Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
‘Happy Birthday’ Song Copyright Discord Ends on Harmonious Note
Dec 11 2015 // A settlement has been reached in a U.S. lawsuit with Warner/Chappell Music over the copyright to “Happy Birthday to You” that will put one of the world’s most recognizable songs in the public domain,...
Scant U.S. Insurance Presence at Paris Summit, Says Ceres
Dec 10 2015 // You’d think just about everyone who’s anyone attended the massive climate change summit in Paris ending this week. The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21, drew an estimated 50,000 attendees...
Investors Assess El Niño Effect on Businesses from Bug Killers to Insurers
Dec 10 2015 // As the El Niño weather phenomenon makes the U.S. Northeast warmer, the Midwest drier, and the South and the West wetter this winter, Eric Marshall, portfolio manager of the $2 billion Hodges Small Cap fund, is not one of...
Liberty Mutual Posts $427 Million Q3 Loss on Venezuela Operations, Energy
Dec 10 2015 // Liberty Mutual Holding Co., the second- largest U.S. property-casualty insurer, posted its worst loss in at least a decade on costs tied to scaling back operations in Venezuela and the declining value of some...
Warming to Alternative Classifications for Gig Economy Workers
Dec 10 2015 // Judges and juries around the country are being asked to decide whether Uber and Lyft drivers and other participants in the “gig economy” are really independent contractors or just employees in disguise. But...
U.S. Risk Announces Acquisition of Matias Underwriters, LLC.
Dec 10 2015 // Names Glenn Matias National Practice Leader and Vice President for the Workers Compensation Divisions of U.S. Risk Underwriters, Inc. Dallas, TX, December 10, 2015- U.S. Risk Insurance Group, Inc., the nations’ sixth...
California Judge Breyer Expected to Combine, Expedite VW Diesel Claims
Dec 9 2015 // A San Francisco judge who is the brother of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will oversee more than 500 consumer lawsuits against Volkswagen AG over claims of economic losses connected to rigged emissions-testing...
‘Monster’ El Nino May Increase Global Warming, Cause Stronger Weather Events
Dec 9 2015 // In Buffalo, it hasn’t snowed yet this year. A Duluth, Minnesota, newspaper reported that the temperature was 40 degrees above zero, not below. And in Miami, beachgoers are staying indoors during what’s already...
U.S. Looks to Revamp Auto Safety Ratings, Add High-Tech Crash Dummies
Dec 9 2015 // U.S. regulators proposed a remake of the five-star crash-test ratings system for automobiles to take into account new technology — and new test dummies. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s...
Beazley Launches Breach Response Services for Non-U.S. Policyholders
Dec 9 2015 // Beazley has introduced a suite of breach preparedness services tailored to the needs of policyholders outside the U.S. The insurer has partnered with privacy specialist lawyers DAC Beachcroft; IT security specialists CGI...
Entrepreneurs Raise $13 Million to ‘Reinvent’ U.S. P/C Insurance with Peer-to-Peer Insurer
Dec 8 2015 // The U.S. property/casualty insurance industry is about to be tested directly by the sharing economy. Two tech entrepreneurs have raised $13 million in initial funding to launch a peer-to-peer online property/casualty...
India Floods Top Aon Benfield/Impact Forecasting’s November Cat Recap
Dec 8 2015 // Impact Forecasting, Aon Benfield’s catastrophe model development team, has issued the latest edition of its monthly Global Catastrophe Recap report, which evaluates the impact of natural disaster events that occurred...
Karen Clark Adds US Earthquake Reference Model to Modeling Platform
Dec 7 2015 // Karen Clark & Company (KCC) has released a new US earthquake Reference Model as part of the RiskInsight open loss modeling platform. The earthquake model is based on the latest 2014 US Geological Survey (USGS) report...
New Credit Card Chips Shift Liability to Retailers
Dec 7 2015 // On Oct. 1, 2015, many of the insurance industry’s clients took on a lot more risk, and may not even know it. The Payment Card Industry, PCI, which is the self-regulating organization that oversees everyone that...
Supreme Court Lets Stand State, Local Bans on Assault Weapons
Dec 7 2015 // A divided U.S. Supreme Court steered clear of a politically charged fight over gun rights, turning away a challenge to a law banning semi-automatic assault weapons and large-capacity magazines in a Chicago suburb. The...
U.S. Hospitals Improve Patient Safety: Report
Dec 7 2015 // Fewer patients are dying from conditions acquired while staying in the nation’s hospitals, according to a new federal report. Statistics from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) show that an estimated...
P/C Insurers Told ‘Fresh Approach’ Needed to Face Coming Disruption
Dec 7 2015 // U.S. property/casualty insurers should expect disruptive changes in a number of areas in 2016, including technology, pricing, customer demand, and “heightened regulatory creep,” consultant Ernst & Young...
Business Moves
Dec 7 2015 // Endurance, W. Brown Associates Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd., a Bermuda-based specialty provider of property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, has entered into an exclusive joint underwriting agreement with W....
Study Says Telematics Use Changing Drivers’ Behavior
Dec 7 2015 // Telematics devices offered by auto insurers appear to working to change the behavior of drivers. More than half (56 percent) of the 1,135 drivers participating in an Insurance Research Council (IRC) public opinion survey...
People – East
Dec 7 2015 // CNA Financial Corporation announced the appointment of Dino E. Robusto as its chairman and chief executive officer, effective on or about Dec. 1, 2016. Robusto will succeed Thomas F. Motamed who has decided to retire at...
