Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
NTSB: Loose Joint Caused Train Derailment that Killed Man in Texas
Sep 24 2020 // A loose, improperly fastened rail joint led to a 2017 derailment in a North Texas rail switching yard that killed a worker, the National Transportation Safety Board has found. A misaligned rail joint allowed the flange of...
Texas Staffing Firm Sued for Disability Discrimination
Sep 24 2020 // Federal officials have sued a Houston-based staffing firm over allegations of workplace disability discrimination. Swift Technical Services LLC, doing business as Airswift, a Houston-based staffing firm focused on the oil...
Texas’ Blue Bell Creameries to Pay $17.25M in Penalties for Listeria Contamination
Sep 23 2020 // Texas-based Blue Bell Creameries L.P. has been ordered to pay $17.25 million in criminal penalties for shipments of contaminated ice cream products linked to a 2015 listeriosis outbreak, according to the U.S. Justice...
Texas Auto Insurance Plan Association Requests 4.8% Commercial Rate Hike
Sep 23 2020 // The Texas Automobile Insurance Plan Association (TAIPA) has filed a request with the Texas Department of Insurance to charge new insurance rates for commercial automobiles. The filed rates represent a 4.8% increase in...
On Inland Crawl, Beta Dumps Heavy Rains, Floods Streets on Texas Coast
Sep 22 2020 // Beta weakened to a tropical depression on Sept. 22 as it crawled inland along the Texas coast south of Houston, unleashing heavy rains, flooding streets, and forcing emergency workers to rescue dozens of people. Rain...
Rainy Beta Lands on Texas Coast as Tropical Storm
Sep 22 2020 // Slow-moving Tropical Storm Beta made landfall on the Texas coast on Sept. 21 at around 10 pm near the Matagorda Peninsula, packing heavy rains and sustained winds of around 45 mph. Beta is the ninth named storm to hit the...
5th Circuit Reasserts Bad Faith Not Necessary to Win Interest Penalty Against Texas Insurers
Sep 22 2020 // A Houston plaintiff’s attorney defeated State Farm Lloyd’s for the fourth time on the same issue, this time coming away with a federal appellate court ruling that policyholders don’t have to prove that...
AmRisc Wholesale in Texas Is Now Waypoint Wholesale
Sep 21 2020 // AmRisc Group, a Houston, Texas-based managing general underwriter for catastrophe and special property insurance, has rebranded its AmRisc Wholesale division to Waypoint Wholesale. In addition to the new brand, there is a...
Well Repairs Off Texas Coast Halted Due to Tropical Storm Beta
Sep 21 2020 // Repairs to a leaking gas well just off the Texas coast have been halted because of Tropical Storm Beta, according to the city of Corpus Christi. “Due to deteriorating weather conditions, offshore repairs are...
Slow-Moving Storm Beta Set to Drench Texas, Louisiana Coasts
Sep 21 2020 // Beta, a slow-moving tropical storm, will bring flooding rains to Texas and Louisiana as well as raking offshore energy fields with high winds, but may not reach hurricane strength. Beta’s winds will likely hold at 50...
My New Markets
Sep 21 2020 // Commercial Crime Market Detail: Axis Insurance Service, LLC (www.axisins.com) provides Commercial Crime insurance to all types of businesses to protect against the risk of theft of their money and securities. A typical...
People & Places
Sep 21 2020 // National John Fielding Insurer Chubb announced the appointment of John Fielding as senior vice president, general counsel, Global Government and Industry Affairs. In this role, Fielding will provide legal, regulatory and...
Agents Warned of ‘Creative’ Attorneys and COVID-19 Lawsuits
Sep 21 2020 // Agents and brokers should be on alert that plaintiffs’ attorneys in COVID-19 related business interruption claims lawsuits may be eyeing them as more cases against insurance companies begin to fail and claimants...
Private Jail Company Sued over Texas Woman’s Death
Sep 18 2020 // The family of a woman who died after being held in an East Texas jail last year has filed a lawsuit against the company that runs the facility, claiming its staff neglected her care and ignored her pleas for help as her...
In a First, State Farm to Acquire Texas Nonstandard Auto Insurer GAINSCO
Sep 17 2020 // State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. is acquiring Dallas-based nonstandard auto insurer, GAINSCO, in a $400 million cash transaction. It will be the first time in State Farm’s 98-year history that it has...
22 Injured in Crane Accident in Austin, Texas
Sep 17 2020 // A “crane collision” on Sept. 16 injured nearly two dozen people in a rapidly growing neighborhood in Austin, Texas, authorities said. Austin-Travis County EMS reported there were at least 22 injuries. Sixteen...
Zurich NA Launches Nonsubscriber Work Injury Insurance Policy in Texas
Sep 17 2020 // Zurich North America, based in Schaumburg, Ill., has launched an Occupational Accident & Employers Work Injury Liability Insurance Policy for nonsubscribers to the workers’ compensation system in Texas. The new...
Brown & Brown Acquires Assets of Brookstone Insurance Group in Texas
Sep 16 2020 // Brown & Brown Lone Star Insurance Services Inc., a subsidiary of Florida-based Brown & Brown Inc., has acquired substantially all of the assets of Brookstone Insurance Group. Brookstone Insurance Group provides...
Attendance Limits at Some Live Entertainment, Sports Events Easing in Houston
Sep 11 2020 // Houston officials on Sept. 9 announced new rules that would allow some live events like concerts and attendance by fans at some sporting events to resume as the positivity rate for the coronavirus in the city continued to...
Texas Reminds Insurers, Agents of Data Accuracy Responsibilities
Sep 10 2020 // The Texas Department of Insurance has issued a bulletin reminding all regulated entities, their agents, and their representatives that they are responsible for the accuracy of the data used in rating, underwriting, and...
