Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Judge Signals $32 Million Settlement in Wells Fargo Bias Suit
Jun 9 2011 // A federal judge signaled that she would approve a settlement calling for Wells Fargo & Co. to pay $32 million to about 1,200 female brokers who claimed they were paid less than men and denied promotions because of...
Ratings Roundup: Attorneys’ Liability, AMI
Jun 9 2011 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has revised its outlook on Bermuda-based Attorneys’ Liability Assurance Society (Bermuda) Ltd. and its Vermont-based operating unit, Attorneys’ Liability Assurance...
Percent of U.S. Workers with Disability Coverage Declines
Jun 8 2011 // More than half of U.S. workers have no disability coverage and that percentage is dropping, an insurance company survey shows. According to new research from The Hartford, 49 percent of U.S. workers have short-term...
U.S. Court in Georgia to Hear States’ Healthcare Law Challenge Today
Jun 8 2011 // A U.S. appeals court in Atlanta will hear a lawsuit Wednesday challenging the constitutionality of the healthcare reforms signed into law by President Barack Obama a year ago. The suit, filed by more than half the states,...
Finance Industry Warns of Transatlantic Discord over Derivative Rules
Jun 8 2011 // Transatlantic sniping by top policymakers could make it harder to agree new rules to crack down on derivatives, derivatives market officials said on Tuesday. “The high policy debate is going in the wrong direction...
U.S. Supreme Court Rejects GE Challenge to EPA Cleanup Orders
Jun 7 2011 // The U.S. Supreme Court Monday rejected General Electric Co.’s legal challenge to part of a federal law that gives the Environmental Protection Agency the power to order companies to clean up hazardous waste. The...
Fed Eyes Steep Capital for Risky Financial Firms
Jun 6 2011 // The largest and riskiest U.S. financial firms could be forced to hold up to twice as much capital as called for in the international Basel III accord, under one plan the Federal Reserve is considering. Fed Governor Daniel...
Declarations
Jun 6 2011 // The Final Straw? “It’s only a large U.S. event that can turn things around. The U.S. is the biggest insurance market with the biggest exposures.” —Amit Kumar, an analyst at Macquarie in New York. The...
Declarations
Jun 6 2011 // The Final Straw? “It’s only a large U.S. event that can turn things around. The U.S. is the biggest insurance market with the biggest exposures.” —Amit Kumar, an analyst at Macquarie in New York. The...
Hurricane Season Could Bring Rate Relief
Jun 6 2011 // Property and casualty insurers craving respite from a long-running drop in prices eyed the start of the U.S. hurricane season on June 1 in the hope that summer windstorms will finally turn the market. The June 1 to Nov. 30...
Declarations
Jun 6 2011 // Compromise on Lawsuits “You can be assured that you can go to the courthouse and not face the prospect of ruination by pursuing a constitutional right.” —Texas trial attorney Mike Gallagher comments on a...
Declarations
Jun 6 2011 // A Bomb on Every Floor “It truly was like a bomb went off almost on every floor.” —Gary Pulsipher, chief executive at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo., describes the damage caused to the...
P/C Insurers Facing Record Losses from Weather
Jun 6 2011 // Devastating tornadoes, floods, earthquakes overseas and a busier-than-usual hurricane season have U.S. insurance companies bracing for record losses in 2011. Insurers could suffer as much as $10 billion from...
2011 on Pace to Be Deadliest U.S. Tornado Year
Jun 6 2011 // The tornado that raked Joplin, Mo., was the deadliest single twister in the United States since 1953, putting 2011 on pace for a possible record year for tornado fatalities, U.S. weather experts said. As of May 25, this is...
Risk of Cyber Attacks Escalation Rises as Technology Outpaces Policy
Jun 3 2011 // From the satellite pictures on Google Earth, Jinan looks like any other Chinese city — sprawling construction sites, massive factory blocks, apartment buildings, a university, dozens of railway lines and wide-open...
Best Revises Tower Group and Subs Outlook to Positive; Affirms Ratings
Jun 3 2011 // A.M. Best Co. has revised the outlook to positive from stable and affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A-‘ (Excellent) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “a-” of the Tower US Pool and...
Hackers Attack Another Sony Network; Post Data on 1 Million Users
Jun 3 2011 // Hackers broke into Sony Corp.’s computer networks and accessed the information of more than 1 million customers to show the vulnerability of the electronic giant’s systems, the latest of several security...
Europe’s Lethal E.coli Strain May be Deadliest Yet
Jun 3 2011 // More than 1,600 people have been infected by a toxic strain of E.coli bacteria that has killed at least 17 and may be the deadliest yet in human history, health officials said on Friday. Germany is at the center of the...
Judge: No Reduction in Fine, Restitution in Louisiana Man’s Death
Jun 3 2011 // A federal judge has declined to reduce the $1 million fine and $2 million in restitution he ordered paid by a Colorado company that admitted partial responsibility for the death of a Baton Rouge plant worker. Chief U.S....
Cell Phone Cancer Report Comes As Supreme Court Weighs Lawsuits
Jun 2 2011 // The U.S. Supreme Court is considering the fate of litigation against cell phone makers over safety risks, just as the industry comes under more scrutiny in the wake of a health report from the World Health Organization. A...