Latest Carriers Headlines

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

Editor’s Note: Credit score concern

Aug 6 2007 // Debate on insurers’ use of credit scores in automobile underwriting and rating is heating up again, thanks to the Federal Trade Commission’s recently released, long awaited study, “Credit-Based Insurance...

Taxicab market: limousines’ ugly stepsister?

Aug 6 2007 // As an agent you may receive a request to provide insurance for a limousine operation from time to time. Limousines conjure up an image of glamour and upscale clientele — just the kind of account many carriers...

Agents in E&O Buyer’s Seat

Aug 6 2007 // If ever there was a time for insurance agents to get out and go looking for a better errors and omissions policy, this is the season. Agents who do will come across several admitted carriers that are welcoming new business...

News Currents

Aug 6 2007 // House panel votes to add wind to flood program Private insurance companies are balking at a decision by a key House panel to expand the federal flood insurance program to include wind coverage. The House Financial Services...

Oregon State Workers’ Comp Insurer Not Immune from Suit

Aug 3 2007 // The Oregon Supreme Court has ruled that State Accident Insurance Fund Corporation (SAIF), the state workers’ compensation insurer, may be sued for damages. In John Johnson v. SAIF Corp., the plaintiff alleged that...

Fifth Circuit Court Rules in Insurers’ Favor in Katrina Levee Breach Case

Aug 3 2007 // A highly anticipated federal appeals court ruling in a Hurricane Katrina class-action case has insurers breathing a little easier. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled Aug. 2, 2007, in In re Katrina...

Insurers Win as Appeals Court Refuses Former Ohio Judge’s Appeal

Aug 3 2007 // A federal appeals court in Cincinnati has declined to reopen the case of a former judge ordered to pay $587,000 in legal fees she accrued while defending herself from accusations of misconduct. A district court in Columbus...

Fla. Gov.Suggests Property Insurers not Following Rate Savings Law

Aug 2 2007 // Gov. Charlie Crist suggested Tuesday that some property insurers may be deliberately flouting a new state law that requires them to buy cheaper reinsurance and pass the savings on to consumers. Crist said he was concerned...

House Committee Advances Bill to Extend Terrorism Reinsurance Backstop for 15 Years

Aug 2 2007 // The House Financial Services Committee voted yesterday to extend and expand the federal terrorism reinsurance law, going against the wishes of the Bush Administration. The panel voted by 49 to 20 in favor of H.R. 2761, the...

Del. Restricts Insurers’ Use of Credit Scoring for Auto, Home Renewals

Aug 2 2007 // Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner has signed legislation restricting the use of credit information in setting auto and homeowner insurance rates, making Delaware’s credit scoring law one of the toughest in the country...

Insurers Seek 3.3% Workers Comp Premium Raise in Virginia

Aug 2 2007 // The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) has scheduled an Oct. 30 hearing to consider an insurance industry request to increase the workers compensation premium levels for industrial risks insured in the voluntary...

WIAA Insurance Services Adds Carriers to its Portfolio

Aug 1 2007 // Rancho Cordova, Calif.-based WIAA Insurance Services, a general agency/wholesaler announced recent direct appointments with CNA and St. Paul/Travelers. WIAA Insurance Services primarily handles property and casualty risks...

Maine Insurers Question Dirigo’s $78 Million Third Year Savings Figure

Jul 30 2007 // The Dirigo Health Board of Directors has determined that the state-run Dirigo Health program will save the state’s health care system $78 million in its third year of operation. An organization representing the...

RMS: U.K. Summer Floods Could Cost Insurers £2.25 Billion

Jul 30 2007 // The June and July floods that gripped parts of the U.K. could cost insurers between £2.25 billion and £3.25 billion in total, according to latest estimates by Risk Management Solutions (RMS). Insured losses from the July...

Insurers Expect Claims from N.Y City Steam Pipe Explosion

Jul 29 2007 // Consolidated Edison in New York has agreed to let two insurance companies anticipating millions of dollars in claims monitor the cleanup of last week’s steam pipe explosion in midtown Manhattan, the utility’s...

Insurers Balk as House Panel Votes to Add Wind Coverage to Flood Program

Jul 27 2007 // Private insurance companies are balking at a decision by a key House panel to expand the federal flood insurance program to include wind coverage. The House Financial Services Committee voted yesterday to add wind coverage...

RAND Study: Wind Insurance Scarce on Gulf Coast; Challenge for Both Insurers, Government

Jul 27 2007 // Many businesses along the Gulf of Mexico coast have had a difficult time obtaining wind insurance coverage since Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma hit in 2005 and have often ended up paying more than twice as much for...

British Life Insurers Friends Provident and Resolution Agree on Merger

Jul 26 2007 // The board of Friends Provident PLC and Resolution PLC announced that they have agreed on terms to combine two of Britain’s largest life insurers through a stock swap. The new company, Friends Financial Group PLC,...

Terror Insurance Act Moves Forward in House with Lowered Event Triggers

Jul 25 2007 // The federal Terrorism Risk Insurance Revision and Extension Act moved out of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises this week and on to the full House...

Consumer Group Says FTC Proves Credit Scoring Costs Minorities

Jul 25 2007 // A national consumer group stepped up its criticism of a recent government report on the use of credit scoring by auto insurers, claiming that the Federal Trade Commission report confirms that African American and Hispanic...