Latest Massachusetts Headlines
All the headlines from our Massachusetts Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Driving History in Mass.
Dec 23 2007 // Thirty years ago, the last time Massachusetts tried to introduce competitive rating into private passenger auto insurance, Democrat Michael Dukakis was governor. That experiment lasted about seven months before being...
Mass. Court Expands Doctor’s Liability to Nonpatients
Dec 23 2007 // A Massachusetts physician is responsible to all third parties who might possibly be affected by his failure to warn a patient about the side effects of a medication, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled in a...
Mass. Auto Insurers Under Pressure to Lower Rates
Dec 23 2007 // Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley says the state’s new managed competition auto insurance system is not lowering average rates for 2008 below what they would have been under the old system where the state...
Mass. Reports $4M Judgment Against Insurance Broker Wm. Gallagher
Dec 21 2007 // Massachusetts officials say they have won a $4 million judgment against a large Boston-based insurance broker over questionable compensation and reinsurance practices. Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office...
Mass. Accepts 8 Auto Insurers’ Rates; Reviews of Others Continuing
Dec 21 2007 // The 2008 rates for eight auto insurers in Massachusetts have been cleared by state insurance officials, while those of at least 11 others remain subject to further review. Insurance Commissioner Nonnie Burnes has given the...
Arthur J. Gallagher Acquires School Specialist Koster Insurance in Mass.
Dec 20 2007 // Insurance broker Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. reports it has acquired Koster Insurance Agency, Inc. of Quincy, Mass. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 1994, Koster Insurance Agency, Inc. specializes...
FedEx to Appeal Mass. Penalty over Classification of Drivers
Dec 20 2007 // Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has assessed penalties of more than $190,000 against FedEx Ground Package System, Inc. for what her office claims is an intentional misclassification of 13 drivers as...
Mass. Panel Says State Should Create A Catastophe Fund
Dec 19 2007 // The Bay State should create a catastrophe fund as a way to ease skyrocketing coastal insurance costs, a special legislative commission has recommended in a new report. The fund would be used to lower reinsurance costs for...
Mass. Town Seeks Controls, Liability for Tanker Trucks
Dec 19 2007 // Less than two weeks after a devastating gasoline tanker fire in the city, Everett, Mass. officials are introducing a bill that could give local communities more control over dangerous cargo on their streets. State Senator...
Mass. AG Targets 2 More Insurers’ Auto Rates for Hearing
Dec 19 2007 // Mass. Attorney General Martha Coakley has asked for two more auto insurers to defend their proposed 2008 rates at public hearings. Coakley wants Arbella Insurance and Hanover Group to explain their rates for next year when...
Springfield, Mass. Blaze Injures 7, Including 5 Children
Dec 18 2007 // A weekend house fire that injured seven members of a Springfield, Mass. family is being blamed on combustible material that was left too close to an electric heater. One of the victims, 7-year-old Victor Contreras, was...
Fire in Gloucester, Mass. Kills 1, Destroys Several Buildings
Dec 17 2007 // A fire in Gloucester, Mass. destroyed an apartment building and a synagogue, killing at least one person, authorities said. The eight-alarm fire started late Friday in the four-story apartment building and spread to Temple...
Jury Awards $2.5M to Mass. Woman Misdiagnosed with HIV
Dec 14 2007 // A jury this week awarded $2.5 million in damages to a woman who received HIV treatments for almost nine years before discovering she never actually had the virus that causes AIDS. In her lawsuit against a doctor who...
Mass. Attorney General Says Auto Rates Higher Under Competition
Dec 13 2007 // Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley says the state’s new managed competition auto insurance system is not lowering average rates for 2008 below what they would have been under the old system where the state...
Mass. Attorney General to Look into Commerce Insurance Sale to Mapfre
Dec 12 2007 // The pending acquisition of Commerce Insurance Group, Inc. by Spain’s largest insurer, Mapfre S.A., is being investigated by the Massachusetts attorney general. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission,...
Mass. Officials Cite Early Success for Mandatory Health Benefit Law
Dec 12 2007 // As Massachusetts’ landmark health care law nears another crucial deadline, its ripple effects continue to spread across the state and country. This week those charged with overseeing the law toasted what they said...
Mass. Arson Case Still in Court After 9 Years
Dec 11 2007 // Almost nine years after five people died in an arson fire in Lynn, Mass., attorneys are still wrangling over which statements can be used at the trial of the woman charged with setting the blaze. The state’s highest...
Mass. Supreme Court Expands Doctors’ Liability to Nonpatients
Dec 11 2007 // A Massachusetts physician is responsible to all third parties who might possibly be affected by his failure to warn a patient about the side effects of a medication, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled in a...
Several Mass. Auto Insurers under Pressure to Amend Rates for 2008
Dec 11 2007 // At least three insurers whose 2008 Massachusetts auto insurance rates have been questioned by officials have agreed to revise them and other insurers are under pressure to do the same. Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner...
Mass. Jury Hears Suit Against Doctor by Patient Misdiagnosed with HIV
Dec 7 2007 // A Massachusetts woman has sued a doctor who treated her after a test wrongly showed she was infected with the virus that causes AIDS. Audrey Serrano says she still has not shaken off the impact of living for years...
