Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Texas Insurance Agencies Higginbotham, Aycock & Fowler Merge
Mar 4 2015 // Fort Worth, Texas-based Higginbotham and Aycock & Fowler, in Lubbock, Texas, have merged. Both are independent insurance firms providing property and liability insurance, risk management and employee benefit services...
A.M. Best: State Farm Lloyds Ratings Unchanged After Texas Settlement
Mar 4 2015 // A.M. Best says the financial strength rating of B++ (Good) and the issuer credit ratings of “bbb” of State Farm Lloyds in Dallas are unchanged following the announcement that it has reached a settlement...
Talbert Named CEO of Texas-Based Insurors Indemnity Cos.
Mar 3 2015 // Waco, Texas-based Insurors Indemnity Companies named Dave Talbert as president and chief executive officer effective March 1. Talbert joined Insurors Indemnity in February 2014 with more than 25 years of industry...
State Farm to Pay $352.5M to Settle Texas Residential Overcharge Case
Feb 27 2015 // A settlement has been reached in a long-running dispute between the nation’s largest homeowners insurer and the state of Texas over premium overcharges. The Texas Office of Public Insurance Counsel (OPIC) announced...
Mattax Confirmed as Texas Insurance Commissioner
Feb 27 2015 // The appointment of David Mattax as Texas Insurance Commissioner has been confirmed by the Texas Senate, the insurance department reported. David Mattax Mattax was appointed to the job by Gov. Greg Abbott on Jan. 21. He was...
Texas Bill Would Create Roofing Contractor Registration Program
Feb 26 2015 // Texas state Representative Kenneth Sheets filed legislation that would establishes a voluntary roofing contractor registration program with the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI). Sheets said House Bill 1488, known as the...
After Riots, Authorities Regain Control of Texas Prison
Feb 23 2015 // Officers have regained control of a South Texas prison where inmates had set fires and caused significant damage after taking over part of the facility, according to the private contractor operating the prison. About 300...
Texas Insurance Wholesalers Wary of Retail Agent Association MGA
Feb 23 2015 // In mid-November 2014, Texas’ largest association of independent retail insurance agents took the unprecedented step of acquiring a managing general agency as a way of providing its members greater access to...
Texas Agency, Allred-Thompson-Mason-Daugherty, now Named Higginbotham
Feb 22 2015 // Allred-Thompson-Mason-Daugherty Insurance (ATMD) agency Wichita Falls, Texas, is now doing business under the name of Higginbotham. The name change was effective Jan. 1. ATMD has been in operation since 1988. Jay Awtrey,...
Texas Lawmaker Urges Extension of Wind Insurance Inspection Waiver
Feb 22 2015 // A Texas lawmaker says thousands of coastal residents could lose their windstorm insurance coverage if the Legislature doesn’t extend a program that provides waivers for those who have been nonrenewed for coverage by...
Energy Workers at Loose Ends after Drop in Crude Prices
Feb 20 2015 // The drive from Ken Mercer’s home in Tennessee to the oil fields of western North Dakota takes 20 hours if you drive straight through. Every month, Mercer, an Army veteran who served in Iraq, would make the trip as...
New Leadership Team in Place at Texas-Based Hotchkiss Insurance
Feb 20 2015 // Carrollton, Texas-based Hotchkiss Insurance Agency (HIA) announced a new leadership team. Mike Hotchkiss is now the CEO, Ken Hotchkiss is the chief operating officer and Greg Hotchkiss is the chief financial officer. HIA...
All Risks Adds Tuley, Coffey in Texas
Feb 19 2015 // The South Central region of wholesale insurance broker All Risks Ltd. has tapped David Tuley, to commence its Houston operation. In addition, Katie Coffey joined All Risks’ Austin, Texas, office as a brokerage...
Texas Issues Data Call on Named Driver Policies, Excluded Driver Endorsements
Feb 19 2015 // The Texas Department of Insurance has issued a special data call to obtain information from insurance companies writing private passenger automobile insurance in Texas. TDI said the information requested is in response to...
Texas Workers’ Comp Unit Recovers Over $500K for Injured Workers, Beneficiaries
Feb 18 2015 // The Texas Department of Insurance-Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) announced that through performance audits of several insurance carriers on the accuracy of payments of lifetime income benefits (LIBs) and...
Networked Insurance Agents Hires Villegas as Texas Sales VP
Feb 18 2015 // Networked Insurance Agents has hired Henry Villegas as sales vice president in Texas. In this role he serves as the key point of contact for independent agency members in Texas. A native Texan, Villegas has more than 20...
Court Rules BP Not Covered by Transocean’s $750M Insurance
Feb 17 2015 // BP Plc isn’t covered under Transocean Ltd.’s insurance policies for the undersea well blowout that caused the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster, the Texas Supreme Court said, blocking the oil company’s access...
Armstrong Hit with $10M Sanction in Dispute with Texas Promotions Insurer
Feb 16 2015 // Dallas-based SCA Promotions Inc., a specialist in insuring prizes, promotions and contests, announced that Lance Armstrong has been hit with a $10 million sanctions award by an arbitration panel hearing his dispute with...
Palomar Specialty, Wellington to Launch Wind Insurance Product in Texas
Feb 13 2015 // Palomar Specialty Insurance Co., based in La Jolla, Calif., has partnered with Fort Worth-based Wellington Risk Insurance Agency Inc. (Wellington), to offer wind-exposed residential property insurance in Tier II counties...
Essary Named Exec. Director of Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas
Feb 13 2015 // Norma Carabajal Essary has been appointed as executive director of the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas (SLSOT), effective March 1, 2015. She succeeds Philip R. Ballinger, who retired Jan. 2, 2015, after 22 years of...
