Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Solving Risk Puzzles in a Complex World
Sep 7 2020 // Insurance professionals in the surplus lines sector are busy. Busy adapting to a changing business world during COVID-19. Busy adapting to a changing property/casualty market where standard lines insurers are steadfastly...
Defendants in Separate COVID-19 Business Interruption Suits Score Wins in Texas Courts
Sep 7 2020 // Rulings in two lawsuits originating in Texas over business income losses related to the COVID-19 pandemic were handed down in August in favor of insurance firms. In one, an insurance agency was added to a restaurant...
Texas Windstorm Insurer: No Rate Change for Now
Sep 7 2020 // The board of directors of Texas’ property insurer last resort for wind and hail in the state’s coastal counties voted in August to file a 0% rate change with the Texas Department of Insurance The Texas...
Well Off Texas Coast Spewing Natural Gas Plume
Sep 3 2020 // Efforts to stem a plume spewing on Sept. 1 from an offshore natural gas well platform in Texas have been hampered by rough waters, but officials say the environmental impact has been minimal. The U.S. Coast Guard said that...
West Texas Mass Shooting Victims’ Families Sue Gun Supplier, Manufacturer
Sep 2 2020 // Family members of two of the deceased Odessa, Texas, mass shooting victims are suing the person who supplied the AR-style firearm to the mass shooter and the gun parts manufacturer for over $1 million in damages. The...
Texas’ HIIG Launches New E&S Brokerage Business Unit
Sep 2 2020 // Houston International Insurance Group Ltd. (HIIG) has launched an E&S (excess and surplus) brokerage business unit to provide liability and property insurance products and services to the wholesale brokerage...
Key Air Monitors Offline After Laura Hits Louisiana Energy Hub
Sep 1 2020 // Hazardous emissions from a chlorine plant fire, abruptly shuttered oil and gas refineries and still-to-be assessed plant damage are seeping into the air after Hurricane Laura, regulators say, but some key state and federal...
Rust-Ewing, Assurance One Changing Name to Texas First Insurance
Aug 31 2020 // Rust-Ewing, Watt, & Haney Inc., a Texas City, Texas-based provider of personal and commercial insurance products, has reported that Rust-Ewing Insurance and Assurance One Insurance are being renamed Texas First...
CoreLogic Estimates Hurricane Laura Insured Losses at $8B to $12B
Aug 28 2020 // Property information, analytics and data provider, CoreLogic, has estimated residential and commercial insured losses from Hurricane Laura in Louisiana and Texas will come in at between $8 billion and $12 billion. That...
Analysts Warn of Effects of Hurricane Laura Losses on P/C Insurers
Aug 27 2020 // Ratings analysts A.M. Best and Moody’s are expecting property/casualty insurers and reinsurers to suffer meaningful losses from Hurricane Laura. A.M. Best expects losses from Hurricane Laura to place added stress on...
Hurricane Laura Slows After Landfall; Inland Storm Surge Expected
Aug 26 2020 // HOUSTON, Texas, Aug 27 08:12 AM – Hurricane Laura made landfall early on Thursday in southwestern Louisiana as one of the most powerful storms to hit the state, with forecasters warning it could push a massive wall...
Former Texas Insurance Agent Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison
Aug 26 2020 // Lynn “Skipper” Strickland of Parker County, Texas, a former insurance agent who sold policies while claiming his license was still in effect, has been sentenced to 14 years in state prison for fraud, state...
Hurricane Laura Expected to Be Category 4 When It Hits Texas, Louisiana
Aug 26 2020 // Hurricane Laura was expected to rapidly strengthen to a Category 4 hurricane on Wednesday on a steady track to hit the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast after dark, causing catastrophic damage, the National Hurricane Center...
Hurricane Laura’s Timing, Direction Bring Harvey, Katrina, Rita to Mind
Aug 25 2020 // Tropical Storm Laura morphed into a hurricane on Aug. 25, 2020 — three years to the day after Hurricane Harvey swept ashore on the Texas Gulf Coast — and is expected to make landfall just days before the 15-year...
Bodies of Remaining 2 Missing in Texas Port Explosion Found
Aug 25 2020 // The bodies of the remaining two crew members of a dredging boat who were missing after an explosion last week in the Port of Corpus Christi in Texas were found on Aug. 24, the U.S. Coast Guard said. Four people died...
Reuters Finds Disparity in How Judges Apply Qualified Immunity
Aug 25 2020 // The May 25 killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a Minneapolis cop has prompted calls for an end to “qualified immunity,” a legal doctrine that in recent years has increasingly helped cops beat back lawsuits...
Hurricane Laura Expected to Slam Energy Coast; On Track for $5-12B in Losses
Aug 25 2020 // Hurricane Laura is poised to strengthen rapidly and come ashore along the Texas-Louisiana coast as a tree-snapping Category 3 storm, forcing residents to flee their homes despite the threat of Covid-19. Laura’s winds...
Texas Cities Issue Mandatory Evacuation Orders as Hurricane Laura Advances
Aug 25 2020 // The mayor of Galveston, Texas, has called for a mandatory evacuation of the city after Tropical Storm Laura strengthened into a hurricane and its path shifted westward, increasing the chances that it could strike the...
Gulf Coast Fears Tropical Storm Laura Could Become Deadly Hurricane
Aug 24 2020 // Leaders on the U.S. Gulf Coast warned Monday that Tropical Storm Laura could rapidly intensify into one of the most powerful hurricanes to hit the region and urged residents to prepare before landfall in Texas or Louisiana...
Two Bodies Found, Two Missing After Explosion in Texas Port
Aug 24 2020 // The bodies of two missing crew members of a dredging boat were found on Saturday, Aug. 22 following an explosion a day earlier in the Port of Corpus Christi in Texas, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The search for two...
