Latest Texas Headlines

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

Affirmative Insurance Ordered into Liquidation

Apr 4 2016 // Affirmative Insurance Company (Affirmative or AIC) was ordered into liquidation in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, on March 24. Acting Illinois Insurance Director Anne Melissa Dowling filed a Complaint for...

Violent Weather Pummels Texas in March; Regulators Call for Data on Claims, Lawsuits

Apr 4 2016 // Hail-packing thunderstorms pummeled North Texas twice in March causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to automobiles and property. Meanwhile, the Texas Department of Insurance is intent on gathering data on...

Federal Appeals Court Sides with Lexington Insurance in Deductible Dispute

Apr 4 2016 // A federal appeals court in Louisiana, in an opinion published March 22, upheld a lower court’s ruling in favor of an insurance company in a breach of contract suit brought by a Houston-based oil and gas exploration...

Dunn to Lead Dallas Office of AmWINS Brokerage of Texas

Apr 1 2016 // AmWINS Group Inc. (AmWINS) has selected Craig Dunn to lead the Dallas office of AmWINS Brokerage of Texas. Dunn succeeds Todd Teitell, who is retiring after having served as office president since 1997. Prior to being...

2nd March Hailstorm in North Texas Deemed an Insurance Catastrophe

Apr 1 2016 // The Texas insurance regulators say the weather-related event that occurred March 23 – 24 in Dallas, Tarrant, Denton and Collin Counties is a catastrophe for the purpose of claims processing. Claims resulting directly...

First Robot-Run Insurance Agency Opens for Business

Apr 1 2016 // Goodbye agency principals, producers and customer service reps, hello Roberto Siber, CPCU. Siber is the buff, blue-eyed and bald principal of the Buyonic Insurance Agency in Austin, Texas. This insurance android is more...

Progressive Insurance Snags Texas Uber Drivers Account

Mar 31 2016 // Uber Technologies Inc. will use Progressive Insurance to provide coverage for drivers in Texas beginning on Friday, in a pilot that could lead the ride-hailing market leader to diversify its U.S. insurance purchasing from...

Southeast Texas School District Estimates $12M in Flood Damage

Mar 31 2016 // The head of a Southeast Texas school district where flooding swamped an elementary campus with water 5-foot deep estimates $12 million in losses and little insurance. The superintendent of the Deweyville Independent School...

Three Appointed to Texas Life/Health Insurance Guaranty Association Board

Mar 30 2016 // Texas Insurance Commissioner David Mattax has appointed three members to serve on the board of directors of the Texas Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association. The board oversees the association, which helps to...

USGS Report: North Texas Earthquake Risk ‘Elevated’

Mar 29 2016 // A U.S. Geological Survey report concludes the risk of earthquakes for the Dallas-Fort Worth area is higher than it’s ever been. The USGS review incorporates “induced” earthquakes into federal seismic...

Federal Disaster Aid OK’d for 6 More Texas Counties

Mar 28 2016 // Six more Texas counties hard-hit by flooding and severe storms this month are now eligible for federal disaster aid. The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced that Erath, Gregg, Harrison, Hood, Marion and Parker...

Higginbotham, Capps Insurance Agency Merge

Mar 25 2016 // Independent insurance broker Higginbotham, headquartered in Fort Worth, and Mount Pleasant, Texas-based Capps Insurance Agency have joined forces. Higginbotham’s partnership with Capps brings its total number of...

Hailstorms Pummel North Texas, Again

Mar 24 2016 // Large hail and strong winds caused considerable damage in heavily populated areas of north Texas overnight on March 23. It was the second time just over a week that the area has been pummeled by hail. Car windows and sky...

Texas Regulators: Mid-March Hail Storm Was Insurance ‘Catastrophe’

Mar 24 2016 // The Texas Department of Insurance has determined the weather-related event that occurred March 16, 2016, through March 17, 2016, in the counties of Dallas, Tarrant, Johnson, and Parker is a catastrophe for the purpose of...

Federal Appeals Court Sides with Lexington Insurance in Deductible Dispute

Mar 23 2016 // A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court’s ruling in favor of an insurance company in a breach of contract suit brought by a Houston-based oil and gas exploration and production company. The dispute in...

Texas Seeks Data on Weather-Related Property Claims, Lawsuits

Mar 23 2016 // The Senate Business and Commerce and the House Insurance Committees of the Texas Legislature have requested data from the Texas Department of Insurance related to weather-related property claims, the incidence of lawsuits...

Update: With Property Claims Added, North Texas Hail Damage May Reach $600M

Mar 23 2016 // An insurer trade group says it estimates that damage caused by hailstorms that rolled through the Fort Worth area last week will reach $600 million in auto and property claims. Mark Hanna, a spokesman for the Insurance...

Southeast Texas Floods Bring Federal Disaster Declaration

Mar 22 2016 // President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster in three Texas counties following severe storms including tornadoes and flooding earlier this month. The declaration covers Jasper, Newton and Orange counties in...

Hail Damage in North Texas Could Cost $300M in Car Repairs

Mar 22 2016 // Hailstorms that rolled through the Fort Worth, Texas, area last week could result in $300 million in vehicle repairs. Mark Hanna, a spokesman for the Insurance Council of Texas, estimated that 50,000 vehicles were damaged...

Affirmative Insurance Liquidation Hearing Set for March 24 in Illinois

Mar 22 2016 // On March 1, 2016, Affirmative Insurance Co. was declared insolvent by at least $31 million by Acting Illinois Insurance Director Anne Melissa Dowling, who filed with the Illinois Supervising Court a Complaint for...