Latest Texas Headlines

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

Use of Credit-based Insurance Scores Upheld in Texas

Jun 1 2011 // Texas law permits an insurer to use race-neutral factors in credit scoring to price personal lines of insurance. That’s the conclusion the Texas Supreme Court came to in considering a certified question from the...

Demise of Windstorm Agency Overhaul Prompts Special Session in Texas

May 31 2011 // Texas lawmakers were unable to come to terms on an overhaul of the state-backed insurer of last resort for wind and hail along the Texas coast, so they’ll be returning to Austin in July to try again. Their failure to...

Certificates of Insurance Bill Heads to Texas Governor

May 31 2011 // The Texas Legislature has passed a measure that requires regulatory approval of property and casualty certificate of insurance forms provided to insureds as proof of coverage. Certificates of insurance are widely used in...

Homeowners of America Insurance Names Rosentraub CFO

May 27 2011 // Homeowners of America Insurance Co., based in Irving, Texas, has named Michael C. Rosentraub as chief financial officer. Rosentraub has over 20 years of experience in the insurance and financial services industries in the...

Texas Mutual to Distribute $155M in Policyholder Dividends

May 26 2011 // Texas Mutual Insurance Co. plans to distribute $155 million in workers’ compensation dividends in 2011. Dividends reward loyal policyholders who share Texas Mutual’s commitment to preventing workplace accidents...

Multiple Storms Pound North Texas with Large Hail

May 26 2011 // The Dallas Fort Worth area was once again ground zero for a series of severe thunderstorms that pounded the area with baseball size hail on May 24. Four inch hail was reported in several cities including Irving, Carrolton,...

Combined Agents of America Elects Shropshire Chairman for 2011

May 25 2011 // Combined Agents of America LLC (CAA), based in Austin, Texas, has elected John V. Shropshire Jr., CEO of The Shropshire Agency in Lubbock, Texas, as its new chairman for 2011-2012. CAA’s new 2011-12 Management...

Domestic Outsourcing Services for Insurance Agencies Launched in Texas

May 25 2011 // Independent Insurance Agents of Dallas (IIAD) Staffing Services division has teamed up with Work At Home Vintage Employees LLC (WAHVE) to provide domestic outsourcing services to supply back-office support to insurance...

Texas Windstorm Insurance Legislation Advances

May 25 2011 // The Texas Senate unanimously approved its version of a bill to revamp the state’s windstorm fund that insures coastal properties against hurricane damage. The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association reform measure,...

Third Coast Underwriters Expands in Gulf Region

May 24 2011 // Third Coast Underwriters, which provides workers’ compensation insurance for underserved markets that have complex risks, is expanding facilities in Louisiana and Texas, and adding the availability of workers’...

Texas Senate Votes to Keep Texas Insurance Department

May 23 2011 // The Texas Senate has voted to renew the state Department of Insurance and give it stronger enforcement penalties when companies lose challenges to their rates. Lawmakers are considering competing bills to extend the life...

Agents’ Group Gives $100K to Texas Volunteer Fire Departments

May 19 2011 // Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT) and its Trusted Choice agents are donating more than $100,000 to the State Firemen’s and Fire Marshals’ Association (SFFMA) to assist volunteer fire departments. The...

Hub International Acquires Texas-based The Transportation Group

May 19 2011 // Hub International Limited (Hub) has acquired The Transportation Group, LTD (TTG), a Dallas and Houston, Texas-based brokerage firm that specializes in insurance and risk management for the trucking industry. Terms of the...

New MGA Sees Opportunity for Independents in Growing Hispanic Market

May 16 2011 // With 30 years of insurance industry experience under his belt, one Texas-based insurance executive decided recently it was time to open his own operation to serve the insurance needs of the growing Hispanic population....

Report: Hurricanes Pose Risk to 1.8M Coastal Homes

May 16 2011 // More than 1.8 million homes along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts are at great risk of being damaged by a hurricane, three times the number located in federally defined flood zones, according to a recently released...

Report: Hurricanes Pose Risk to 1.8M Costal Homes

May 16 2011 // More than 1.8 million homes along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts are at great risk of being damaged by a hurricane, three times the number located in federally defined flood zones, according to a report released Tuesday. The...

Business Moves

May 16 2011 // American Hallmark, TBIC American Hallmark Insurance Co. of Texas, a subsidiary of Ft. Worth-based Hallmark Financial Services Inc., announced in late March that it is acquiring TBIC Holding Corp., and subsidiaries Texas...

People

May 16 2011 // Marsh & McLennan Cos. appointed Daniel S. Glaser to the newly created position of group president and CEO. Glaser previously had been chairman and CEO of Marsh. He will continue to report to Brian Duperreault,...

Business Losses Due to ‘Action’ by Civil Authorities: When Is There Coverage?

May 16 2011 // Virtually all insurance policies contain provisions and exclusions dealing with events that most insureds consider so remote and unlikely that they rarely give any thought to their possible occurrence, much less what...

Drought Expands Dramatically in Texas, Losses Mount

May 13 2011 // Another dry week in the southern United States has driven the spread of a devastating drought further across Texas and neighboring states, promising to add to economic losses that could top $3 billion. Texas, suffering its...