Latest Massachusetts Headlines

All the headlines from our Massachusetts Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Mass. Employee Sues Firm for Firing Him Because He Smoked

Dec 4 2006 // A 30-year-old Massachusetts man who has smoked for more than a decade filed a lawsuit last week against The Scotts Co., alleging the lawn and garden company violated his privacy and civil rights when it fired him because...

Lawrence, Mass. Man Pleads Guilty to Auto Insurance Fraud

Nov 30 2006 // A Lawrence, Mass. man pleaded guilty this week to an indictment charging that he participated in an auto insurance fraud scheme to bilk insurance companies out of thousands of dollars in false claims, according to state...

Public Radio Contributors in Mass. Earn Plymouth Rock Discount

Nov 29 2006 // New England auto insurer, Plymouth Rock Assurance Corp., has partnered with WBUR, Boston’s National Public Radio affiliate, to offer a discounted auto insurance rate to WBUR’s Massachusetts members. Listeners...

Mass. AG’s Big Dig Suit Targets Include 3 Surety Insurers

Nov 29 2006 // Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly planned to file his civil lawsuit yesterday against 15 companies including three insurers that provided surety bonds for the general contractor of the Big Dig Interstate 90...

Harleysville Worcester in Mass. Seeks to Switch Domicile to Pennsylvania

Nov 29 2006 // Harleysville Worcester Insurance Co. in Worcester, Mass. has requested the approval of the Massachusetts Commissioner of Insurance to transfer corporate domicile to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Harleysville Worcester...

Mass. to Sue Big Dig Companies

Nov 28 2006 // The state of Massachusetts is preparing to file a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the companies that worked on the Big Dig highway tunnel project, alleging their negligence led to the ceiling collapse that killed a...

Officials Seek Cause of Ink Plant Explosion in Mass.

Nov 26 2006 // While others may see a huge pile of charred and twisted rubble, Danvers, Mass. Fire Chief James Tutko sees a “big, big puzzle” that holds the answers to what caused a massive explosion that leveled an ink and...

News Currents

Nov 20 2006 // Newly elected Democratic governors in Massachusetts, New York and Maryland are expected to name their own insurance commissioners, although it’s to early to know who the successors might be, according to insurance...

Lame duck Romney team pushes ahead with high risk plan change

Nov 20 2006 // Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner Julianne Bowler said she intends to finish what she started three years ago in trying to refashion the state’s high risk auto insurance system, despite urgings by some that she...

Lame duck Romney team pushes ahead with high risk plan change

Nov 19 2006 // Opponents of the ARP have urged Bowler to leave the decision of what to do about the high risk system to the incoming Patrick administration. News Currents Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner Julianne Bowler said she...

With new governors could come new commissioners in Mass., Md., N.Y.

Nov 19 2006 // Newly elected Democratic governors in Massachusetts, New York and Maryland are expected to name their own insurance commissioners, although it’s to early to know who the successors might be, according to insurance...

Mass. Adopts ‘High Net Worth’ Exclusion for Insolvency Fund

Nov 15 2006 // Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) has signed legislation that creates a high net worth exclusion into the state law governing the fund that covers claims when an insurer becomes insolvent. A high net worth policyholder is...

O’Gorman Joins S.H. Smith in Mass.

Nov 14 2006 // S.H. Smith & Co., a national, independently-owned excess and surplus lines insurance broker, announced that Derek O’Gorman has joined the firm as vice president. O’Gorman will be involved in the...

Berkshire Hills Bank Buys 5 Western Mass. Agencies

Nov 11 2006 // Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc., the holding company for Berkshire Bank, completed its acquisition of five Western Masssachusetts insurance agencies on Oct. 31, 2006. The agencies acquired by the company’s wholly-owned...

Industry Expects New Commissioners in Mass., Md., N.Y.

Nov 9 2006 // Newly-elected Democratic governors in Massachusetts, New York and Maryland are expected to name their own insurance commissioners, although the identity of any successors is unknown at this time, according to insurance...

Lame Duck Romney Team Proceeds with Mass. Auto Changes

Nov 9 2006 // Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner Julianne Bowler said she intends to finish what she started three years ago in trying to refashion the state’s high risk auto insurance system, despite urgings by some that she...

Calif. AAA’s Pentis Joins Commerce Group to Run Operations Outside Mass.

Nov 7 2006 // The Commerce Group, Inc. in Massachusetts announced that Lawrence R. Pentis of California will join the company’s senior executive team. He will be responsible for insurance operations outside of Massachusetts as the...

Mass. AG Charges Husband, Wife with False Insurance Report

Nov 7 2006 // A husband and wife and her sister have been arraigned on charges alleging that they attempted to collect $24,000 in insurance proceeds by falsely reporting to their insurance company that their car, which they claimed was...

ACE Provides Pollution Cover for Mass. Brownfields Program

Oct 31 2006 // ACE USA, the U.S.-based retail operating division of the ACE Group of Companies, been selected to participate in the Massachusetts Brownfields Redevelopment Access to Capital (MassBRAC) program, which encourages the...

Study Identifies High Costs of Doing Business in Mass.

Oct 30 2006 // A new study by a Boston-based think tank shows that Massachusetts firms in nine selected industries including financial services have costs that are on average 20 percent to 30 percent higher than similar companies in...