Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
North Carolina High Court Keeps Blackbeard Ship Case Over Images Alive
Nov 13 2019 // A treasure hunter who accuses the state of North Carolina of misusing his images from Blackbeard’s flagship says he’ll ask for 10 times the damages he originally sought, now that a court ruling has come down in...
California Town Devastated by Wildfire Rebuilds, But Is It Any Safer a Year Later
Nov 7 2019 // There was “no way in hell” Victoria Sinclaire was rebuilding in Paradise, Calif. She’d thought she was going to die during the six hours it took her to escape the deadliest and most destructive wildfire...
Imagining How Technology Might Transform Risks and Insurance by 2030
Nov 7 2019 // As 2019 wraps up, many in the insurance industry are likely well into planning for the next year. But what about planning for the next decade? While it can be difficult to predict what’s ahead in 10 years, industry...
Scores of U.S. Dams in Poor Condition Pose Danger to Thousands
Nov 7 2019 // On a cold morning last March, Kenny Angel got a frantic knock on his door. Two workers from a utility company in northern Nebraska had come with a stark warning: Get out of your house. Just a little over a quarter-mile...
Philadelphia Fire Highlights Dangers of Old Infrastructure at U.S. Refineries
Nov 6 2019 // How did a piece of piping installed when Richard Nixon was U.S. president go without once being checked before leading to a fire that devastated the East Coast’s largest and oldest oil refinery? That’s a...
Judge Says Vermont Man in Inheritance Fight Contributed to Boat Sinking
Nov 6 2019 // A Vermont man at the center of an inheritance dispute contributed to the 2016 sinking of the boat from which his mother was lost at sea, a federal judge ruled Monday. U.S. District Judge John McConnell issued a written...
The Lowdown: Cannabis 101 in 300 Minutes or Less
Nov 5 2019 // On October 17th, the Insurance Journal hosted a virtual, 6 hour, live summit on insuring the cannabis industry. With 2,300 pre-registrants, an additional 200 joined in as the day progressed. These viewers represented over...
Court Orders California Insurance Company Conserved in Another Round in Applied Battle
Nov 5 2019 // Note: This story has been updated with a response from an Applied spokesman describing the actions by the California Department of Insurance as “an unusual Draconian attempt.” A San Mateo County Superior Court...
Vaping Firm Juul Disregarded Early Signs It Was Hooking Young Users: Reuters
Nov 5 2019 // The San Francisco startup that invented the groundbreaking Juul e-cigarette had a central goal during its development: captivating users with the first hit. The company had concluded that consumers had largely rejected...
Missouri Court Rulings Conflict with Insurer Right to Intervene Protections
Nov 4 2019 // The Western District of the Missouri Court of Appeals recently issued opinions that effectively strip any practical effect from a Missouri amendment made to provide certain protections to insurers. In Aguilar v. GEICO Cas....
Resolving Claim Disputes: Step 3 Research and Document the Interpretation – Part 3 of 3
Nov 4 2019 // In the past two columns, we examined eight legal and contractual principles nonlawyers can use to resolve most claim disputes without litigation. In this month’s column, we’ll wrap up this discussion with nine...
States Vary Widely in How They Control Workers’ Comp Medical Costs: WCRI
Nov 4 2019 // Workers’ compensation medical costs vary widely among the states both in terms of price and how often services are used. The differences appear to relate closely to which cost-drivers each state legislature tried to...
Report: Cannabis Dispensaries May Become ‘Most Profitable’ Specialty Stores
Oct 31 2019 // Selling insurance to cannabis dispensaries may the business in which to be in the very near future. A new report claims that cannabis retailing could become one of the “most profitable specialty store categories...
Number of Volunteer Firefighters Continues to Grow in Oklahoma
Oct 31 2019 // Nearly 500 new volunteer firefighters have joined Oklahoma rural fire departments in the four years after legislation passed that eliminated the age limit for new volunteers. Oklahoma House Majority Leader Mike Sanders...
States Eye Private Flood Insurance Model Law Industry Thinks Is Unnecessary
Oct 31 2019 // An organization of state lawmakers is moving ahead toward adoption of a “model law” designed to encourage the sale of private flood insurance, even though insurers don’t think any new state laws are...
Uber And Lyft Will Ask California Voters to Block Employee Law
Oct 31 2019 // Some of the country’s largest ridesharing companies proposed a California law on Tuesday that would let them continue to treat drivers as independent contractors while also guaranteeing them a minimum wage and money...
Texas Warns of Insurance Deductibles Scam Following Dallas Storms
Oct 30 2019 // Texans with property in locations that were hit by the severe weather that swept through Dallas and North Texas on Sunday, Oct. 20 are now targets of a scam involving insurance deductibles, insurance regulators say. The...
Subcontracted Workers Most at Risk from Accidents in S. Korea’s Shipyards
Oct 30 2019 // Park Chol-hee was working the holiday shift at Samsung Heavy Industries’ Geoje shipyard on Labour Day, 2017, when a giant crane collided with another and crashed to ground, killing six people, including Park’s...
This Wildfire Metric Threatens to Upend PG&E’s Restructuring Plan
Oct 29 2019 // PG&E Corp. investors looking to learn their fate may not get the answer from the bankrupt power company. Instead, the key data point could pop up within days on the website of California’s forestry...
Brad Pitt, Others Can Be Sued over New Orleans Homes, Judge Says
Oct 28 2019 // A judge has denied actor Brad Pitt’s request to be taken off a lawsuit that says his Make it Right Foundation built shoddy homes in the New Orleans area that was hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina. The Times-Picayune/...
