Latest Massachusetts Headlines
All the headlines from our Massachusetts Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Mass. Gov. Romney Vows Action on Auto Market
Apr 6 2004 // Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney renewed his call for reform of the state’s auto insurance system yesterday and vowed to introduce a plan to introduce competitive rating and modify the subsidies good drivers now...
Rhode Islander Indicted by Mass.
Apr 5 2004 // A Rhode Island man has been indicted on charges he allegedly worked as a used car broker while claiming to be injured and collecting $160,000 in total disability benefits, according to Mass. Attorney General Tom Reilly....
How Healthy is the Mass. Auto Market’
Apr 5 2004 // In a state where independent agents write 80 percent of private passenger auto insurance, agents are worried about attracting more capital. While thinking about this question, consider the following facts: only 19...
Former Mass. Official D’Amato Heads Consumer Group
Mar 31 2004 // A former director of the State Rating Bureau (SRB) within the Massachusetts Division of Insurance and frequent critic of the industry and its regulators has signed on to be executive director at the Center for Insurance...
Mass. Charges 5 Chiropractors with Insurance Fraud
Mar 31 2004 // Editor’s note: Proceedings against Dr. Deidre Callanan of Holyoke have been dropped since this story first ran. The Massachusetts Board of Chiropractors has initiated separate disciplinary proceedings against five...
State Insurance Regulation Harmful to Consumers, Trade Group Tells Congress
Mar 31 2004 // The state insurance regulatory system hurts consumers because it is clogged with so much red tape, inefficiency and unnecessary rules, the American Insurance Association (AIA) said at a House subcommittee hearing...
Manulife-Hancock Deal Unopposed at Mass. Hearing
Mar 26 2004 // Manulife Financial Corp. made its case for acquiring John Hancock Financial Services on Wednesday at a hearing before State Insurance Commissioner Julianne M. Bowler. Shareholders of John Hancock have already approved the...
Mass. Man Sent to Jail for Workers’ Comp Fraud
Mar 26 2004 // A Hyannis, Massachusetts man has been found guilty and sentenced to jail for working as a laborer while collecting $7,000 in workers’ compensation benefits, Attorney General Tom Reilly announced. Mark Gomes, 39, of...
Mass. Adds Its OK to St. Paul-Travelers Merger
Mar 23 2004 // The proposed Travelers-St. Paul merger has received another endorsement as the Massachusetts Division of Insurance has given its approval to the acquisition by St. Paul of Premier Insurance Co., the Massachusetts stock...
Mass. Eyes Fla.-style Hurricane Fund to Ease Coastal Homeowners Crisis
Mar 22 2004 // Massachusetts officials, searching for ways to ease a homeowners insurance availability crisis on Cape Cod and other coastal areas, are researching how Florida dealt with its insurance difficulties 10 years ago when it set...
Workers in Mass., Pa. Fare Better After Injuries Than In Other States
Mar 22 2004 // Injured workers located in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania report more satisfactory outcomes than their counter parts in Texas, according to a study by the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI). The study,...
Mass. Credit Score Vote Disappoints PCI
Mar 19 2004 // The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America expressed disappointment over the decision of the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Insurance to approve SB 2093. The bill would place a total ban on the use of...
Mass. Agents, Bar Compete with Lawyers Programs
Mar 18 2004 // Three months after the insurer and the Massachusetts Bar Association (MBA) parted ways, Westport Insurance Corp. has signed on with the state’s agent association to sell its lawyers’ professional liability...
AIA Opposes Mass. Bill on Credit Scoring
Mar 10 2004 // The American Insurance Association joined the PCI (See IJ Website Mar.9) in announcing its opposition to a Massachusetts bill (SB 2093) that would ban the use of credit-based insurance scores. The AIA said passage of the...
PCI Says Proposed Credit Score Ban Would Further Disrupt Mass. Market
Mar 9 2004 // The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America notes that Senate Bill 2093, which seeks a total ban on the use of credit-based insurance scores in auto and homeowners insurance ratemaking, would create even more...
Tort Reformers Look to Score in States after Washington Strikes Out
Mar 8 2004 // Last fall at a University of Virginia Law School forum on tort reform, some of the nation’s top tort experts agreed there were no easy answers on how to solve the nation’s longstanding love-hate relationship...
PCI, AIA Oppose Mass. Bill Requiring Insurers to Report to Tax Authorities
Mar 4 2004 // The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America and the American Insurance Association have both gone on record as opposed to a bill being considered by the Joint Committee on Taxation that places insurers in the...
Allmerica CEO: Mass. Personal Lines Capacity Woes Could Spread to Other Lines
Mar 4 2004 // Massachusetts has a capacity crisis not just an auto market crisis which is being played out most vividly on Cape Cod and could spill over into other lines if more and bigger companies are not attracted to the state,...
Mass. Auto Insurer Hanover Sues Over High Risk ‘Conspiracy’
Mar 3 2004 // The lengths to which an auto insurer in Massachusetts may go to circumvent the state’s unique high risk pool has been brought to light by an unusual lawsuit filed by one insurer against one of its...
Mass. Officials Respond To Cape Homeowners Crisis
Feb 26 2004 // The Massachusetts Division of Insurance has responded to concerns over the lack of homeowners insurance in coastal areas in the state. The Division confirmed that the Andover Group insurers, Cambridge Mutual Fire and...
