Latest Texas Headlines

All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.

ROC Study: Texas Workers’ Comp Claim Costs Topping the Charts

Mar 5 2001 // Texas has the highest average medical costs per workers’ compensation claim of nine states according to a survey recently released by the Texas Research and Oversight Council on Workers’ Compensation. The...

Fireworks at the Capitol

Mar 5 2001 // Commercial auto deregulation was supposed to be a yawner for the 77th Legislature. Sure, there was opposition, but with the Texas Department of Insurance backing the measure, no one could have expected the fireworks...

Insurance Committee Tackles Tough Issues at Initial Hearing

Feb 19 2001 // The Texas House of Represen-tatives’ Committee on Insurance kicked off its first meeting of the 77th Legislative Session Feb. 12 by reviewing 10 of 12 bills brought before it. An underlying theme of discrimination...

Commercial Auto-The LONG Road Back to Profitability

Feb 19 2001 // The signs were there in 2000—and now it can safely be said that prices in the commercial auto industry are definitely firming. But how long it will take the industry to truly return to profitability is still hard to...

Texas Case Watched Closely By Surplus Lines Industry

Feb 19 2001 // The Comptroller of Public Accounts in Texas is planning an appeal of a Third District Court ruling that found Dow Chemical Co. did not owe the comptroller taxes on independently procured insurance. The Comptroller’s...

NAFTA Panel: U.S. in Violation of Treaty

Feb 19 2001 // On Feb. 6, a North American Free Trade Agreement arbitration panel upheld an interim ruling opening the United States border to Mexican trucks. Many in the insurance industry say they will cautiously review the changes the...

NAFTA Ruling Expected to Allow U.S. Access to Mexican Trucks

Feb 12 2001 // A North American Free Trade Agreement arbitration panel is expected to uphold an interim ruling from November allowing Mexican trucks to operate in the United States. Many in the insurance industry say they will cautiously...

Gentlemen & Farmers

Feb 5 2001 // In fact, that’s much of the problem with many a bankrupt rancher, he’s got beef! If he sells it, he loses money and if he keeps it, he loses money. It’s the reality of hard economic times in agriculture...

The Reeducation of Texas Agents

Feb 5 2001 // Looming agent licensing changes stemming from the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act could have a direct effect on how and what information agents receive through continuing education classes. Already, 30 states have begun preparing...

Anti-Fraud Efforts Become Top Priority For Departments of Insurance

Feb 5 2001 // In an effort to assist insurers and departments of insurance, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners has undertaken the daunting task of compiling a directory of how departments of insurance across the country...

Let’s Talk

Feb 5 2001 // The ways that agents talk to one another are changing-a result of a developing profession that demands a lot more attention and time in the saddle. As commissions dropped with soft premiums, it made more sense for agents,...

Good Samaritan Liability

Feb 5 2001 // Following the Bible parable, a Good Samaritan is a person who reaches out and takes care of someone when he or she has no obligation to do so. Generally, Good Samaritans are to be praised, while those who pass on the other...

DALLAS FIRM SHUT DOWN BY TDI

Feb 5 2001 // A March hearing has been scheduled for the owner of a Maryland company whom Texas insurance regulators allege posed as president of a Dallas insurance company on at least one medical policy. Dr. Maruthi S. Manney, owner of...

Fund Eyed for Privatization; Industry Balks at Comptroller’s Recommendation to Sell TWCIF

Jan 22 2001 // As part of an effort to privatize government units, Texas State Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander has recommended that the Texas Workers’ Compensation Insurance Fund be sold to the highest bidder. The...

Liability Insurers and Rights of Reimbursement

Jan 22 2001 // Liability insurers face three especially difficult litigation problems. One of them arises when an insurance contract provides that an insurer has a duty to defend, and it is not clear from the plaintiff’s petition...

Modernized Surplus Lines Regs Expected to Make Filing Easier

Jan 22 2001 // New surplus lines regulations went into effect in Texas on Dec. 12, 2000, the result of a request by the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas. The changes mark the first update to the regulations in more than 10 years...

IIAT to Host Joe Vincent Seminar, Legislative Day on Feb. 4-6

Jan 22 2001 // More than 400 of the state’s agency principals and managers are expected to gather for the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas’ Joe Vincent Management Seminar & Big I Legislative Day on Feb. 4-6 at the...

Managing The Risk From Climate Change

Jan 22 2001 // Whether it is the dry desert heat of El Paso or the humid sauna of Houston, people who grew up in Texas know that its summers are naturally hot. For people in Dallas, last summer was no exception. After 44 days in the...

AUTO RATES TO CLIMB

Jan 22 2001 // Claiming they are basing their rates on information more current than that used by the Texas Department of Insurance to set benchmark rates, several of Texas’ largest auto insurers are raising their rates. State Farm...

Barclay Merges with Texas Associates

Jan 8 2001 // Texas Associates Insurors and The John A. Barclay Agency, both in Austin, have finalized a merger agreement penned in September, with the Barclay Agency officially doing business from Texas Associates’ offices as of...