Latest Massachusetts Headlines
All the headlines from our Massachusetts Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Mass. Carnival Rides Face Inspections Following Death
Sep 27 2004 // Every mobile carnival ride in Massachusetts will get an inspection by years’ end, and a task force will look into stricter safety rules after a fatal accident at a church fair in Shrewsbury last weekend. Six...
Grand Jury Indicts 16 Including Lawyers and Agent for Alleged Lawrence, Mass. Auto Fraud
Sep 23 2004 // Sixteen people, including three lawyers and four chiropractors, have been indicted by a special grand jury in Essex County for their alleged involvement in auto insurance fraud in Lawrence. The 16 were summonsed for...
Probe of Fatal Carnival Accident in Mass. Underway
Sep 23 2004 // The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating the carnival ride accident that killed one rider and injured two others at a church fair in Shrewsbury, Mass. Andrew R. Fohlin, a 38-year-old resident of a...
Mass. Insurers’ Rate and Agents’ Commission Bids Add Up to 9.3%
Sep 20 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. Approves Commercial Auto Market Reforms
Sep 20 2004 // Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner Julianne Bowler has approved plans to implement a limited servicing carrier program for the state’s commercial auto residual market as proposed by Commonwealth Auto Reinsurers...
People and Places
Sep 20 2004 // William Thornton Perhaps coming under the heading of, “you can take the man out of Texas but you can’t take Texas out of the man,” William Thornton, president of Acadia Insurance Company in Westbrook,...
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...
