Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Iowa Agent Gets 41 Months in Prison for Defrauding Insurance Companies
Jul 15 2014 // A former Des Moines, Iowa, insurance agent was sentenced to 41 months in prison for insurance fraud, the Iowa Insurance Division announced. Melissa Ilene Williams, of Dike, Iowa, also was ordered to pay restitution for...
Oil, Rail Firms Propose Phasing Out Old Tank Cars
Jul 15 2014 // The oil industry and the railroads that haul its crude have offered U.S. regulators a joint plan to phase out a type of older tank car tied to a spate of fiery accidents, according to two people familiar with the...
$1 Billion Highway Guardrail Trial Underway This Week
Jul 14 2014 // Trinity Industries Inc. will have 13 hours this week to fight allegations its highway guardrail systems are a deadly hazard that spear cars on impact, with as much as $1 billion at stake for the company. U.S. District...
Uber and Lyft Accelerate Cash Battle to Recruit Drivers
Jul 14 2014 // Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. are racing to recruit drivers to spur the growth of their ride- sharing businesses. Stefanie Leifer recently found herself caught in the middle. Leifer has worked for San...
Generali to Sell BSI Unit to BTG Pactual for $1.7 Billion
Jul 14 2014 // Assicurazioni Generali SpA agreed to sell its Swiss private-banking unit BSI Group to Grupo BTG Pactual for CHF1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) as Italy’s biggest insurer seeks to boost capital. Generali will receive...
Progressive Insurance Profit Down as Investment Gains Narrow
Jul 11 2014 // Progressive Corp., the fourth- largest U.S. car insurer, said second-quarter profit fell 9.6 percent as investment gains narrowed. Net income dropped to $293.4 million, or 49 cents a share, from $324.6 million, or 54...
Judge Allows $1B Malpractice Claim Against PwC Over MF Global Collapse
Jul 11 2014 // A federal judge on Wednesday rejected PricewaterhouseCoopers’ request to dismiss a $1 billion lawsuit accusing the auditor of providing bad accounting advice that contributed to the October 2011 collapse of MF Global...
S&P Green Lighting Climate Risk Mitigation
Jul 10 2014 // How a company manages its risk in the face of a changing global climate is slated to become an ever-greater factor in a company’s worth. Today’s business leaders, whether or not they believe in climate change,...
U.S. Appeals Court Revives WTC Cleanup Workers’ Health Claims
Jul 10 2014 // A federal appeals court in New York has revived claims by 211 cleanup workers who sought compensation for their alleged exposure to toxic contaminants in buildings near the World Trade Center site after the Sept. 11, 2001,...
Pinpointing Hurricane Risk Home by Home
Jul 10 2014 // This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic. Analysis Shows More Than 6.5 Million U.S. Homes Valued at Nearly $1.5 Trillion at Risk of Hurricane Storm Surge Damage This year, we’re ushering in the 2014...
No El Nino Yet But Chances Remain High: U.S. Climate Center
Jul 10 2014 // A weather-changing El Nino has yet to develop in the Pacific Ocean, according to government forecasters are who maintaining a “watch” initiated in March. The chances that the warming of the equatorial Pacific...
6.5 Million Homes from Maine to Texas at Risk for Storm Surge: CoreLogic
Jul 10 2014 // More than 6.5 million homes along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts are at risk of storm surge inundation, representing nearly $1.5 trillion in total potential reconstruction costs. More than $986 billion of that risk is...
Judge Dismisses Ex-Broker’s Privacy Claim Against Regulatory Website
Jul 10 2014 // A U.S. judge threw out a lawsuit against the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) by a former broker who alleged that disclosures on the regulator’s public database violated his privacy rights. The former...
Aspen U.S. Appoints Kotsiopoulos As Broker Relationship VP
Jul 9 2014 // Aspen U.S. Insurance said George Kotsiopoulos has joined as vice president, Broker Relationship leader. Kotsiopoulos joins Aspen U.S. Insurance with underwriting and distribution experience from previous positions at...
Chicken Producer, London Insurers Battle Over ‘Recall’ Definition
Jul 9 2014 // Foster Farms and its London insurers are facing off over the definition of “product recall” as the poultry producer seeks payment of $14.2 million in claims arising from a government-mandated shutdown of one of...
Senate Advances Bill to Shield Firms Sharing Cyber Threats with NSA
Jul 9 2014 // The Senate is advancing legislation that would let companies and the U.S. government share information about hacking threats, even as privacy advocates say the plan could enable the National Security Agency to sweep up...
Court Ruling States Arizona Can’t Deny Immigrants Driver’s Licenses
Jul 8 2014 // Arizona’s policy of denying driver’s licenses to people who came to the U.S. illegally as children was blocked by a federal appeals court in San Francisco, which said the measure is probably...
Financial Firms Propose Cyber War Council
Jul 8 2014 // Wall Street’s biggest trade group has proposed a government-industry cyber war council to stave off terrorist attacks that could trigger financial panic by temporarily wiping out account balances, according to an...
Maritzen to Head New Endurance U.S. Commercial Property Operation
Jul 8 2014 // Bermuda-based Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. announced that Mark Maritzen has joined the company as Executive Vice President and Head of Commercial Property within its U.S. Insurance operation. He has nearly twenty...
Endurance Launches U.S. Commercial Property Retail Division
Jul 8 2014 // Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. announced that Mark Maritzen has joined the company as executive vice president and head of commercial property within its U.S. Insurance operation. Maritzen will be responsible for...
