Latest Texas Headlines

Texas Mutual: Fraudulent Doctor Surrenders License

Dec 2 2008 // Texas Mutual Insurance Company reported that Ihsan Shanti, M.D. of Houston and Shanti Pain & Wellness Clinic pleaded guilty to felony workers’ compensation fraud-related charges. Between January 2003 and March...

Claims Estimates for Hurricane Ike Still ‘Fluid,’ Commissioner Says

Dec 2 2008 // As of late November, estimates of insured losses from Hurricane Ike, which hit Galveston on Sept. 13, were in the $6 billion to $8 billion range, according to Texas Insurance Commissioner Mike Geeslin. However, Geeslin...

Storm Planners Reflect on Strategies for Busy Hurricane Season

Dec 1 2008 // In New Orleans, a dire warning to flee emptied the city before Hurricane Gustav in early September. In Houston less than two weeks later, a plea to say in place might have kept evacuation routes from clogging before...

Texas Supreme Court Considers Auto Policy Exclusions Case

Dec 1 2008 // The Texas Supreme Court must decide if an Ohio insurance company should pay in the case of a boy injured by a driver who was speeding away from police. Richard Gibbons was evading San Marcos, Texas, police in 1999 when his...

Texas Enforcement Actions Total $42K in October 2008

Dec 1 2008 // The Texas Department of Insurance announced enforcement actions that became final during October include three license revocations and fines and restitution totaling $42,600. An order imposing disciplinary measures becomes...

Wanted: Agencies Focusing on Hispanic Market

Nov 30 2008 // The brains behind the insurance agency consolidation firm Confie Seguros say they are well-positioned to meet their goal of a $300 million revenue company focused on the Hispanic insurance market within a few years,...

TWIA Rates to Rise

Nov 30 2008 // Commercial and residential rates for policies written through the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) will rise in February when rate increases approved by the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) go into...

Nov 30 2008 // Peter Lauve, of Abilene, Texas, has been named president of Texas-based Insurors Group. As Insurors Group president, Lauve, also a partner with CBS Insurance located in Abilene, will lead a network of Texas agents that...

Wanted: Agencies Focusing on Hispanic Market

Nov 30 2008 // Texas on the List of States for Agency Acquisitions by Consolidators Behind Confie Seguros The brains behind the insurance agency consolidation firm Confie Seguros say they are well-positioned to meet their goal of a $300...

Insurance Dollars an Electoral Force in South Central States

Nov 30 2008 // Congressional candidates from the South Central states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas pulled in big donations from a variety of insurance industry interests in 2008, according to the Center for Responsive...

Texas Mutual, NFIB Partnership Pays Dividends for Small Businesses

Nov 25 2008 // Texas Mutual Insurance Company announced a $446,998 dividend to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) purchasing group for manufacturers. The group has earned more than $542,000 in dividends since 2007,...

Texas Seeks Suggestions for Workers’ Compensation Research Agenda

Nov 24 2008 // Texas House Bill (HB) 7 (79th Legislature, Regular Session, 2005) included a new Section 405.0026, Texas Labor Code, which requires the Commissioner of Insurance to adopt an annual research agenda for the Workers’...

Texas Governor Blasts FEMA, Creates Hurricane Recovery Commission

Nov 21 2008 // Texas Gov. Rick Perry has established the Governor’s Commission for Disaster Recovery and Renewal, an advisory panel of public and private sector experts who will create a plan to assist Texas communities with...

Safeco, America First Insurance Announce Central Region Leaders

Nov 21 2008 // Safeco Insurance and America First Insurance, both Liberty Mutual Agency Markets companies, announced key management appointments in personal and commercial lines operations for the central United States region. Richard E....

Texas Higher Education Students Awarded Insurance Scholarships

Nov 20 2008 // The Insurance Council of Texas Education Foundation has awarded $28,000 in academic scholarships to 14 students of insurance at three universities in the state. “This is the seventh year that we have awarded...

Texas Air Traffic Controller Files Claim Against FAA

Nov 19 2008 // An air traffic controller who told authorities that the Federal Aviation Administration covered up safety issues at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport has filed a discrimination claim charging the agency with refusing...

Judge Throws Out ‘Bad Faith’ Claim Against Texas Mutual

Nov 19 2008 // A judge in Guadalupe County, Texas, has dismissed a case alleging that Texas Mutual Insurance Company acted in “bad faith” in a workers’ compensation case involving a pre-existing medical condition. Texas...

Rate Change Granted for Texas Windstorm Insurance Association

Nov 18 2008 // Commercial and residential rates for policies written through the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) will rise in February when rate increases approved by the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) go into...

Texas Appeals Court Overturns Ruling on Hospital Fee Guideline

Nov 17 2008 // Texas Mutual Insurance Company and several other insurers say they won a substantial victory Nov. 13 in a Texas appeals court case challenging an abusive pattern of questionable hospital bills for injured workers covered...

People

Nov 16 2008 // The Texas Surplus Lines Association Inc. elected new officers and directors at its 52nd annual meeting held Nov. 3, 2008, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin. The new officers are: President Paul Rainey, president of RSI...