Latest Texas Headlines

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

Insurance Network of Texas Opens New Location

Apr 6 2011 // Insurance Network of Texas has opened a new location in Rockwall, Texas. The Rockwall office is the ninth location for the growing company, which is headquartered in Giddings, Texas. Insurance Network of Texas is an...

Texas Regulators Settle Race-Based Discriminatory Pricing Case

Apr 5 2011 // The Texas Department of Insurance has reached a settlement with Texas Imperial Life Insurance Co. to secure additional benefits to African-American consumers who were historically sold various types of insurance policies...

People

Apr 4 2011 // The Obama administration named Michael McRaith to head the new Federal Insurance Office. McRaith, currently the head of the Illinois Department of Insurance, will run the Federal Insurance Office set up under 2010’s...

My New Markets

Apr 4 2011 // Energy Market Detail: Victor O.Schinnerer’s energy and utilities program, Energy P&C offers coverage to companies involved in public utilities, oil and gas, pipeline operations, as well as HVAC contractors, and...

Plans to Reform Texas Wind Pool Taking Shape

Apr 4 2011 // Two Texas lawmakers have introduced separate but similar bills aimed at reforming the troubled state-backed wind risk insurer for property along the Texas coast. At a packed hearing on Mar. 15, Texas House of...

Defining Standards in Texas for the Duty to Defend and Indemnify

Apr 1 2011 // After years of maintaining that the duty to defend and the duty to indemnify were independent duties in a liability policy, the Texas Supreme Court held in 1997 that the same allegations used to determine that no duty to...

Texas Sets Workers’ Comp Discount, Interest Rate for Q2 at 3.74%

Apr 1 2011 // The Texas Department of Insurance Division of Workers’ Compensation has determined that the workers’ compensation discount and interest rate for April 1 through June 30, 2011, will be 3.74 percent. The rate in...

Texas Business Owner Sentenced for Workers’ Comp Fraud, Tax Evasion

Mar 29 2011 // Texas Mutual Insurance Co. reported that a Travis County district court sentenced Gary C. Quintinsky of Houston to a two-year prison term for workers’ compensation fraud-related charges. Upon completion of his state...

Hallmark Financial Services Acquires Texas Builders Insurance

Mar 28 2011 // Hallmark Financial Services Inc., headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, announced that its subsidiary, American Hallmark Insurance Co. of Texas, is acquiring TBIC Holding Corp. and its wholly owned subsidiaries Texas...

Texas Wind Pool Names New Acting General Manager

Mar 25 2011 // The board of the insurer of last resort for property along the Texas coast has named a new acting general manager and is moving forward with a search for an interim general manager. Randy Wipf, a current employee of the...

Austin, Texas, Fire Investigations Team Honored

Mar 25 2011 // A Texas Advisory Council on Arson (ATAC) has honored the Austin Fire Department’s Arson Investigations unit with its 2011 Law Enforcement Award. The award is given in recognition of an outstanding effort to achieve...

Texas Broker Bowen, Miclette & Britt Acquires Florida Agency

Mar 22 2011 // Texas-based insurance broker Bowen, Miclette & Britt Inc. has expanded into the Florida market though the acquisition of Huckleberry Sibley & Harvey Insurance & Bonds. The acquired agency, HSH, has a client...

Bills Filed in Texas Aimed at Increasing Insurance Policy Transparency

Mar 22 2011 // Two pieces of legislation recently filed in Texas would require insurance companies to provide customers with more complete information on rate increases and expand resources available to consumers for shopping the...

Texas Wind Pool Reminds Agents of Switch to Direct Deposit Commissions

Mar 22 2011 // Texas agents who sell policies for the Texas wind insurance pool need to provide banking data to the association in order to begin receiving monthly direct deposit commissions. The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association has...

Japan Disaster Shows up Flaws in ‘Just-in-time’ Production

Mar 22 2011 // Just over a week after the massive earthquake hit the sprawling Texas Instruments chip plant here, a gardener is reworking the Japanese garden in an inner courtyard of the office tower attached to the plant. The garden is...

Texas Lawmakers Roll Out Plans to Reform Wind Pool

Mar 21 2011 // Two lawmakers have introduced separate but similar bills aimed at reforming the troubled state-backed wind risk insurer for property along the Texas coast. At a packed hearing on Mar. 15, Texas House of Representaives...

Regulators Take Over TWIA; Reform Bill Filed

Mar 21 2011 // Management of the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association was taken over by the Texas Department of Insurance in late February as lawmakers and regulators criticized the association’s adminstrative functionality and...

People

Mar 21 2011 // Texas-based commercial insurance and risk management firm, K&S Insurance Agency, announced that John D. Marek has joined the company as partner. Marek will help lead the firm’s new business recruitment and sales...

One Thing Is Not Another: Defining Standards for the Duty to Defend and Indemnify

Mar 21 2011 // After years of maintaining that the duty to defend and the duty to indemnify were independent duties in a liability policy, the Texas Supreme Court held in 1997 that the same allegations used to determine that no duty to...

Business Moves

Mar 21 2011 // Advocate Reinsurance Partners Goss Reinsurance Brokers LLC, a privately owned reinsurance intermediary firm headquartered in Dallas, Texas, announced it has changed the company name to Advocate Reinsurance Partners LLC....