Latest USA Headlines

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

Twice-Wounded Sandy Victims Seek Payout as FEMA Presses Insurers

Feb 25 2015 // Some homeowners hit by Hurricane Sandy say they’ve been victimized twice: first by the storm and later by insurers. John Clancy says his insurer, an Allstate Corp. unit, paid just $46,000 of the more than $200,000 in...

Conn. Senator Urges DOJ to Investigate Auto Insurers’ ‘Preferred’ Repair Shops

Feb 24 2015 // U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) is urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate a recently aired CNN report’s allegation that auto insurers may be pressuring consumers to repair their vehicles at...

Supreme Court to Weigh Rejection of Muslim Applicant Over Head Scarf

Feb 24 2015 // In an era of heightening religious tension worldwide, Abercrombie & Fitch has pulled off a miracle: The retailer managed to unite Christians, Jews, and Muslims, as well as Buddhists, Hindus, Santeros, Sikhs, and...

Internet Domain .insurance to Be Available By End of 2015

Feb 24 2015 // The top-level Internet domain “.insurance” should be available to to the industry late this year, according to a financial services-backed organization that operates generic domains including...

New Jersey’s U.S. Senators Seek Probe of Any Sandy Insurer Fraud

Feb 23 2015 // New Jersey’s U.S. senators want the state attorney general’s office to investigate possible fraud by insurance companies following Superstorm Sandy. Sens. Robert Menendez and Cory Booker asked Acting Attorney...

Top Writers of Homeowners, Blizzard-Exposed Commercial Lines in New England

Feb 23 2015 // This past month’s cycle of blizzards and heavy snowfall in the Boston area and New England have been adding up to a significant impact in the region. The following are the top U.S. writers of homeowners, auto and...

U.S. Sends Wrong Health Tax Information

Feb 23 2015 // The U.S. said it sent 800,000 Americans incorrect information that may affect how much they owe in taxes this year because of subsidies they got to help pay for health insurance under Obamacare. People affected by the...

Texas Insurance Wholesalers Wary of Retail Agent Association MGA

Feb 23 2015 // In mid-November 2014, Texas’ largest association of independent retail insurance agents took the unprecedented step of acquiring a managing general agency as a way of providing its members greater access to...

10 Things to Know About Boats & Marinas

Feb 23 2015 // Recreational boating in 2013 accounted for 4,062 accidents that involved 560 deaths; 2,620 injuries; and approximately $39 million dollars of property damage. —United States Coast Guard (USCG) Compared to 2012, the...

Commercial Lines Softening to Continue in U.S. in 2015: Marsh

Feb 23 2015 // Competition among property/casualty insurance carriers and the flow of capital into the industry are continuing to drive down rates in most U.S. commercial lines and conditions are particularly favorable for clients with...

Business Moves

Feb 23 2015 // Majesco, Agile Insurance technology firm Majesco has completed the acquisition of the insurance business of Agile Technologies, a technology consulting firm with revenues of more than $9 million. Terms of the deal were not...

Ex-Oppenheimer Exec Admits to Role in Sinking Oklahoma Insurer

Feb 22 2015 // A former Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. executive pleaded guilty to participating in a fraud that the U.S. says led to the collapse of an Oklahoma insurance company. Allen Reichman, 55, told a Manhattan judge that he and...

Gas Vapor Possible Factor in West Virginia Oil Train Fireball

Feb 20 2015 // Federal investigators will examine whether pressurized gas played a role in the massive blast that followed the derailment of a train carrying crude oil through West Virginia this week, the U.S. Transportation Department...

Google to Face Same Obstacles Selling Insurance Online, Says Overstock’s Byrne

Feb 20 2015 // Those now running comparison insurance shopping websites believe that they could be helped if Google enters into the business because the giant search engine could draw more attention to buying insurance online. However,...

SEC Filing: Duke Energy Expects to Settle Criminal Charges from Spill for $100M

Feb 20 2015 // Duke Energy expects to pay $100 million to settle an ongoing federal criminal investigation that began after a massive coal ash spill at a North Carolina plant. The details are contained in an earnings report filed with...

FEMA in Talks to Settle Sandy Flood Insurance Claims

Feb 19 2015 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency is working to settle lawsuits by hundreds of Hurricane Sandy victims who challenged denials or alleged underpayments of flood insurance claims. Brad Kieserman, deputy associate...

Businesses Find Costs of Affordable Care Act No Big Deal

Feb 19 2015 // The biggest entitlement legislation in a generation is causing barely a ripple in corporate America. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — otherwise known as Obamacare — is putting such a small dent...

Large Product Liability Awards Made Comeback in 2014

Feb 19 2015 // Huge jury verdicts against companies over fatal flaws in their products made a comeback last year, which may foretell more bad news for carmakers with defective parts. Absent for a decade, billion-dollar verdicts returned...

Report Challenges Eliminating Deductibility of Foreign Reinsurance Premiums

Feb 19 2015 // A report from the Tax Foundation challenges recent tax proposals including the White House’s 2015 budget that call for provisions to limit deductions of “legitimate business costs for tax purposes.” The...

Swiss Re Plans $1.1 Billion Share Buyback; Q4 Net Income Hit

Feb 19 2015 // Swiss Re AG, swimming in excess capital after several years of lower-than-expected disaster claims, plans to shift to share buybacks to return cash to investors after three years of paying a special dividend. The...