Latest Massachusetts Headlines
All the headlines from our Massachusetts Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Business Moves
Jun 16 2008 // Mapfre, Commerce Spain’s largest insurer, Mapfre S.A., said it has completed its acquisition of The Commerce Group Inc., the 20th largest auto insurer in the country. Mapfre paid $36.70 per share of Commerce’s...
Mass. Agents, Arbella Challenge Managed Competition Rules
Jun 6 2008 // Massachusetts insurance agents and one of the state’s biggest auto insurers are going to court seeking to overturn rules that they say give new carriers an unfair advantage under the state’s new managed...
Arbella Insurance Partners with Mass. in Designated Driver Program
Jun 5 2008 // Massachusetts businesses, pubs and state officials, including Lt. Governor Timothy Murray, are launching a new campaign to discourage drink driving and encourage the use of designated drivers. The Arbella Insurance Group...
Mass. High Court Bars Recovery of Workers’ Comp Costs in Tort
Jun 4 2008 // A Massachusetts employer is not entitled to recover any increased workers’ compensation costs from a third party responsible for injuring its employee. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the...
Spain’s Mapfre Completes Acquisition of Commerce Group
Jun 4 2008 // Spain’s largest insurer, Mapfre S.A., said it has completed its acquisition of The Commerce Group Inc., the 20th largest auto insurer in the country. Mapfre paid $36.70 in cash per share of Commerce’s publicly...
Study Says Mass. Health Reforms Cut Uninsured Rate by 50%
Jun 3 2008 // In the first year after Massachusetts implemented its landmark coverage expansion and health reforms, the uninsurance rate among adults in the state dropped by almost half, from 13 percent to 7.1 percent. A new Urban...
Mass. FAIR Plan Home Insurer Won’t Appeal Rate Denial
May 29 2008 // Massachusetts’ insurer of last resort won’t immediately seek a steep premium increase, saving money for 150,000 customers. The decision by the FAIR Plan comes after Insurance Commissioner Nonnie Burnes rejected...
Mass. Urges Coastal Communities to Elevate Structures Above Floodwaters
May 27 2008 // Coastal communities in Massachusetts should encourage property owners to elevate their buildings to avoid future flooding and storm surge damage, according to officials advising on storm mitigation efforts. In addition to...
Eastern Insurance of Mass. to Buy Marshfield’s Anderson Agency
May 27 2008 // Eastern Insurance Group reported that it plans to acquire Marshfield, Mass.-based Anderson Insurance Services, Inc., an independent agency specializing in musical instrument insurance along with auto, life, home, boat,...
Mass. Doctors Sue Over State Agency’s Quality, Cost Rankings
May 23 2008 // A physicians group is suing a Massachusetts agency, arguing that the agency’s system for ranking doctors based on quality and cost is unfair to patients and physicians alike. The Massachusetts Medical Society said...
Mass. Approves Mapfre Acquisition of Commerce Insurance
May 22 2008 // Massachusetts Commissioner of Insurance Nonnie S. Burnes has approved the acquisition of Commerce Insurance Co., principal subsidiary of The Commerce Group of Webster, Mass., by the Spanish insurance company Mapfre,...
Massachusetts Agents’ Key Software Vendor Weathers Major Upheaval
May 21 2008 // No tool is more indispensable to an insurance agency than a computer; after all, it’s where the rates come from. So imagine what went through the heads of thousands of Massachusetts independent insurance agents after...
Mass. Insurance Agents Vow to Protect Right to Auto Policy Ownership
May 20 2008 // Massachusetts independent insurance agents are unhappy about a state ruling that they believe erodes their ownership of their customers’ auto policies and denies them proper payment on certain high risk policies. The...
Mass. Auto Competition Heats Up – Over Rules and Regulations
May 19 2008 // Existing carriers call high risk exemption for newcomers unfair; agents say Progressive’s Web site misleads After a month of operating under a new managed competition system for auto insurance, Massachusetts is...
Mass. Nixes 13% FAIR Plan Rate Hike
May 19 2008 // Massachusetts insurance officials have blocked a 13.2 percent statewide rate hike by the state’s residual market home insurer. The decision by Insurance Commissioner Nonnie S. Burnes spares some 150,000 coastal and...
Auto Reform Causes Major Upheaval for Mass. Agents’ Key Vendor
May 19 2008 // Suddenly all the rules changed for Boston Software and 90% of the state’s agents who depend on its product No tool is more indispensable to an insurance agency than a computer; after all, it’s where the rates...
Feds: Lack of Safeguards Led to Mass. Chemical Explosion
May 15 2008 // Federal investigators have concluded that a lack of company safeguards such as alarms and automatic shutoffs led to a massive chemical plant explosion in Danvers. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board is expected to issue a...
Widower, Industry Seek Change in Mass. Life Insurance Claims Law
May 13 2008 // When Jenny and John Crowley learned they were having a baby, they did the responsible thing: they bought life insurance. Barely in their 30s, they passed the insurance company’s physicals, applied for a $500,000...
Mass. Cuts High Risk Exemption for New Auto Insurers to 2 Years
May 8 2008 // New carriers in the Massachusetts auto insurance market will be exempt from high risk assignments for their first two years under an amended rule approved by Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner Nonnie Burnes. The original...
Mass. Denies Hike in FAIR Plan Home Insurance Rates
May 8 2008 // Massachusetts insurance officials have blocked a 13.2 percent statewide rate hike by the state’s residual market home insurer. The decision by Insurance Commissioner Nonnie S. Burnes also kills a 25 percent increase...
