Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Nursing Home Liabilities Transfer Could Be Fraud: Judge
Dec 17 2014 // The owners of a multistate chain of nursing homes may have committed fraud by transferring liabilities to a shell company that later lost more than $2 billion in jury verdicts to families who claimed relatives died of...
OneBeacon Sells Lawyers Professional Liability Business to Argo
Dec 17 2014 // OneBeacon Insurance Group Ltd. has sold the renewal rights to its lawyers professional liability business to Argo Group US, Inc., a member of Argo Group International Holdings Ltd. The transaction includes renewal rights...
Senate Fails to Renew Terrorism Insurance
Dec 17 2014 // A U.S. program that backstops insurance companies’ losses from acts of terrorism is set to end after the Senate didn’t extend it. Efforts to reauthorize the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act for six years fell apart...
Swiss Re sigma 2014 Disaster Insured Loss Estimates = $34 Billion
Dec 17 2014 // According to Swiss Re’s preliminary sigma estimates, total economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters were $113 billion in 2014, down from $135 billion in 2013. Out of the total economic losses,...
Terrorism Insurance Bill Tagged with Community Bank Provision
Dec 16 2014 // When the U.S. House of Representatives approved a terrorism insurance bill last week, it contained a little-noticed provision that would require at least one member of the Federal Reserve’s board to have community...
Drone Risks Require More Safety Regulation, IATA Chief Says
Dec 15 2014 // The surging popularity of inexpensive radio-controlled airplanes and helicopters raises risks that require a firm response from regulators to ensure safety, the head of a leading commercial aviation trade group told...
A.M. Best: Global Re Stocks Underperform as Catastrophe Prices Drop
Dec 15 2014 // Stocks for publicly traded reinsurance companies (including the four large European reinsurers) performed well below the overall market through the third quarter of 2014, driven in part by the increased volatility in the...
Competition Ahead for Insurers
Dec 15 2014 // U.S. property/casualty insurers have cause for celebration as carriers reported higher overall earnings and premium levels in the 2014 third quarter versus the same period a year ago. Yet, at the same time Moody’s...
Environmental Liabilities in Europe: Changing Times
Dec 15 2014 // Historically, U.S. companies doing business in Europe weren’t likely to list environmental litigation among their major concerns. While the United States has boasted a robust regulatory environment for some time,...
10 Things to Know About Charitable Giving
Dec 15 2014 // Americans gave $335.17 billion to charities in 2013, a 4.4 percent increase from 2011. – National Philanthropic Trust Individuals were the largest source of charitable giving in 2013 ($241.32 billion or 72 percent of...
Micro Lending in the U.S.
Dec 15 2014 // While microfinance is largely associated with developing nations, microfinance in the United States has been around since the 1980s, according to a 2011 report, “American Offshoots: Will Microfinance Ever Really Take...
Survey Shows 8-in-10 Americans Believe in Climate Change
Dec 15 2014 // More than eight-in-10 Americans now believe the climate is changing – although they place that concern beneath issues like global political instability, economic crisis or a pandemic. Munich Re America’s inaugural...
Senator Criticizes ‘Unclean’ Terrorism Insurance Bill Passed by House
Dec 12 2014 // Democratic U.S. Senator Charles Schumer on Thursday called for the U.S. House of Representatives to extend a federal terrorism insurance program by passing a “clean” bill with no controversial extra...
Delay in Drone Rules Jeopardizes Research, Competitiveness, Congress Told
Dec 12 2014 // Commercial drone flights are taking off in other countries while the U.S. lags behind in developing safety regulations that would permit unmanned aircraft operations by a wide array of industries, witnesses told a House...
Virginia Joins Whistle-Blower Suit Against Guardrail Maker
Dec 11 2014 // Virginia joined a whistle-blower lawsuit against Trinity Industries Inc. over an allegedly defective guardrail system, becoming the first state to say it will seek to claw back money spent on the company’s roadside...
U.S. Grants Legal Immunity to Drugmakers for Ebola Vaccines
Dec 11 2014 // The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services this week offered liability protections to drugmakers rushing to develop Ebola vaccines and urged other countries to follow suit. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary...
BP Appeals Gross Negligence Ruling That Triggers Fines
Dec 11 2014 // BP Plc challenged a federal judge’s ruling that the company’s exploration unit acted with gross negligence in causing the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a decision that exposed the U.K.-based energy company to...
Oklahoma U.S. Sen. Inhofe’s Family Sues Plane Manufacturers over Son’s Death
Dec 11 2014 // The family of a U.S. senator whose son was killed in a plane crash is seeking damages in a lawsuit that alleges negligence against the aircraft’s manufacturers. The Tulsa World reports the suit was filed in Tulsa...
Ex-Pastor Seeks Reduced Sentence in Katrina Relief Fraud Case
Dec 11 2014 // A former New Orleans, La., pastor who embezzled nearly $1 million in disaster relief aid in the wake of Hurricane Katrina has asked a federal judge to shorten his prison sentence by several years. The Rev. Toris Young, who...
Honda, Nissan Widen Air-Bag Recalls Following Rupture in Japan Scrapyard
Dec 11 2014 // Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. followed Toyota Motor Corp. in widening global air-bag recalls after one of the devices made by Takata Corp. ruptured in a junked car at a Japan scrapyard. Honda will recall about...
