Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Texas Feb. Enforcements: Nearly $357K in Fines, Restitution
Apr 3 2008 // Enforcement actions taken by Texas Insurance Commissioner Mike Geeslin that became final during February include four license revocations, three license denials, and fines and restitution totaling $356,925, the Texas...
Business Owner Sentenced for Workers’ Comp Fraud in Texas
Apr 2 2008 // Texas Mutual Insurance Company reported that an Arp, Texas, business owner pled guilty in a workers’ compensation fraud-related case. A Travis County district court ordered Jerry Don Calicutt, owner of ZIPCO Services...
Page to Manage Higginbotham & Associates’ Austin Office
Apr 1 2008 // Texas-based independent insurance agency Higginbotham & Associates announced it has named Curtis W. Page as managing director of its Austin, Texas, office. Page, who joined Higginbotham January 2005, is an...
Texas Orders Bogus Windstorm Inspector to Cease and Desist
Apr 1 2008 // The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) issued an emergency cease and desist order against Gary Garza of Corpus Christi, Texas, to prevent him from submitting windstorm inspection reports under false pretenses. Garza, who...
Texas Supreme Court: Use of Defense Staff Attorneys OK in Some Cases
Mar 31 2008 // In a long awaited ruling, the Texas Supreme Court, in a 7-2 decision in Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee v. American Home Assurance Company, Inc and The Travelers Indemnity Company, approved the use of insurer...
Texas AG Settles With Pharmacy Company Over Identity Theft Charges
Mar 27 2008 // Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced an agreement with CVS Pharmacy Inc. that resolves the state’s April 2007 enforcement action against the nation’s largest retail pharmacy. CVS was charged with...
Texas Discount Rate and Interest Rate Set for Q3
Mar 27 2008 // The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation announced that any workers’ compensation interest or discount will be at the rate of 4.82 percent for the third quarter of 2008. This rate is...
Schools Group, Manufacturers Association Earn Texas Mutual Dividends
Mar 26 2008 // Texas Mutual Insurance Company announced a $498,348 dividend to the Texas Schools Group (TSG) workers’ compensation purchasing group and a $65,128 dividend to the Texas Association of Manufacturers (TAM) purchasing...
Dallas County Assistant DA Honored for Fighting Fraud, Arson
Mar 26 2008 // Kyson Johnson, a special assistant in the specialized crime division of the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office, has been named Prosecutor of the Year by A Texas Advisory Council on Arson (ATAC). Johnson was...
Texas’ Minimum Auto Liability Limits to Increase on April 1
Mar 25 2008 // The minimum amount of automobile liability insurance Texas drivers are required to carry for bodily injury/property damage will increase on April 1 from the current $20,000/$40,000/$15,000 (“20/40/15”) coverage...
Oil and Gas Extraction Market Holds Solid Potential
Mar 24 2008 // While the oil and gas market can be seen as including pipeline and distribution operations, petroleum and petroleum product wholesalers, fuel oil dealers and even gas stations, the dominant North American Industry...
No Smoke: Elderly, Disabled Win in Boy Scout’s Quest for Eagle Award
Mar 24 2008 // Fourteen-year-old Buck John of Jefferson, Texas, wants to earn his Eagle Scout award and do something good for his community. His letter to Texas State Fire Marshal Paul Maldonado may help him accomplish both. Buck’s...
Business Moves
Mar 24 2008 // Texas Farmers Insurance Company Texas Farmers Insurance Company filed a rate increase for its “Texas Family Home Policy” with the Texas Department of Insurance. The increase would impact 200,000 customers or...
Texas Supreme Court Continues Onslaught of Coverage Decisions
Mar 24 2008 // Since last August, the Texas Supreme Court has issued a half dozen major insurance cases, many on issues pending for years. The Court recently heard argument in key cases involving the insurability of punitive damages in...
5 Years Later, Ohio Has Falling Insurance Rates; Fewer Obstetricians
Mar 20 2008 // When Bobbie Cameron became pregnant with her third child, she reluctantly chose a new doctor to oversee her care. Her longtime physician had dropped out of the birthing business because of soaring malpractice insurance...
Are Punitive Damages Insurable in Texas? High Court: Definitely Maybe
Mar 20 2008 // In Fairfield Insurance Co. v. Stephens Martin Paving, LP, the Texas Supreme Court addressed, for the first time, whether punitive damages were insurable in Texas. No. 04-0728, 2008 Tex. LEXIS 123 (Tex. Feb. 15, 2008). The...
Swett & Crawford Names Devries Transportation Underwriter
Mar 19 2008 // Swett & Crawford appointed Bonnie DeVries as a transportation underwriter, located in the Dallas office. DeVries has extensive experience in transportation underwriting, specializing in local, intermediate and long...
Farmers Files Homeowners Rate Increase in Texas
Mar 18 2008 // Stating it’s the first rate change in two years for its “Texas Family Home Policy,” Farmers Insurance Group, through Texas Farmers Insurance Company, filed a rate increase for the policy with the Texas...
Average Homeowners Policy Rate Comparison is Meaningless
Mar 17 2008 // Despite the insurance industry’s traditional reliance on averages, averages don’t always make sense when comparing premiums. In Texas, as elsewhere, individual premiums are subject to so many variables — from...
State Auto Rolling Out Personal Insurance Products in Texas
Mar 14 2008 // The State Auto Insurance Companies said it will begin offering personal insurance products in Texas on March 15, less than a year after the Columbus, Ohio-based insurer acquired Beacon Insurance Group of Wichita...
