Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Texas Farmer Convicted in Crop Insurance Scheme
Mar 23 2004 // United States Attorney Jane J. Boyle announced that in early March 2003 a federal jury in Wichita Falls, Texas, convicted Wendell Lynn Mints, on all counts of all 25 counts of an indictment that charged him with one count...
Terrorism and TRIA – What’s in Store for the Future’
Mar 22 2004 // Two years later, fate of the historic act remains unknown If a camel is a “horse made by a committee” then the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA), passed by Congress in November 2002, is a law made by several...
PCI Applauds NAIC’s Rejection on “Alien Reinsurers” Funds
Mar 22 2004 // The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America issued a bulletin applauding the decision by the Reinsurance Task Force of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to table consideration of an approved...
Lawyers and Reforming the U.S. Legal System
Mar 22 2004 // The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” Shakespeare’s 400-year old barb aimed at the legal profession (Henry VI, part 2) is an early, if somewhat drastic, call for tort reform. It certainly...
People and Places
Mar 22 2004 // Mark Benson ACE USA, the U.S.-based retail operations of the ACE Group of Cos., appointed Mark Benson to senior vice president, workers’ compensation for ACE Casualty Risk. Benson will serve as the senior...
CIAB Urges W. Va. Governor to Ink Legislation Repealing Counter-Signature Statute
Mar 18 2004 // The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers (CIAB) on Thursday sent a letter to West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise urging him to sign legislation approved by the West Virginia House and Senate repealing that state’s...
Best Downgrades Winterthur’s U.S. Subs to ‘A-‘
Mar 17 2004 // A.M. Best Co. announced that it has downgraded the financial strength ratings to “A-” (Excellent) from “A” (Excellent) of the U.S. based property/casualty insurance subsidiaries of Winterthur Swiss...
St. Paul Unveils Property, Liability Cover for Overseas Operations
Mar 16 2004 // The St. Paul Companies has introduced an enhanced version of Global Companion, an international commercial property and general liability product designed to help protect U.S.-based companies from the risks associated with...
Philip Lader to Join Council of Lloyd’s
Mar 10 2004 // Lloyd’s announced that Philip Lader, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, is to join the Council at Lloyd’s, the ultimate governing body of the market. Lader served as U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. from...
Lloyd’s Honors Two U.S. Brokers
Mar 10 2004 // Lloyd’s announced that two U.S.-based brokers have been honored for their outstanding achievements in 2003. Gary Cooney of McGriff, Seibels & Williams was named US Surplus Lines Broker of the Year and John...
Wooley Leaves IIABA for Democratic Party
Mar 10 2004 // Derek Wooley, son of Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Robert Wooley, is leaving his job as governmental affairs representative with the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America to become the new executive...
Aspen Adds 5 Underwriters to U.S. Re Team
Mar 9 2004 // Bermuda-based Aspen Insurance Holdings announced the addition of five property reinsurance specialists to Aspen Re America, its recently formed property reinsurance team located in Rocky Hill, Conn. Brian Boornazian, who...
Tort Reformers Look to Score in States after Washington Strikes Out
Mar 8 2004 // Last fall at a University of Virginia Law School forum on tort reform, some of the nation’s top tort experts agreed there were no easy answers on how to solve the nation’s longstanding love-hate relationship...
The Hard Market’s Over … Right’
Mar 8 2004 // Although I’ve been around the specialty industry for more years than I care to reveal and now have seen multiple hard and soft markets, I’m confused. Why such confusion? After reading tea leaves, consulting the...
Small Businesses Start Small Then Grow into Big Businesses
Mar 8 2004 // According to the U.S. Census Bureau there were more than five million firms employing fewer than 20 people in 2001, not counting the millions of people who are self employed. Another 600,000 firms employed between 20 and...
The Hard Market’s Over … Or Is It’
Mar 8 2004 // Although I’ve been around the specialty industry for more years than I care to reveal (this information is in poor taste, akin to discussing a woman’s age), and now have seen multiple hard and soft markets,...
Small Businesses are Big Business
Mar 8 2004 // According to the U.S. Census Bureau there were 5,652,544 firms actively doing business in the U.S. in 2001, the latest available totals. This doesn’t count the millions of people who are self-employed. 5,036,845 of...
The Hard Market’s Over … Or Is It’
Mar 8 2004 // Surplus lines company executives and wholesalers at NAPSLO responded uniformly with broad smiles when asked about their 2003 results. Although I’ve been around the specialty industry for more years than I care to...
Ward-U.S. Risk Acquires Ward North America Subs
Mar 8 2004 // Ward-U.S. Risk LLC, a newly formed corporation, acquired Ward North America, Spectrum Managed Care and SubroNet from Ward North America Holding Inc. Jeffrey Ward, president and CEO of Ward-U.S. Risk LLC, announced the...
MEDICAL LIABILITY REFORM GROUP PRAISING SENATE LEADERS FOR THEIR EFFORTS TO IMPROVE SYSTEM:
Mar 8 2004 // The Coalition for Affordable and Reliable Health Care (CARH), an organization of health care providers and others dedicated to medical liability reform, recently praised new efforts by U.S. Senate leaders to bring balance...