Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Scruggs Asks Alabama Judge to Throw Out Katrina-Related Charge
Sep 30 2007 // Mississippi trial lawyer Richard Scruggs has asked a federal judge to throw out a charge accusing him of criminal contempt in a dispute related to insurance claims after Hurricane Katrina. In court papers made public last...
Texas Receives More Than $55M in Disaster Aid After Summer Storms
Sep 28 2007 // Disaster assistance to Texas residents and businesses affected by June 16 – Aug. 3 severe storms, tornadoes and flooding has reached $55,541,143, according to state and federal officials. The aid comes from the U.S....
The Offshore Tax Debate – Déjà vu – All over Again
Sep 28 2007 // At least that’s how Yogi Berra might describe it. On Sept. 25 William R. Berkley, chairman and CEO of the company of the same name, gave a detailed indictment before the Senate Finance Committee of the iniquities...
Soft Market Isn’t Hard for Surplus Lines Industry, A.M. Best Reports
Sep 28 2007 // After a flat year in 2005, U.S. surplus lines premium volume rebounded in 2006 and carriers again posted strong underwriting results. In 2006, surplus lines carriers generally stuck to their guns on pricing in lines where...
Study Claims ‘Perverse’ Incentives Causing U.S. Disability Costs to Soar
Sep 27 2007 // The number of workers receiving disability in the U.S. is growing so rapidly that these benefits are now the fastest rising component of Social Security spending — growing at nearly twice the rate of retirement...
Alabama Hearing Highlights Catastrophe Plan Options
Sep 26 2007 // Whether the nation needs a federal or other governmental program to deal with insurance costs and availability for natural catastrophes in U.S. coastal states was the central question at a public hearing in Mobile, Ala.,...
Insurers Urge Congress to Level Bermuda Insurers’ Tax Playing Field
Sep 26 2007 // An industry executive, representing a coalition of 14 large U.S.-based insurance groups, told the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday that a major tax advantage for certain foreign insurance groups could threaten...
Feds Sues Ill. Saying New Law Hinders Illegal Immigration Crackdown
Sep 26 2007 // The Federal government is suing Illinois over a new state law it says complicates federal efforts to crack down on illegal immigration. The Illinois law would prevent employers from participating in a federal program that...
Fla. Insurance Commissioner Supports National Catastrophe Plan
Sep 25 2007 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty touted the need for a comprehensive national plan, and a national catastrophe fund at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) Southeast Zone meeting in...
Ratings Recap: Elvia/Jefferson, Amedex
Sep 25 2007 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating of “A (Excellent) and the credit issuer rating of “a+” of Swiss-based Elvia Reiseversicherungs-Gesellschaft-AG (Elvia) and its US subsidiary,...
P/C Insurers’ Underwriting Results, Profitability Slip in First-Half 2007
Sep 25 2007 // The U.S. property/casualty insurance industry’s overall profitability as measured by its annualized rate of return on average policyholders’ surplus (or statutory net worth) slipped to 13.1 percent in...
U.S. excess and surplus lines market attracts international attention
Sep 24 2007 // The United States excess and surplus lines market presents opportunities that are not lost on the rest of the world. Lloyd’s is the second largest U.S. surplus lines writer with a 14 percent market share. Direct...
U.S. reinsurers report premiums dropped in 2Q
Sep 24 2007 // The Reinsurance Association of America (RAA), a group of 22 U. S. property and casualty reinsurers, reported writing $12.2 billion of net premiums during the six-months ended June 30, 2007, a decrease of $7.5 million from...
Prospects and pitfalls in a changing global insurance world
Sep 24 2007 // The ‘rest of the world’ offers new opportunities for growth, but not without risk No European City has recently changed as much as Berlin (with the possible exception of Dublin). Since the fall of the wall in...
The CHANGING FACE of Surplus Lines Brokers
Sep 24 2007 // The surplus lines industry is never boring, never plain and certainly never black and white. Often dubbed as the innovator of new insurance products, the industry could even be considered colorful when it comes to the...
Chinese imports and product liability coverage
Sep 24 2007 // Recalled toys sit in the foreground as Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., calls on a witness during the Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2007, to discuss toy safety...
U.S. fire report: More fires; fewer deaths and injuries; rise in property losses
Sep 24 2007 // Fire departments in the United States responded to an estimated 1.6 million fires during 2006. These fires caused 3,245 civilian deaths and 16,400 injuries, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The...
Report: Insurers did not shift wind claims
Sep 24 2007 // A preliminary report from the federal government found no evidence to support allegations that private insurers improperly shifted wind damage claims from Hurricane Katrina onto the federal government’s flood...
People and Places
Sep 24 2007 // The National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices has named its officers and directors for the 2007-2008 term. The new NAPSLO president is Mary Ellen Rozzell, who is with Continental/Marmorstein & Malone...
Chinese imports and product liability coverage
Sep 24 2007 // Wave of recalls pushes broker, insurer roles in product safety, recall planning into limelight Product manufacturers are constantly looking for ways to stay competitive in a global marketplace and sourcing products and...
