Latest Massachusetts Headlines
All the headlines from our Massachusetts Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Insurers File Mass. Auto Rates Today; Bill to Control Rating Factors Stalled
Nov 19 2007 // The auto insurance market in Massachusetts gets a glimpse of greater competition today when carriers disclose their proposed rates, but the big unknown is whether motorists honk for joy or hit the guardrail. The Patrick...
Spain’s Mapfre Sees Commerce as Portal to Expansion in U.S.
Nov 18 2007 // Insurer likes Hispanic market potential as well as solid performance of Mass. personal lines insurer The potential of the Hispanic insurance market is one of the factors attracting Spanish insurer Mapfre to its acquisition...
Peerless Insurance Returning to Mass. Auto Under Managed Competition
Nov 14 2007 // Liberty Mutual Group today announced that one of its companies – Keene, N.H.-based Peerless Insurance – intends to return to the Massachusetts private passenger auto insurance market next year after a 20-year...
Hanover Ready to Offer Connector Product in New Mass. Auto Market
Nov 9 2007 // As Massachusetts prepares to open up its private passenger auto insurance market to more competition, The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. is ready to drive in with coverages it has been offering in other states but not in...
Liberty Mutual to Grow Mass. Sales Force by 50% to Handle Auto
Nov 9 2007 // Liberty Mutual, the state’s fourth-largest auto insurer, announced plans to add 30 sales representatives in Massachusetts – a 50 percent increase – by the time the state implements new managed competition...
Berkshire Insurance in Mass. Names Millet Chief Operating Officer
Nov 7 2007 // Berkshire Insurance Group, Inc., a Berkshire Bank company in Pittsfield, Mass., has named John S. Millet, CPA, as its chief operating officer. Millet will oversee operations, finance, information technology, and other key...
Will Mass. Give Thanks for Managed Competition or Rate It a Turkey?
Nov 7 2007 // Massachusetts has three dates coming up that could be turning points in determining who gives thanks for the state’s new managed competition auto insurance system and who rates it a turkey. Insurance Commissioner...
Hub Adds Rome Agency in Mass. to its New England Operation
Nov 6 2007 // Hub International Limited reported that Hub International New England has acquired substantially all of the assets of Rome Insurance Agency, Inc., which is based in Fitchburg, Mass. The Rome operation expands Hub New...
Mass. Offers Online Licensing with Agent Lookup Feature for Consumers
Nov 5 2007 // The Massachusetts Division of Insurance recently launched a new online licensing system for producers. The first phase of the system, OLLIE (Online Licensing of Individuals and Entities), enables individual insurance...
Transitions … from judge to regulator, from regulated to competition
Nov 4 2007 // Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner Nonnie Burnes has taken on the minefield of private passenger auto insurance, overseeing a transition from a highly-regulated rating system to one under which insurance companies are to...
News Currents
Nov 4 2007 // N.Y. department prevails in liquidation bureau audit New York state’s highest court has ruled that the state auditor does not have the authority to audit an obscure division of a state agency managing $3.3...
Mapfre Cites Hispanic Insurance Market Potential Behind Commerce Acquisition
Nov 1 2007 // The potential of the Hispanic insurance market is one of the factors attracting Spanish insurer Mapfre to its acquisition of the Massachusetts-based personal lines writer Commerce Group. Mapfre officials calculate that...
Spain’s Mapfre to Buy Mass.-Based Commerce Insurance for $2.2 Billion
Oct 30 2007 // Spain’s largest insurer, Mapfre S.A., has agreed to buy the Massachusetts-based personal lines insurer The Commerce Group, Inc. for $2.21 billion in cash in a bold move to expand its presence in the U.S....
Western Mass. Diocese, Abuse Victims Near Settlement
Oct 29 2007 // Lawyers for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, Mass., clergy abuse victims and the insurance carriers confirm that the sides have agreed to enter nonbinding settlement talks in a two-year old lawsuit. More than...
Mass. Caps Hikes in Auto Insurance at 10%; Smaller Insurers Eye 2.5% Cut
Oct 25 2007 // The first moves toward competitive rating for auto insurance in Massachusetts indicate that rates for drivers insured by insurers with small market share could drop an average 2.5 percent, while rates for drivers in the...
Mass. Insurance Chief Urges Agents to Seize Opportunity in Auto Deregulation
Oct 23 2007 // Exclusive Video: Commissioner Interview Mass. Commissioner Burnes: Effect of Managed Competition on Mass. Agents Some Massachusetts insurance agents are anxious about the state’s move to a deregulated auto insurance...
Urban Lawmakers Eye Ban on ‘Proxies’ in Mass. Auto Insurance Pricing
Oct 22 2007 // Lawmakers representing urban drivers in Massachusetts are challenging the Patrick administration’s auto insurance plan, saying new regulations leave loopholes for companies to charge higher rates to minorities and...
Premier Insurance in Mass. Changing Brand to Travelers
Oct 19 2007 // As Massachusetts gears up for a switch to a more competitive personal auto insurance market, one of its domestic auto insurers, Premier Insurance Co., will adopt the well-known brand of its parent, Travelers...
Mass. Hospitals Share Data on Patient Injuries from Falls
Oct 16 2007 // They can be some of the most common — and most easily preventable — injuries suffered during a recovery and now the state’s hospitals say they are making progress in helping prevent falls among their...
Mass. Jury Awards $26.5 Million In Birth of Disabled Child
Oct 15 2007 // A Suffolk Superior Court jury in Boston has awarded $26.5 million to a 10-year-old boy and his parents after the family argued in a lawsuit that he was severely injured during a delayed delivery at Brigham and...
