Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Japan Disaster Shows up Flaws in ‘Just-in-time’ Production
Mar 22 2011 // Just over a week after the massive earthquake hit the sprawling Texas Instruments chip plant here, a gardener is reworking the Japanese garden in an inner courtyard of the office tower attached to the plant. The garden is...
Texas Lawmakers Roll Out Plans to Reform Wind Pool
Mar 21 2011 // Two lawmakers have introduced separate but similar bills aimed at reforming the troubled state-backed wind risk insurer for property along the Texas coast. At a packed hearing on Mar. 15, Texas House of Representaives...
Regulators Take Over TWIA; Reform Bill Filed
Mar 21 2011 // Management of the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association was taken over by the Texas Department of Insurance in late February as lawmakers and regulators criticized the association’s adminstrative functionality and...
People
Mar 21 2011 // Texas-based commercial insurance and risk management firm, K&S Insurance Agency, announced that John D. Marek has joined the company as partner. Marek will help lead the firm’s new business recruitment and sales...
One Thing Is Not Another: Defining Standards for the Duty to Defend and Indemnify
Mar 21 2011 // After years of maintaining that the duty to defend and the duty to indemnify were independent duties in a liability policy, the Texas Supreme Court held in 1997 that the same allegations used to determine that no duty to...
Business Moves
Mar 21 2011 // Advocate Reinsurance Partners Goss Reinsurance Brokers LLC, a privately owned reinsurance intermediary firm headquartered in Dallas, Texas, announced it has changed the company name to Advocate Reinsurance Partners LLC....
Young Texas Gang Members Busted for Arson in Bastrop County
Mar 18 2011 // Photo by Janine Mather, Texas State Fire Marshall's Office An anonymous phone call to the Texas Arson Hotline has led to the arrest of three juvenile gang members in Bastrop County. The three teenagers reportedly...
Bills Filed in Texas Would Create ‘Loser Pays’ Tort System
Mar 15 2011 // Legislation filed in Texas would create a “loser pays” legal system that Texas Gov. Rick Perry says would provide stronger protections against frivolous lawsuits. House Bill 274 and Senate Bill 13, sponsored by...
TDI January Enforcements Include $373.5K in Fines, Restitution
Mar 14 2011 // Enforcement actions taken by Texas Insurance Commissioner Mike Geeslin that became final during January 2011 include seven license revocations, four license denials and fines and restitution totaling...
Hispanic Affiliates General Agency Expanding, Recruiting Agents in Texas
Mar 11 2011 // Dallas-based Hispanic Affiliates General Agency LLC (HAGA) announced it is actively recruiting Hispanic independent agents in Texas. According to the company’s announcement, HAGA provides independent agents marketing...
Texas Workers’ Comp Enforcements for February Include $40K in Fines
Mar 10 2011 // Texas Commissioner of Workers’ Compensation Rod Bordelon recently announced final disciplinary actions taken by the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (TDI-DWC) for February 2011....
Lawmaker Files Texas Windstorm Insurance Association Reform Bill
Mar 10 2011 // Texas State Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, has introduced House Bill 2818, a comprehensive reform effort intended to address many of the problems confronting the Texas Windstorm Insurance Agency (TWIA). In announcing...
Wier Joins Medicus Insurance as Marketing Manager
Mar 9 2011 // Austin, Texas-based medical professional liability insurance carrier, Medicus Insurance Co., has added Kevin Wier as marketing manager. Prior to joining Medicus, Wier managed brand and communication efforts at The...
Texas Lawmakers Want to End Driver Surcharges
Mar 9 2011 // Texas lawmakers are considering eliminating a program that requires those charged with offenses including driving while intoxicated and failure to have insurance to pay state surcharges. Nearly 60 percent of those with the...
Texas Windstorm Insurance Litigation Costs Too High, Lawmaker Says
Mar 7 2011 // The amount the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) has paid out in litigation costs as a result of lawsuits stemming from Hurricane Ike claims is far too high, said one Texas lawmaker who’s working on...
People
Mar 7 2011 // Giddings, Texas-based independent insurance agency, Insurance Network of Texas, announced that agency founder R.J. Nitsche passed his responsibilities as CEO to his son, Robert. Robert Nitsche most recently served as chief...
Texas Associates Insurors Adds iPad App for Customer Service
Mar 3 2011 // Texas Associates Insurors has released the Texas Associates iPad application, the agency’s latest customer service tool. Texas Associates Insurors launched an application for the iPhone in late 2010. The iPad...
York Specialized Loss Adjusting Acquires Texas-based BC Johnson Assoc.
Mar 1 2011 // York Specialized Loss Adjusting (York SLA), a division of New Jersey-based York Risk Services Group Inc., announced it has acquired BC Johnson Associates, a provider of specialized loss adjusting and risk assessment...
Texas Regulators Move to Take Over Windstorm Insurance Association
Feb 28 2011 // The Texas Department of Insurance has informed the director of the state’s property insurance company of last resort for wind in the state’s coastal counties that it is placing the organization under...
Citgo Fined for 2009 Corpus Christi Blast, Fire
Feb 25 2011 // Citgo Petroleum Corp was fined $303,294 for a July 2009 explosion and fire at its 163,000 barrel per day (bpd) Corpus Christi, Texas, refinery that injured one worker and nearly spread toxic hydrogen fluoride over Corpus...
