Latest Massachusetts Headlines
All the headlines from our Massachusetts Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Mass. Gov Urged to Veto Comp Provision in Budget
Sep 14 2004 // The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) and several other insurance industry groups are urging Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to veto a section of the 2004 supplemental budget dealing with the payment...
Boston’s Insurance Professional of the Year Award to be Presented to David Lane, Agent and Representative
Sep 13 2004 // The Insurance Library Association of Boston will present its annual Insurance Professional of the Year Award to industry leader and public servant, David J. Lane, an owner and chairman of Hastings Tapley Insurance Agency,...
Industry Seeks Clarification of Mass. Residual Market Changes; Commerce Touts Own Transition Plan
Sep 12 2004 // Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner Julianne Bowler has asked Commonwealth Auto Reinsurers (CAR) to revise its proposed residual market plan but CAR governing committee members have questions they need answered before...
Mass. Man Nabbed for Insurance Fraud
Sep 10 2004 // A Hopkinton, Massachusetts man has pleaded guilty to misrepresenting to a contractor that he had workers’ compensation coverage for his employees and then filing a bogus claim with his homeowners’ insurance...
Mass. Painter Gets Coated on Obstruction Charges
Sep 8 2004 // An Agawam, Massachusetts paint contractor was convicted this week in federal court for reportedly obstructing a federal racketeering investigation. United States Attorney Michael Sullivan; Kenneth Kaiser, Special Agent in...
Toronto Bank Buying Majority of Banknorth
Sep 2 2004 // Officials at Banknorth Group, Inc. (NYSE: BNK) of Portland, Maine, and TD Bank Financial Group (TDBFG) of Toronto announced that they have signed a definitive agreement for TDBFG to acquire 51 percent of the outstanding...
Mass. Attorney General, Trial Bar, State Bureau Criticize 9.3% Auto Insurance Rate Request
Sep 1 2004 // A request by Massachusetts agents for a 32 percent boost in commissions brings the overall private passenger auto insurance rate hike sought by the industry for 2005 to 9.3 percent, up from the original 5.8 percent figure,...
Mass. Agents Seek Auto Commission Boost
Aug 30 2004 // The Massachusetts Association of Insurance Agents (MAIA) has filed for an average agency commission on private passenger auto insurance of $150.84 per vehicle, a 32 percent increase from the current $114 average. MAIA...
Commissioner Seeks Changes to Mass. ARP Plan
Aug 27 2004 // Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner Julianne Bowler has ordered Commonwealth Auto Reinsurers (CAR) to make some changes to its proposed assigned auto insurance plan before she will approve it. While commending the...
Commerce Insurance Claims It Fears Liability, Not Competition, If Mass. Auto Changes Adopted
Aug 26 2004 // The leading writer of auto insurance in Massachusetts says it opposes the changes to the state’s residual market not because it fears competition or dislikes the assigned risk plan concept but because it fears...
Mass. Liquor Liability JUA to Write Higher Limits
Aug 25 2004 // The Liquor Liability Joint Underwriting Authority (LLJUA) of Massachusetts has taken advantage of a new law and filed to write higher occurrence policy limits of $1 million/$1 million. By law, the LLJUA had been limited to...
If Mass. Rebuilds Residual Market, Auto Insurers Still Unlikely to Come
Aug 23 2004 // While Massachusetts’ officials are overhauling their auto insurance residual market in hopes of attracting new insurers, it is becoming increasingly clear that the legislature will have to join the reform effort if...
Mass. Gov. Romney Inks Fire Safety Legislation
Aug 17 2004 // Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on Tuesday signed into law the Commonwealth’s most far-reaching fire safety legislation since the Cocoanut Grove fire in 1942, strengthening the state’s laws to prevent tragedies...
Mass. Auto Insurers Seek 5.8% Increase
Aug 16 2004 // If Massachusetts private passenger auto insurers get their way, the rates they charge drivers in this state will increase an average 5.8 percent next year. The Automobile Insurers Bureau of Massachusetts (AIB) has...
Mass. Jury Faults Doctor in HMO Death Suit
Aug 12 2004 // A jury awarded $1 million to the family of a man whose stomach cancer was overlooked by a Norwood doctor in a malpractice case that lawyers say exposes physicians’ incentives to limit care to HMO patients. Kimiyoshi...
MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAL COSTS STAY LOW:
Aug 9 2004 // The average medical payment per claim for the care of injured workers in Massachusetts rose 13 percent in the most recent period but still remained the lowest of the 12 states analyzed in a study by the Cambridge-based...
Mass. Gov. Romney Signs Bill Changing Effective Date of Auto Rates to April 1
Aug 3 2004 // Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has signed into law a bill changing from January 1 to April 1 the date that annual private passenger auto insurance rates take effect. The measure had been backed by the Massachusetts...
Proposed Mass. Auto Plan a ‘Trojan Horse’ Designed to Fail, Charges Consumer Advocate
Aug 2 2004 // The current proposal to change the Massachusetts auto insurance residual market to an assigned risk plan is “a Trojan Horse proposal designed to fail in order to produce an endless stream of anti-consumer measures in...
ProMutual Program Targets Baby Delivery Emergencies
Jul 28 2004 // ProMutual Group, the Boston-based provider of medical malpractice insurance in the Northeast, has launched a new patient safety program aimed at reducing the incidence of shoulder dystocia. Shoulder dystocia is a birth...
Commerce Group Reports Q2, Year-to-Date Results
Jul 26 2004 // The Commerce Group, Inc. (NYSE:CGI) of Webster, Mass. today reported 2004 second quarter net earnings were $37.4 million, or $1.14 per diluted share, compared to net earnings of $71.5 million or $2.22 per diluted share for...
