Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Used Car Dealer Seeks Damages For Inventory of ‘Defective’ GM Vehicles
Jun 3 2014 // An independent used-car dealer in Arkansas is seeking compensation from General Motors Co. for being saddled with “highly dangerous vehicles” that include cars not yet recalled over ignition-switch...
Fed Adds Ex-Regulator to Oversee Systemic Risk Insurers
Jun 3 2014 // The U.S. Federal Reserve has hired a former state insurance commissioner to help it oversee non-bank financial firms that a council of regulators identified for tougher scrutiny last year. Thomas Sullivan, who led the...
Hurricane Forecast Upped By 1 Over Weaker El Nino
Jun 3 2014 // Colorado State University increased the number of storms it expects to develop during the Atlantic hurricane season to 10 from nine. The forecast calls for four of those to become hurricanes, one of them a major system,...
Supreme Court Limits Patent Claims in 2 Rulings
Jun 3 2014 // The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against patent holders in two cases, rejecting a legal theory used to sue technology companies and requiring patents to be written with more specific language. The rulings come in a Supreme...
MetLife Unwavering in Battle Over Systemic Risk Rules
Jun 3 2014 // Steven Kandarian got MetLife Inc. out of banking to escape Federal Reserve oversight. Now, the insurer is fighting again to avoid the central bank’s reach. Kandarian, MetLife’s chief executive officer, has...
Best Upgrades State Farm General’s ICR; Affirms State Farm and Subs FSR’s
Jun 2 2014 // A.M. Best has upgraded the issuer credit rating (ICR) to “a+” from “a” and affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A’ (Excellent) of State Farm General Insurance Company, and...
Pacific Ocean Is Key to Atlantic Hurricane Season
Jun 2 2014 // The Pacific Ocean holds one of the keys that forecasters say will determine how many hurricanes and tropical storms develop in the Atlantic this year. The size of the six-month storm season, which started June 1, may...
Professional Sports Teams Looking for Terrorism Insurance Win in Congress
Jun 2 2014 // Renewal of a U.S. terrorism insurance plan is gaining momentum in Congress, thanks to some big-league backing from a coalition that includes professional football, baseball, basketball and hockey leagues. The sports...
The Importance of Having an Integrated Services Solution
Jun 2 2014 // U.S. multinational businesses are increasingly seeking opportunities in new regions of the world, expanding outside of the United States and continental Europe into sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America. As their...
U.S. Report: Climate Change Here, Deal With It
Jun 2 2014 // Climate change is in the here and now, according to a massive new report. The White House’s National Climate Assessment report is part of President Barack Obama’s effort to prepare the nation for the impacts of...
Conn. Governor Defends State-Led Insurance Regulation
Jun 2 2014 // Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy recently told a crowd of U.S. and international regulators that when it comes to insurance regulation, states are “here are stay” and that the states – not the federal...
Providence, R.I., Sues Santander Bank, Alleging Mortgage Bias
May 30 2014 // Banco Santander SA’s U.S. unit was sued by the city of Providence, Rhode Island, over claims it stopped issuing mortgages in minority neighborhoods after the housing bubble burst, the latest in a series of...
Understanding Wildfire Risk: A Closer Look at the Wildland-Urban Interface
May 30 2014 // This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic. More than 21,500 fires have burned nearly 700,000 acres so far in 2014 (as of May 29, 2014), and these fires have been caused by both lightning strikes and more...
CN Rail Sees U.S. Banning Older Rail Tank Cars for Oil in 3-5 Years
May 30 2014 // Canadian National Railway Chief Executive Claude Mongeau said on Thursday he expects U.S. regulators to phase out use of DOT-111 tank cars in three to five years, following a deadly explosion in Quebec last year. Mongeau...
U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Fen-Phen Lawyers’ Appeal of $42M Kentucky Verdict
May 29 2014 // A $42 million judgment against a group of former attorneys will stand after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up an appeal in the case. The justices on Tuesday rejected a request from now-disbarred lawyers William...
Crash-Avoiding Automatic Brakes Becoming Standard Equipment: IIHS
May 29 2014 // Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) and Daimler AG are among automakers that are improving and speeding up their use of automatic brakes as part of efforts to reduce front-end crashes, a U.S. safety group said. The BMW...
Shipping Firms Shy Away from Iran Despite Deal to Ease Sanctions
May 29 2014 // Global shipping lines are increasingly shying away from handling cargoes to Iran as restrictions on banking and insurance continue unabated, despite an interim agreement between Tehran and the West that called for limited...
FTC Calls for Consumer Disclosure by Data Brokers
May 28 2014 // Companies known as data brokers collect and sell information about “nearly all” U.S. consumers, drawing potentially harmful conclusions about them largely without their knowledge, U.S. regulators said on...
Ratings Recap: Frankenmuth, Sooner, Tokio Marine America, Kingstone, Canopius U.S., HDI-Gerling America
May 28 2014 // A.M. Best has revised the outlook to stable from negative and affirmed the issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “a+” of Frankenmuth Mutual Insurance Company and its affiliates, Ansur America Insurance Company,...
BP Can’t Hold Spill Payments Until Supreme Court Hears Settlement Appeal
May 27 2014 // BP Plc can’t delay writing checks for hundreds of millions of dollars in damage claims while it asks the U.S. Supreme Court to review disputed payments in its $9.2 billion accord over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil...
