Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
How BP’s Gulf Oil Disaster Costs Could Double
Dec 1 2010 // Analysts’ dividend forecasts point to steady recovery BP, analysts, may be underestimating legal charges BP has history of low-balling long-term cost of disasters “Gross negligence,” punitive damages not...
Federal Judge Dismisses Challenge to Obama Health Care Law
Dec 1 2010 // A federal judge in Virginia Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit challenging the landmark healthcare law championed by President Barack Obama, upholding key provisions that require health insurance coverage. The challenge, one of...
Insurer Wants Ex-Judge Off Mississippi Lawyer Case
Nov 30 2010 // An insurance company wants former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz kicked off a lawsuit involving imprisoned former attorney Paul Minor. Minor, meanwhile, also thinks the federal judge in the case should step...
Mississippi Judge Asks Court to Restore His Immunity
Nov 30 2010 // A Mississippi judge is asking a federal appeals court to restore his immunity from being sued over claims that he knowingly making false claims to authorities. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals scheduled arguments for...
Washington Regulator Wants to Review Health Insurer Surpluses
Nov 30 2010 // Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler is asking state lawmakers to preserve his authority to scrutinize health insurance rates, boost transparency, and to let him — for the first time — consider some...
Judge Upholds West Virginia Mine Accident Reporting Rule
Nov 29 2010 // A Kanawha County Circuit Court judge has upheld a state law giving coal mine operators 15 minutes to tell regulators about fires and other serious accidents. Judge Tod Kaufman’s ruling came in a case involving...
State Legislators Adopt Surplus Lines Tax Compact, Compliance Resolution
Nov 24 2010 // The National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) has adopted a revised version of the Surplus Lines Multi-State Insurance Compact (SLIMPACT) as well as a resolution urging the states to amend their insurance laws...
UK MGAs Gather to Support New Managing General Agents’ Association
Nov 24 2010 // The UK’s insurance industry has spawned numerous professional and trade associations over the years, but, oddly enough, one of the most important sectors, the managing general agents, or MGA’s, who underwrite...
Swiss Re: Investment Managers Face ‘New, Challenging Environment’
Nov 23 2010 // Swiss Re’s latest sigma study, #5/2010, – “Insurance investment in a challenging global environment” – warns that a “low yield environment coupled with tighter regulatory standards could...
New York Agents Lose Court Battle over Compensation Disclosure
Nov 22 2010 // New York agents failed to make their case that insurance regulators cannot require agents and brokers to disclose their commissions, a Supreme Court judge has ruled. That just-released decision by Supreme Court Justice...
Calif. Court Rules Federal Proceedings Equivalent to CGL-Covered Lawsuit
Nov 22 2010 // The California Supreme Court has ruled that the term “suit” in a comprehensive general liability policy includes federal administrative adjudicative proceedings before an administrative law judge of the U.S....
Health Insurance Brokers May Ask Congress to Protect Commissions
Nov 22 2010 // As insurance brokers feared, the Obama Administration has not exempted broker commissions from the formula for the medical loss ratio that health insurers must adhere to beginning in 2011. Brokers say they may ask Congress...
Texas Likely Will Seek to Protect Its Piece of Surplus Lines Tax Pie
Nov 19 2010 // The federal financial services reform act signed by President Barack Obama in July 2010 contained a provision reforming the way surplus lines insurance premiums are reported and taxed. The Nonadmitted and Reinsurance...
Forfeiture Hearing Set in Ex-Pennsylvania Judge’s Fraud Conviction
Nov 19 2010 // A federal court forfeiture hearing is set in the case of a former Pennsylvania Superior Court judge convicted of insurance fraud. Michael Joyce, of Millcreek Township, is serving a 46-month prison sentence for collecting...
California Self-Insured Group Defaults
Nov 19 2010 // The Contractors Access Program of California (CAP), a self insured group, has been declared in default due to insufficient funding required for continued operation, California’s Department of Industrial Relations...
Judges’ Mediation of Massey Pollution Case Fails in West Virginia
Nov 18 2010 // A lawyer for the plaintiffs says attempts to settle a long-running water pollution lawsuit against Massey Energy Co. have failed. Two judges on West Virginia’s mass litigation panel have been trying to mediate a...
Washington, Oregon Rank High in Promoting Roadway Safety
Nov 18 2010 // Many states are making progress toward making roads safer, but Oregon and Washington do the best of promoting roadway safety with traffic laws, according to a new report by the Emergency Nurses Association. The report...
Calif. Agent Association Wants to Phase-In New License Requirements
Nov 18 2010 // Insurance Brokers and Agents of the West (IBA West) is working to persuade the California Department of Insurance to phase-in implementation of provisions of a new law (AB 2782) that will require property/casualty...
Tennessee Insurance Department Easily Passes State Audit
Nov 17 2010 // A government audit of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance (TDCI) has found that the agency has managed to reduce costs and operate efficiently during the economic downturn. In fact, the state...
Louisiana Still Owes Most of Judgement in 1983 Flood
Nov 16 2010 // Bob McBride Jr. was 18 when he pushed a flat-bottomed boat holding his family and neighbors through chest-high water to safety in Tangipahoa Parish. Nearly 30 years later, he and hundreds of others still are waiting for...
