Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Wildfires Across The West Push Spending Past $1B
Aug 22 2013 // More than 40 uncontained, active and large wildfires dot the western U.S. from Arizona to Washington state and Alaska, taxing national firefighting resources and helping to push spending past $1 billion for the year. The...
CVS Shuts Access to Opioid Painkillers for Suspect Doctors
Aug 22 2013 // CVS Caremark Corp said on Wednesday that it has taken the unusual step of cutting off access to powerful painkillers for more than 36 doctors and other healthcare providers found to prescribe the drugs at an alarmingly...
Employer Health Premiums Slow for Second Year: Kaiser
Aug 22 2013 // Health-insurance premiums to cover working Americans rose 4 percent this year, less than the previous two years in another sign that the cost of employee benefits for U.S. companies may be slowing. Annual premiums for a...
College Athletes’ Claims Over Video Game Images Delayed
Aug 22 2013 // Electronic Arts Inc. won a court ruling that puts on hold claims accusing the company of profiting from using likenesses of college athletes in its video games. The ruling by a federal appeals court in San Francisco will...
Retired Players Sue NFL Over Use of Images in Films
Aug 22 2013 // The National Football League was sued by 10 retired players, including Curley Culp and John Riggins, who claim the NFL unfairly violates their rights of publicity by using their images to sell NFL Films products. Five Hall...
IAG Profit More Than Triples as Natural Disaster Claims Fall
Aug 22 2013 // Insurance Australia Group Ltd., the nation’s biggest car and home insurer, reported full-year net income more than triple a year earlier as claims fell and premiums rose. Net income rose to A$776 million ($697...
Red River Diversion Opponents Sue Army Corps
Aug 21 2013 // Opponents of a planned project to divert the Red River around Fargo, N.D., and Moorhead, Minn., have sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in federal court. The lawsuit filed by opponents south of the metro area accuses...
A Roundup of Maryland’s New Insurance Laws From 2013 Legislative Session
Aug 21 2013 // The Maryland Insurance Administration issued a bulletin this week summarizing new insurance legislation from the Maryland General Assembly’s 2013 session that have been signed into law by Gov. Martin O’Malley....
Suncorp Group Net Income Falls 32% on Banking Unit Loss
Aug 21 2013 // Suncorp Group Ltd., an Australian lender and insurer, posted a 32 percent decline in full-year profit in line with its guidance last month. Net income for the year to June 30 was A$491 million (US$443 million) compared...
Safety Probes at Risk Without More Funding: NTSB
Aug 20 2013 // The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, handling the most accident investigations since the 1990s, is “going to have to let some things go” if budget cuts aren’t restored, Chairman Deborah Hersman...
Government Wins Bid to Apply FIRREA Fraud Law in Banks’ Mortgage Cases
Aug 20 2013 // A federal judge has endorsed a broad interpretation of a savings-and-loan era law that the U.S. Justice Department is trying to use in cases against Wall Street banks. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan said...
Cat Bonds Rally with Hurricane Season Advancing: Credit Market Recap
Aug 20 2013 // Gains on catastrophe bonds are poised to exceed returns on speculative-grade company debt by the most since 2008 as the Atlantic hurricane season heads into its fourth month. Notes designed to protect insurers from payouts...
QBE Net Income Falls 37% on Claims, Lower U.S. Premiums
Aug 20 2013 // QBE Insurance Group Ltd., Australia’s largest insurer by market value, posted a 37 percent fall in first-half net income as premiums fell in North America and it set aside more for unresolved claims. Net income...
U.S. Presses Japan to Open Insurance, Auto Markets
Aug 19 2013 // The United States urged Japan on Monday to open its auto and insurance markets more to foreign companies as the two countries pursue bilateral talks linked to a broader free-trade agreement that covers two-fifths of the...
Information Technology and Risk Complexity
Aug 19 2013 // In today’s legal environment, nearly every company faces some kind of litigation risk. With the growing ubiquity of technology in not just the corporate market, but the consumer marketplace as well, the risk for...
U.S. Asks Court to Block Bernanke Testimony in Greenberg’s AIG Lawsuit
Aug 18 2013 // The U.S. Justice Department on Friday asked an appeals court to reverse a judge’s ruling last month that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke must testify in a lawsuit about American International Group Inc.’s...
Former Louisiana Deputy Insurance Commissioner Sentenced
Aug 16 2013 // A former deputy commissioner at the Louisiana Department of Insurance has received a prison sentence for racketeering, according to Justice Department officials. Acting United States Attorney J. Walter Green in the U.S....
Ratings Recap: Electrical Contractors, Al-Sagr, Alliance (UAE)
Aug 16 2013 // A.M. Best Europe – Rating Services Limited has affirmed the financial strength rating of ‘A-‘ (Excellent) and issuer credit rating of “a-” of UK-based Electrical Contractors’ Insurance...
Quebec Demands CP Railway Help Pay for Disaster Clean-up
Aug 16 2013 // The Canadian province of Quebec has ordered Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd to help pay clean-up costs after a train disaster that killed 47 people and said on Thursday the company has no choice in the matter. The disaster,...
BP Asks Judge to Deny Investors’ Class-Action Spill Suit Bid
Aug 15 2013 // BP Plc asked a federal judge to deny U.S. investors the right to pursue a class action, or group, lawsuit claiming the company misled them before and after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The investors, led by the New...
