Latest Texas Headlines

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

Texas’ Fairly Group Offering COVID-19 Insurance for College Sports Programs

Oct 26 2020 // Amarillo, Texas-based Fairly Group and its sister-company OccuNet have unveiled an insurance product that covers medical expenses for collegiate student athletes who contract COVID-19. Inspired by the viral #wewanttoplay...

AccuRisk, Convex Expand Occupational Insurance for Texas Nonsubscribers

Oct 26 2020 // AccuRisk Solutions has teamed up with Convex Group to offer occupational accident and employer’s liability coverage to Texas employers that have opted out of workers’ compensation. AccuRisk254 is available in...

Ex-Blue Bell Creameries CEO Kruse Again Charged in Deadly Listeria Case

Oct 23 2020 // The former president of Blue Bell Creameries has been charged with wire fraud for allegedly trying to cover up a 2015 listeria outbreak linked to the company‘s ice cream that killed three people in Kansas and...

Traffic Crashes in Texas Energy-Producing Areas Continue to Increase

Oct 22 2020 // Texas transportation officials report that the number of traffic crashes in the energy-producing regions of Texas continues to rise. Last year, there were more than 205,000 crashes in counties defined as the Texas energy...

Photographer Sues Over Univ. of Texas Mascot’s Pre-Sugar Bowl Charge

Oct 22 2020 // A photographer is suing the owners and handlers of the University of Texas’ live mascot for negligence, saying he suffered permanent neck and back injuries when the longhorn steer charged out of its pen and plowed...

Ratings of Texas’ Hallmark Financial No Longer Under Review with Negative Implications

Oct 20 2020 // AM Best has removed from under review with negative implications and affirmed the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) of “bbb-” and the Long-Term Issue Credit Ratings (Long-Term IR) of Hallmark...

Texas Windstorm Insurer: Check, Money Order Payment Process Changes Start Oct. 21

Oct 16 2020 // The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) has reminded agents that it will be enhancing its current payment processes and adding new online payment options for policyholders. This web post is about changes to how...

Appalachian Underwriters Opens New Office in Texas

Oct 14 2020 // Appalachian Underwriters Inc. (AUI) has opened a new satellite office in Richardson, Texas, and hired Terry Holley as regional manager. Holley comes to AUI with over 25 years in the insurance industry, with former roles...

City in Texas Hit with $1M Suit from Black Man Who Police Led by Rope

Oct 13 2020 // A Black man who was led by a rope by two white officers on horseback has sued a southeast Texas city and its police department for $1 million, saying he suffered humiliation and fear during his arrest. A lawsuit filed last...

State Takes over Houston’s Hurricane Harvey Home Repair Program

Oct 12 2020 // All Houston, Texas, resident Alice Torres has wanted in the three years since Hurricane Harvey hit was to repair her family’s flood-damaged home so her 85-year-old mother can feel safe and settled again. But when her...

AccuRisk’s Share of Texas Non-Subscriber Market to Grow with Acquisition

Oct 12 2020 // Chicago-based managing general underwriter, AccuRisk Solutions LLC, is set to acquire the renewal rights to Great American Insurance Group’s book of Texas occupational illness and injury non-subscription...

From Wildfires to Sally to China Floods, September Was a Disastrous Month

Oct 9 2020 // Third quarters are often the costliest of the year in terms natural disasters. Insurance broker Aon’s monthly Global Catastrophe Recap report, which evaluates the impact of the natural disaster events that occurred...

Update: Louisiana Residents Flee as Delta Bears Down on U.S. Gulf Coast

Oct 8 2020 // 10/09/2020 10:41 AM LAKE CHARLES, La., Oct 9 — The streets in Lake Charles in southwest Louisiana were deserted as a powerful Hurricane Delta approached, threatening to add misery to people struggling to recover from the...

Texas Surplus Lines Stamping Fee to Decrease in January

Oct 6 2020 // The stamping fee for recording surplus lines insurance policies in Texas will drop from the current rate of 0.15% of gross premium to 0.075% in January. The request by the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas (SLTX) to...

Judge Tosses Case Over Texas Chemical Plant Fire During Harvey

Oct 5 2020 // A judge has dismissed the criminal case against a chemical manufacturer and one of its former employees over a fire at its plant near Houston during Hurricane Harvey, saying prosecutors failed to present sufficient...

5th Circuit Backs Plaintiffs in Insurer Interest Penalty Case

Oct 5 2020 // A Houston plaintiff’s attorney defeated State Farm Lloyd’s for the fourth time on the same issue, this time coming away with a federal appellate court ruling that policyholders don’t have to prove that...

Hyperactive Hurricane Season Highlights Need for Flood Insurance

Oct 5 2020 // Tropical Storm Beta made landfall on the central Texas coast on Sept. 21 as the 23rd named storm of the hyperactive 2020 Atlantic hurricane season and the third to hit the Gulf Coast this year. Slow moving Beta dumped...

Texas’ Blue Bell Creameries to Pay $17.25M in Criminal Penalties for Listeria Outbreak

Oct 5 2020 // Texas-based Blue Bell Creameries L.P. has been ordered to pay $17.25 million in criminal penalties for shipments of contaminated ice cream products linked to a 2015 listeriosis outbreak, according to the U.S. Justice...

Vermont Department of Economic Development Hires Nevins

Oct 1 2020 // The Vermont Department of Economic Development (DED) has hired Brittany Nevins as the new Captive Insurance Economic Development director. She replaces Ian Davis, Vermont’s former director of Financial...

Texas Workers’ Comp Networks Have Lower Medical Costs Than Non-Networks

Sep 30 2020 // Texas workers’ compensation claims handled through health care networks have lower medical costs than those managed outside networks, a state report finds. The Texas Department of Insurance has published its 2020...