Latest Texas Headlines

12 Companies OK’d to Self Insure for Workers’ Comp in Texas

Mar 7 2008 // Twelve companies with approximately 32,500 employees in Texas recently were approved to self-insure for workers’ compensation claims for a one-year period under the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of...

Texas Automobile Insurance Plan Association Elects Officers

Mar 7 2008 // The Texas Automobile Insurance Plan Association has elected of officers for 2008-2009. Elected chair of the Governing Committee is Corise Morrison, executive director, residual markets, USAA, San Antonio. She previously...

Texas Work Comp Division Accepting Comment on Network Rules

Mar 5 2008 // The Texas Department of Insurance Division of Workers’ Compensation (TDI-DWC) is accepting public comment on proposed rules regarding notification to health care providers of contractual agreements with informal...

Texas Home Builders Work Comp Purchasing Group Opens Doors

Mar 4 2008 // Texas Mutual Insurance Company announced that the Texas Home Builders (THB) workers’ compensation purchasing group is now an open program. Any licensed Texas agent can help their clients take advantage of the...

Texas’ Jan. Enforcements Result in Nearly $570K in Fines, Restitution

Mar 4 2008 // Enforcement actions taken by The Texas Department of Insurance that became final during January 2008 include nine license revocations, a license denial and fines and restitution totaling $569,867. Only final orders are...

No Smoke: Texas Boy Scout Helps Elderly with Alarms

Mar 4 2008 // Fourteen-year-old Buck John of Jefferson, Texas, wanted to earn his Eagle Scout award and at the same time, do something good for his community. His letter to Texas State Fire Marshal Paul Maldonado may help him accomplish...

Universal North America Introduces Auto Coverage in Texas

Mar 3 2008 // Universal North America Insurance Company (Universal) announced it has begun offering automobile insurance coverage in Texas. Universal, a multi-regional personal lines carrier, already provides homeowners insurance and...

Texas Work Comp Division: Job Injuries, Illnesses Increased in 2006

Feb 29 2008 // The Texas Department of Insurance Division of Workers’ Compensation reported that the number of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses involving days away from work in private industry in Texas increased in...

Texas Workers’ Comp Division Reports Disciplinary Actions for Dec., Jan.

Feb 29 2008 // The Texas Department of Insurance Division of Workers’ Compensation (TDI-DWC) announced final disciplinary actions taken by Commissioner of Workers’ Compensation Albert Betts in December 2007 and January 2008....

Update: Residents of West Texas Town Moving on after Fire Scare

Feb 28 2008 // Spared the wrath of a fast-moving wildfire that shifting winds turned elsewhere, thankful residents of this small West Texas town worked Tuesday to get back in their routine. Schools were closed for the day but expected to...

Hundreds Evacuated as Thousands of Acres Burn across Texas

Feb 27 2008 // Firefighters across West and Central Texas continued to battle wildfires Tuesday that burned at least 200,000 acres, injured several people and forced the temporary evacuation of the 1,500 residents of Robert Lee, Texas,...

Former Dallas Cowboy Among Those Challenging Malpractice Award Cap

Feb 27 2008 // Former Dallas Cowboy Ron Springs, who has been in a coma since the fall following surgery to remove a cyst, is one of 11 plaintiffs challenging Texas’ medical malpractice cap in a lawsuit filed Monday. The lawsuit,...

Texas: 3 Workers Hurt when Floor Falls at San Antonio Construction Site

Feb 25 2008 // Three construction workers were hurt last week when the fourth floor of a building under construction collapsed in northwestern San Antonio. Fire officials say the construction site is at the Shops at La Cantera shopping...

Business Moves

Feb 24 2008 // Mercator, Tennant Risk Services Mercator Risk Services, a specialty wholesale insurance broker, acquired Tennant Risk Services Insurance Agency LLC, a Hartford, Conn.-based wholesale broker and underwriting manager. Terms...

South Central Agencies Recognized by Big ‘I’ for ‘Best Practices’

Feb 24 2008 // Two independent agencies from South Central states were among the six insurance firms from across the country recognized in January 2008 as “Top Performing Agencies” by the Independent Insurance Agents &...

Case Watch

Feb 24 2008 // Bad Faith Texas Mut. Ins. Co. v. Ruttiger Texas App. 1st Dist. Jan.17, 2008 Bad faith cause of action lies against workers’ compensation carrier. An individual was injured on the job. The workers’ compensation...

Feb 24 2008 // People Managing general agency and surplus lines wholesaler U.S. Risk Insurance Group Inc. named Terri Haselden vice president and manager of the Dallas Commercial Underwriting Department. Haselden, an experienced...

Texas Supreme Court Reverses ‘Frank’s Casing’ Ruling

Feb 24 2008 // The Texas Supreme Court on Feb. 1 handed down a long-awaited ruling in a case that many believe to be one of Texas’ most significant insurance cases in recent history. The Court reversed its May 2005 decision in...

Business Moves

Feb 24 2008 // Higginbotham & Associates, ATMD Higginbotham & Associates announced a partnership with Allred-Thompson-Mason-Daugherty (ATMD) in an effort to broaden its Texas presence. ATMD is a general lines insurance agency...

Texas City to Impound Cars of Uninsured Drivers

Feb 24 2008 // The Corpus Christi (Texas) Police Department is going to start impounding the cars of uninsured drivers, officials said. About one in three Nueces County, Texas, drivers are uninsured, compared to about one in five...