to expire...

States Urged to Prepare for Catastrophes by Enforcing Smarter Land Use

Dec 18 2005 // The country needs to consider where and how it builds if it is to avoid the worst effects of another Hurricane Katrina or Sept. 11 attack, according to experts at the recent National Conference of Insurance Legislators...

Settlement Proposed in Insurance Agent Class Action Against ChoicePoint

Dec 18 2005 // Insurance agents and agencies who provided personal information regarding potential or actual insureds to ChoicePoint Services Inc. between Jan. 1 1997, and Aug. 9, 2005, may be entitled to money and other benefits as a...

People

Dec 18 2005 // Clint Bothwell has been named Southeast regional president for Harleysville Insurance and will work in its new Atlanta regional office. The company also named other regional field organization leaders as it realigned the...

Editor’s Note: Opportunity Knocks

Dec 18 2005 // As 2005 draws to a close it marks the end of the second tumultuous year for the industry. After the multiple hurricanes of 2004, everyone was hoping 2005 would be calmer, but we ended up having an even more catastrophic...

The Industry Goes to School: Universities that Offer Insurance Degrees

Dec 18 2005 // Twenty years ago, it was nearly impossible to find colleges and universities offering degrees in insurance. Now there are many programs across the nation that offer bachelor’s degrees, concentrations, certifications,...

News Briefs

Dec 18 2005 // Louisiana Gov. Urged to Veto Flooded Vehicles Bill The Property Casualty Insurers Association of Amer-ica called upon Louisiana Gov. Kath-leen Blanco to veto a bill that would require all vehicles that are declared...

Update from the Gulf Coast: A Policyholder’s Perspective Which Came First: the Chicken, the Egg

Dec 18 2005 // While debates wax and wane in newspaper headlines, the harsh reality for thousands of policyholders in the wake of Hurricane Katrina centers around an age-old issue: which came first, the chicken or the egg? Or in this...

From Pinstripes to Prison Stripes: Near North’s Segal on Life Behind Bars

Dec 18 2005 // Former Chicago Insurance Broker Serving Time for Fraud Appears on TV; Is Movie Next? Once you get over the fear…you find that people are just people,” Michael “Mickey” Segal, 63, told an ABC-TV news...

A Katrina Diary: On the Road to Recovery

Dec 18 2005 // A co-worker and I journeyed to the Gulf Coast region to document the recovery from Hurricane Katrina. What follows are some notes from our five days in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama filming and talking with people who...

By Dave Thomas

Dec 18 2005 // Residents in many areas of the Gulf Coast watched their lives change forever on Aug. 29, 2005. When all was said and done, Hurricane Katrina went in the record books as the country’s worst natural disaster, leaving a...

Words Mean a Lot in Vows Between Program Administrators and Carriers

Dec 18 2005 // As in a marriage, if you’re in a good relationship, you never have to consider the contract. But if things go badly, words mean everything,” Greg Thompson, president of THOMCO brokerage in Kennesaw, Ga., told...

News Briefs

Dec 18 2005 // Massachusetts Auto Producer Reassignments Delayed: Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner Julianne Bowler has asked that a plan for reassignment of auto insurance producers doing business with the state’s residual...

S.D. Court Follows Others in Striking Down Countersignature Law

Dec 18 2005 // A federal district court judge in South Dakota ruled that the state’s countersignature law is unconstitutional. The ruling means that 50 states have taken action to eliminate the countersignature requirement,...

Technology Can Enhance Agent-Carrier Relations

Dec 18 2005 // Technology, often derided as harmful to human relations in business, may actually hold the key to the insurance industry remaining a “people business,” including helping improve relationships between carriers...