Latest Texas Headlines

Job Injuries and Illnesses Requiring Days Off Decrease in Texas

Dec 10 2008 // Employers in private industry in Texas reported a total of 69,320 nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses involving days away from work for 2007, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics...

Medicus Adds Reissman as Regional Market Manager

Dec 10 2008 // Austin, Texas-based physician liability insurer, Medicus Insurance Company, has added Harry Reissman as Regional Market manager, effective Dec. 1. Reissman is responsible for business development and market analysis, with...

Commercial Alliance Insurance Names Deal as Bond Manager in Dallas

Dec 8 2008 // Commercial Alliance Insurance Company (CAIC Surety) has named Richard Deal as the Bond manager of its Dallas office. Deal joined CAIC Surety in July 2008 to expand the company in the North Texas region. From Dallas, CAIC...

Number of Complaints Against Insurers Continues to Drop in Texas

Dec 8 2008 // For the fifth year in a row Texas consumers filed fewer complaints against their insurance companies with the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI), the Insurance Council of Texas reported. The total number of closed...

Officials: Texas Should Have Storm Recovery Plans

Dec 5 2008 // The future of the state’s oldest medical school – hard hit by Hurricane Ike – and whether Texas should fund recovery programs to complement federal assistance were two of the highlights of a legislative...

Texas Regulators: Extend Pilot Return-to-Work Program

Dec 5 2008 // In a report to the Texas Legislature, the Texas Department of Insurance Division of Workers’ Compensation is recommending the extension of a pilot return-to-work (RTW) program for small employers. The program was...

Bryk, McGee, and Hodges Join Dallas-Based MarketScout

Dec 3 2008 // Dallas-based MarketScout has added three new associates to its Workers’ Compensation and Texas Specialty Underwriting Division. Rachael Bryk joins MarketScout as underwriter after seven years of specialty...

Central Texas-Based MGA Adds Great American Markets

Dec 3 2008 // TAGA, an independent privately-owned managing general agency based in the Austin, Texas, area, announced it is now managing general agent for Great American Insurance Group to offer admitted property and inland marine...

13 Companies OK’d to Self-Insure for Workers’ Comp in Texas

Dec 3 2008 // The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (TDI-DWC) approved thirteen companies to self-insure for workers’ compensation claims for a one-year period under the TDI-DWC Self-Insurance...

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,...