Latest USA Headlines

Apr 21 2008 // People Michigan-based J.M. Wilson recently announced three new staff members, Danielle Crandell, Eric Maus and Jeanne Callan. Crandell was hired as a transportation underwriter. She will service commercial trucking...

Indicted Alabama Insurance Executive Blames Political Retaliation

Apr 21 2008 // A Montgomery, Ala. insurance executive indicted by a federal grand jury is blaming his legal problems on political retaliation by Republicans, including the governor, a politician the executive once supported but later...

Demand For Food, Fuel Creating Ample Need for Agribusiness Insurance

Apr 21 2008 // The need for agricultural insurance is growing like a weed. “This is the greatest time we’ve had in our business,” said Christopher Leliaert, vice president at Towers-Perrin Reinsurance, in his assessment...

Court Throws Out Nevada’s Insurance Agent Countersignature Law

Apr 21 2008 // The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has invalidated Nevada’s insurance producer countersignature law, in what could be the final nail in the coffin for these requirements on nonresident producers. U.S. District...

People

Apr 21 2008 // Novato, Calif.-based Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. named Michael LaRocco president and CEO. He will report to Chuck Kavitsky, president and CEO of Allianz of America, parent of Fireman’s Fund, and will also...

AAA Study Pegs Cost of U.S. Traffic Crashes at $1,051 Per Person

Apr 21 2008 // Traffic crashes cost American motorists more than $160 billion a year while inflicting a staggering per-person toll on small cities such as Little Rock, Ark., Columbia, S.C., and Pensacola, Fla., according to an American...

World’s Weather as a Deranged Pinball Machine?

Apr 21 2008 // The 10th edition of the European Insurance Forum (EIF), held at Dublin’s Four Seasons Hotel and sponsored by the Dublin Insurance & Management Association (DIMA) April 7-8, focused on some major issues of...

Clinton Plan Would Cut Tax Benefit for Foreign Insurers Competing for U.S. Business

Apr 21 2008 // Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, as part of a broad plan to boost the fortunes of U.S. workers, if elected would clamp down on tax benefits to foreign insurers doing business in the United States, she...

U.S. Disaster Agency FEMA Improved But Still Lacking, Report Says

Apr 21 2008 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is better prepared for the next disaster but still is not ready for another catastrophe on the scale of Hurricane Katrina, the agency’s internal investigators say. FEMA...

German Environment Minister Calls Bush’s CO2 Plan ‘Neanderthal’

Apr 18 2008 // U.S. President George W. Bush’s plan to halt a rise in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 could undermine, rather than support, efforts to combat climate change, German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel...

N.Y. City Mayor Wants U.S. to Cover Health Costs from 9/11

Apr 18 2008 // New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Thursday called on the U.S. government to pay $150 million a year to cover medical bills for workers and residents whose health suffered due to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The...

Georgia Insurance Commissioner Running for Governor

Apr 18 2008 // Georgia’s insurance commissioner said Wednesday he’s running for governor in 2010, making him the first to enter what could be a crowded field of Republican heavyweights jockeying to replace Sonny Perdue. John...

Fairfax Readies for U.S. Recession

Apr 17 2008 // Fairfax Financial Holdings, which made record profits last year on the back of U.S. credit default swaps, remains on guard against a depression-type slide in the U.S. economy, its chief executive told shareholders...

Omega Terminates Takeover Talks

Apr 17 2008 // Bermuda-based Omega Insurance Holdings Limited, which also focuses on the Lloyd’s and U.S. markets, announced that takeover discussions “with potential offerors” have been terminated. Last February...

Lloyd’s Braces for U.S. Hurricanes

Apr 17 2008 // Lloyd’s insurers with exposures on the US East Coast have been told to brace themselves for an above average storm season, with as many as eight hurricanes tearing through the Atlantic. In an article on its web site...

U.S. Report Questions Safety of Chemical Used in Plastic Bottles

Apr 17 2008 // A chemical used to make baby bottles and other shatterproof plastic containers could be linked to a range of hormonal problems, a preliminary government report has found. The report was greeted by some environmental groups...

States Tell Congress They Can Handle Insurance Regulation

Apr 17 2008 // State officials told Congress this week that they are making progress in modernizing insurance regulation and that further improvements should be implemented by them as the debate in Washington over whether federal...

South Carolina Workers’ Comp Exclusivity Doesn’t Bar Invasion of Privacy

Apr 16 2008 // A South Carolina workers’ compensation exclusivity statute did not bar an employee from filing claims for invasion of privacy and false imprisonment in a psychiatric hospital, according to a U.S. District Court...

Insurance Australia Group Rejects QBE Buyout Bid; Takeover Tussle

Apr 16 2008 // Insurance Australia Group (IAG) has rejected an A$7.4 billion (US$6.9 billion; €4.3 billion) unsolicited bid from rival QBE Insurance Group Ltd. as inadequate, the companies said Tuesday. IAG’s response to...

WTO Talks Enter Crunch Week

Apr 14 2008 // Talks on a deal to open up world trade entered a critical week on Monday with negotiators at the World Trade Organization (WTO) hoping to prepare the ground for a proposed meeting of ministers next month. With key food...