Latest Retail Headlines
All the headlines from our Retail Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Wal-Mart Court Order Freezes Class Actions
Dec 9 2010 // The class action landscape changed in an instant when the U.S. Supreme Court decided to review a mammoth sex discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Even though a ruling likely will not come for months, some...
Supreme Court to Hear Wal-Mart Sex-Bias Class Action Certification
Dec 6 2010 // The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it would decide if the largest sex-discrimination class-action lawsuit in U.S. history against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. can proceed, a case involving women workers who seek billions of...
Retailers Casualty Insurance to Offer Workers’ Compensation in Texas
Dec 2 2010 // Baton Rouge, La.-based workers’ compensation insurer Retailers Casualty Insurance Co. announced it will begin offering workers’ compensation coverage in Texas. Retailers Casualty, which is managed by Summit...
Black Friday, Cyber Monday: Holiday Shopping Rush Brings Risks
Nov 23 2010 // Americans’ spending hits a fever pitch during the holidays and two days in particular – “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” – leave retailers and consumers vulnerable to different...
Florida Retail Workers’ Comp Fund Becomes Stock Company, RetailFirst
Nov 23 2010 // The Florida Retail Federation Self Insurers Fund reported that a majority of its members has voted in favor of converting to RetailFirst Insurance Co., a stock insurance company within a mutual holding company system. The...
Court Hears Michigan Wal-Mart Medical Marijuana Firing Case
Nov 15 2010 // A federal judge on Friday heard arguments in the case of a medical marijuana user claiming a Michigan Wal-Mart store wrongfully fired him after testing positive for the drug. U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker in Grand...
ACE UK Launches Retail Sector Risk Management ‘Self Assessment Tool’
Sep 30 2010 // ACE UK has launched a self assessment tool for its clients in the retail sector to enable them to gather detailed risk information from multiple sites and to compare these against best practice benchmarks for a range of...
Wal-Mart Asks Supreme Court to Nix Massive Sex Bias Lawsuit
Aug 25 2010 // The world’s largest retailer has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt a mammoth sex-discrimination case brought by its women workers, according to a Wednesday court filing. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is appealing an April...
As the Wholesale World Turns
Jul 19 2010 // E&S Brokerage Mergers, Expansions and Start Ups, Oh My! As goes the circle of life, so goes the wholesale insurance broker world. Not even the sixth year of a soft market cycle has deterred industry veterans from...
How to Make Agent-Wholesale Relationships Work
Jul 16 2010 // It’s no secret. Insurance is a relationship business. And the agent-wholesale broker relationship is no exception. The continued soft market hasn’t stifled relationships either. Wholesale brokers are still a...
Hit a Home Run with Wholesalers
Jul 5 2010 // How to Make Wholesale-Agent Partnerships Work It’s no secret. Insurance is a relationship business. And the agent-wholesale broker relationship is no exception. The continued soft market hasn’t stifled...
Michigan Man, Fired for Legal Pot Smoking, Sues Wal-Mart
Jul 2 2010 // A Michigan man has sued Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for firing him after he tested positive for medical marijuana he was using legally to treat pain from an inoperable brain tumor and sinus cancer. Joseph Casias, 30, said he was...
Federal Court Strikes Blow to Wal-Mart in Sex Discrimination Suit
Apr 27 2010 // A landmark sex-discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. may proceed as a class-action case, a federal appeals court said, dealing the retailer a major blow and exposing it to billions of dollars of potential...
The Rollercoaster of M&A
Apr 19 2010 // Continued Soft Market, Taxes and Health Care Reform to Boost Activity in Second Half of 2010 January deal activity started out strong but continued to decline in February and further in March. Nonetheless, first quarter...
Brown & Brown Elects Bridges Western Regional President
Apr 6 2010 // The Board of Directors of Brown & Brown Inc. has elected C. Roy Bridges regional president responsible for most of the company’s retail operations in the western United States. He will continue to have regional...
Florida’s Market and How Surplus Lines Agents Are Faring
Mar 19 2010 // Hurricane Andrew, for all of the grief it delivered, gave wholesale broker Hull & Co. and Bruce Bowers a big opportunity. “Prior to ’92, there wasn’t much of a need for personal lines in the excess...
State of Challenge: How Florida’s Surplus Lines Agents Are Faring
Mar 7 2010 // Interview with FSLA President Bruce Bowers Weak Economy, Insureds Going Bare, Hungry Admitted Markets and Citizens’ Low Rates Test Agents Hurricane Andrew, for all of the grief it delivered, gave wholesale broker...
Wal-Mart to Pay $11.7 Million to Settle U.S. Gender Bias Lawsuit
Mar 3 2010 // Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will pay more than $11.7 million to settle a gender discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency said. The lawsuit accused the world’s largest...
Kentucky Court to Wal-Mart: Pay Workers’ Comp to Employee Who Sued
Feb 24 2010 // Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has lost its bid to deny workers compensation benefits to an employee who also received a $900,000 civil award from two third parties. The Kentucky Court of Appeals ruling on Feb. 19 in Wal-Mart Stores...
M&A Activity at Decade Lows
Feb 21 2010 // Leading into 2009, agencies were at a crossroads; uncertain of whether to sell, buy, or implement new or improved organic growth strategies. The path was uncertain, but it was widely believed that market, economic and...
