Latest Texas Headlines

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

Nonprofits Growing Fast, But Still a Tough Classto Cover

Sep 17 2001 // Nonprofit organizations are among the fastest growing sectors of the U.S. economy and while many companies try to steer away from writing policies for nonprofits, there are a few that thrive on the business. Those who do...

Nonprofits Especially Need Protection Against D&O Liability Risks

Sep 17 2001 // Although Directors’ and Officers’ liability insurance (D&O) often is associated with large for-profit companies, they are not the only ones that need it. Many people hold the common misperception that...

WC AGENCY GETS NEW DIRECTOR

Sep 17 2001 // The Texas Workers Compensation Commission (TWCC) named Richard “Dick” Reynolds, a former legislator and insurance commissioner, as the new executive director of the agency. The six-member commission voted...

TEXAS LEADS IN WC COSTS

Sep 17 2001 // Texas had the highest average total cost per workers’ compensation claim ($14,465) of eight states reviewed in an independent study released by the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI),...

TWIA SEEKS 13% RATE HIKE

Sep 17 2001 // At a recent public hearing held by the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) on windstorm coverage rates, the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) requested a 13.6 percent rate increase for hail/windstorm insurance...

Courts Continue to Reject Diminished Value Concept in Class Actions

Sep 5 2001 // In spite of an ongoing influx of litigation, U.S. courts continue to reject class-action lawsuits involving diminished value, a concept referring to the difference between the value of a vehicle before and after it was...

2000 Market Share For Insurers in Texas

Sep 3 2001 // The books are closed on 2000 Texas premium and loss information for the insurance industry. IIAT’s annual review of market share data contains a few surprises, some good news and some bad news. Here are the...

2000 Surplus Lines Premium Report

Sep 3 2001 // Processing at the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas this year confirms what underwriters, agents, and risk managers already know – the hardening of the Property/Casualty market continues. Through August, the...

TDI’s Montemayor Cautions Against Overreaction on Mold Issues

Sep 3 2001 // Texas Department of Insurance Commissioner José Montemayor is urging both insurers and consumers to avoid overreacting to issues concerning insurance coverage for mold. He said patience was needed as solutions are being...

2,200 Attendees Expected at NAPSLO Convention, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Historian to Keynote 27th Annu

Sep 3 2001 // Tapley O. Johnson, Jr., incoming president of the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices (NAPSLO) and chairman of the annual convention, expects some 2,200 attendees at the 27th Annual Convention in San...

Mileage-Based Auto Insurance’

Sep 3 2001 // Rule makers over at TDI are huddling these days trying to decide how best to promul-gate regulations for the pending implementation of private passenger auto insurance by-the- mile for Texas drivers. The measure was born...

Are Producers Always the Agents of Insurers’

Sep 3 2001 // Texas has a statute, section 21.02 of the Insurance Code, which makes insurance intermediaries the legal agents of carriers for many purposes. Lots of people believe producers are always the agents of insurers with respect...

Texas Homeowners Market Shaken by Mold

Aug 20 2001 // After the decision by Farmers Insurance to put the brakes on writing new homeowners policies in Texas beginning Aug. 15, the market in Texas experienced an upheaval, according to the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas...

Well-Control Coverage Drying Up for Small, Independents in Oil Patch

Aug 20 2001 // Oil and gas drillers in Texas are averaging about 40 new holes in the ground every day as the pace of looking for petroleum, especially natural gas, continues unabated in Texas and elsewhere, and that’s...

The Shrinking, Expensive Market for Nursing Home Coverage

Aug 20 2001 // I find that nursing homes are in a serious crisis in trying to obtain medical liability coverage,” Texas Insurance Commissioner José Montemayor said in February, as he announced the Texas Department of Insurance...

Two More Named Storms Forecast for August

Aug 20 2001 // As the Atlantic hurricane season’s second named storm has faded into memory, hurricane forecaster William Gray predicts two more named storms in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico during the month of August. One...

Changes in Texas Licensing

Aug 20 2001 // Changes in licensing provisions in the Texas Insurance Code are scheduled to become effective Sept. 1 and the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas has posted information on its website about how these changes may affect...

Convicted in Healthcare Fraud

Aug 20 2001 // Eight people, including six chiropractors and a physical therapist, have been convicted and sentenced for allegedly participating in a massive healthcare fraud scheme against the Texas Workers’ Compensation Insurance...

Hardening Market Heralds Rush to Alternatives

Aug 20 2001 // During the last hard market, much of corporate America wasted little time in stepping up the search for risk transfer alternatives to traditional commercial insurance. The current hard market appears to be no different if...

Mediator Named in Mold Case; Farmers Pulls Plugon HO-B Policies

Aug 6 2001 // A Travis County judge has named Austin lawyer and former Texas Supreme Court candidate Karl Bayer to mediate a settlement in a mold-related lawsuit in which the jury slapped Farmers Insurance Group with a $32 million...