Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Product Safety to be Discussed at China Talks, Vows U.S. Treasurer
Dec 7 2007 // Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said that U.S. worries about Chinese product safety will be a major topic at high-level economic talks with China next week. The so-called Strategic Economic Dialogue comes as the United...
Ratings Recap: AXA Corporate Solutions (US), First Marine, Magna
Dec 7 2007 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘B++’ (Good) and the issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “bbb” of AXA Corporate Solutions Reinsurance Company (AXA CS Re) and its...
AXA Buys Ohio’s Matrix
Dec 6 2007 // AXA Corporate Solutions announced from Paris that it has acquired the consulting firm Matrix Risk Consultants Inc., based in Miamisburg, Ohio. It described the deal as part of a move to strengthen “its capacity to...
Coastal Flood Peril Study: $3 Trillion Today – $35 Trillion by 2070
Dec 6 2007 // An exhaustive study of the threat posed by coastal flooding warns that “as many as 150 million people in the world’s major cities could be reliant on flood defenses by 2070 – more than three times the 40...
U.S. Personal Lines Insurers Trying To Maintain Profits In Softening Market
Dec 4 2007 // U.S. personal lines insurance sector is at a critical juncture, according to an article published by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services. The article, which is titled “2008 U.S. Personal Lines Outlook: A...
16 Judges Step Aside From Scruggs Contempt Case
Dec 2 2007 // Every eligible federal judge in north Alabama has stepped aside from presiding in the criminal contempt case of Mississippi trial lawyer Richard Scruggs, who is accused of disobeying an order by failing to turn over...
From Insurance Consumer to Commissioner
Dec 2 2007 // While the position of California Insurance Commissioner is elected and there are already rumblings that he’d make a good gubernatorial candidate in 2010, current California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner says...
Framing the Issues
Dec 2 2007 // PCI’s new CEO plans to ‘scan the horizon’ for insurer members facing terrorism insurance, regulation concerns, politics and more The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) represents...
Victims of 2005 BP Texas Plant Blast Concerned About Plea Deal
Nov 30 2007 // A judge allowed victims of BP PLC’s deadly 2005 plant explosion to pursue complaints about a plea agreement resulting from a federal investigation of the accident. Attorneys for the victims have argued that a $50...
British Bankers Plead Guilty to Wire Fraud in Enron Case
Nov 30 2007 // Three British bankers who were set to go to trial in Houston, Texas, for their roles in a fraudulent scheme with former Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow changed their pleas to guilty. David Bermingham, Giles...
S&P: Softening Prices Should Start To Affect U.S. Commercial Lines Insurers
Nov 30 2007 // Another very profitable year for commercial lines insurers, sparked by yet another exceptionally mild hurricane season, is emerging for the entire U.S. property/casualty industry, says Standard & Poor’s Ratings...
Bermuda Insurance Association Says Companies Create U.S. Jobs
Nov 30 2007 // According to the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR), International insurance and reinsurance companies based on the island employ over 9,000 Americans and indirectly generate an estimated 95,045 jobs in...
U.S. Grand Jury Indicts “Dickie” Scruggs in Suspected Bribery Scheme
Nov 30 2007 // An attorney who helped negotiate a multibillion-dollar settlement against tobacco companies in the 1990s and has sued insurers over unpaid Hurricane Katrina claims was indicted in a suspected scheme to bribe a Mississippi...
Hurricances Spare U.S., Leaving Officials Worried About Public Apathy, Flood Policy Nonrenewals
Nov 29 2007 // Despite alarming predictions, the U.S. came through a second straight hurricane season virtually unscathed, raising fears among emergency planners that they will be fighting public apathy and overconfidence when they warn...
FBI Targets Miss. Lawyer Known for Handling Katrina Insurance Claims
Nov 29 2007 // FBI agents who searched the law offices of Mississippi attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs on Tuesday left with copies of the office’s computer hard drives, a lawyer for the firm said Wednesday. Joey...
S&P: Discipline Will Be The Key To Insurers’ Success in 2008
Nov 28 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has issued a report, noting the 2008 outlook for the North American property/casualty insurance, life, health, and reinsurance sectors are stable due to several years of strong...
Millea Group Ups Profit Forecast; Subprime Exposure $245 Million
Nov 20 2007 // Japan’s Millea Group – Tokio Marine, Nichido and Nissin Fire – increased its profit forecasts for the fiscal year ending March 2008 by Yen 7.7 billion ($70 million), despite some exposure to subprime...
16 Alabama Federal Judges Step Aside from Scruggs Contempt Case
Nov 19 2007 // Every eligible federal judge in north Alabama has stepped aside from presiding in the criminal contempt case of Mississippi trial lawyer Richard Scruggs, who is accused of disobeying an order by failing to turn over...
Spain’s Mapfre Sees Commerce as Portal to Expansion in U.S.
Nov 18 2007 // Insurer likes Hispanic market potential as well as solid performance of Mass. personal lines insurer The potential of the Hispanic insurance market is one of the factors attracting Spanish insurer Mapfre to its acquisition...
U.S. Court Upholds State Farm’s Anti-Concurrent Causation Clause
Nov 18 2007 // A U.S. court of appeals ruling dashed the hopes of potentially hundreds of post-Hurricane Katrina claimants recently when it ruled a major insurer’s policy language unambiguous. The case is based on State...
