Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
14 States Process $13.1B in Surplus Lines Premium in First Half 2016
Sep 19 2016 // Data from the 14 U.S. surplus lines service/stamping offices show they have processed almost $13.1 billion in insurance premium filings in the first half of 2016, according to the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas...
Lawyer: $1.9M Settlement in Sandra Bland Wrongful Death Lawsuit
Sep 16 2016 // The family of Sandra Bland, a black Chicago-area woman who died in a Texas jail after a contentious traffic stop last summer, has reached a $1.9 million settlement in their wrongful death lawsuit, the family’s...
Oklahoma Supreme Court Rules Workers’ Comp Opt-Out Unconstitutional
Sep 14 2016 // The Oklahoma Supreme Court handed a major setback to proponents of workers’ compensation alternatives on Sept. 13, ruling that the state’s Opt Out Act is unconstitutional. The high court’s 7-2 ruling came...
Texas Wants State Supreme Court to Toss Track Coach Discrimination Lawsuit
Sep 9 2016 // The University of Texas has asked the state Supreme Court to block a sex and race discrimination lawsuit filed by former women’s track coach Bev Kearney, who was forced out in 2013 after the school learned about a...
London’s BMS Re Acquires Texas Reinsurance Broker
Sep 9 2016 // London-based BMS Re US, a specialist insurance and reinsurance broker, has acquired a reinsurance intermediary that complements its own operations. BMS, which is the broking arm of Minova Insurance, acquired Advocate...
Davis Insurance Agency Merges with Fort Worth-Based Higginbotham
Sep 8 2016 // Fort Worth, Texas-based Higginbotham and Davis Insurance Agency, headquartered in Lufkin, have merged. Davis Insurance is an independent broker with a workforce of 26 in its Lufkin home office and Amarillo branch. The...
How Employer Cash Flow Impacts Workplace Safety
Sep 7 2016 // More than 3.5 million workplace injuries and illnesses occur each year in the United States, costing an estimated $250 billion annually. A new study from The University of Texas at Dallas examined how financing constraints...
Crystal & Co. Names Kelso National Sales & Marketing Director in Texas
Sep 1 2016 // Crystal & Co. has named E. Paxton Kelso director of national sales and marketing. Kelso is located in the Dallas office. His responsibilities include new business development and client relationship management. Kelso...
Brightway, Preston Trail Adds Estrada And Wyatt-Crawford in Texas
Aug 31 2016 // Brightway, Preston Trail has added Temeji Wyatt-Crawford, senior producer, and Amanda Estrada to the team of agents to help consumers in North Dallas, Texas with their insurance needs. Wyatt-Crawford and Estrada have...
Lubbock, Texas Settles Federal Police Hiring Discrimination Lawsuit
Aug 30 2016 // A West Texas city has settled a 2015 federal lawsuit that alleged police discriminated against Hispanics and women in hiring entry-level officers. Lubbock agreed to pay affected individuals to settle the Department of...
Truck Hauling Takata Air Bag Inflators to Texas Site Explodes; 1 Killed
Aug 29 2016 // A truck transporting Takata Corp air bag inflators and propellants that are at the center of a global recall exploded in Texas earlier this month, resulting in one death and four injuries, the embattled auto parts supplier...
GM Is Winning Ignition-Switch Defect Trials
Aug 29 2016 // General Motors Co.’s victory in a Houston courtroom Thursday makes the carmaker three for three in trials related to an ignition-switch defect, but its legal entanglements may stretch on for years. At least a dozen...
Is TWIA’s Progress to Rate Adequacy over?
Aug 26 2016 // It’s no secret that the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) has a funding problem. Rates for coastal windstorm insurance offered by the state-created agency long have been well below the actuarially sound...
Sex Toys in Hand, Univ. of Texas Students Rally Against Campus Carry Gun Law
Aug 26 2016 // Hundreds of University of Texas students waved sex toys at a campus rally during the first day of classes, protesting a new state law that allows concealed handguns in college classrooms, buildings and dorms. Organizers...
A.M. Best Revises Outlook to Positive for Texas-Based State National Group
Aug 25 2016 // A.M. Best revised the issuer credit rating (ICR) outlook to positive from stable, and affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of A (Excellent) and the ICRs of “a” of State National Insurance Co. Inc. and...
M.J. Kelly Co.-Texas Adds Fonseca as Marketing Representative
Aug 25 2016 // Wholesale broker and managing general agent, M. J. Kelly Company-Texas, has added Vicky Fonseca as marketing representative in Fort Worth. The company also announced the retirement of Robert Grace. Fonseca is an insurance...
Thieves Steal Wheels from 48 New Vehicles at East Texas Car Dealer
Aug 24 2016 // Police are trying to determine who stole the wheels from 48 new vehicles at an East Texas car dealership. Tyler police estimate thieves made off with about $250,000 worth of tires and wheels, leaving the vehicles up on...
Wrong Key Fails to Derail Texas GM Ignition Suit
Aug 24 2016 // General Motors LLC failed to derail a Texas family’s claim for damages over a car crash blamed on a faulty ignition-switch after jurors were shown the wrong car key last week. GM claimed Zachary Stevens’ family...
Texas Doctors Concerned About High Rate of Child Gun Accident Victims
Aug 22 2016 // Dr. David Wesson points to a spot below his belly button. That’s where the .22-caliber bullet pierced the abdomen of the first pediatric gunshot victim he ever treated. The Houston Chronicle reports the boy was 1...
North Dakota Lawmaker: Where’s the Reserve in Workers’ Comp Opt-Out Plans?
Aug 22 2016 // A state representative from North Dakota, who serves on the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Committee at the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL), says he’s concerned about reserves for paying...
