Latest Virginia Headlines

All the headlines from our Virginia Topic Page, ordered by recency.

S.B. 418 Passed W.Va. Senate, Hits Roadblock in House

Mar 31 2005 // With 10 days left in West Virginia’s legislative sessions, although the Senate adopted Gov. Joe Manchin’s insurance proposals, SB 418 has stalled in the House. The bill would bar third party bad faith lawsuits...

Prison Awaits W.Va. Couple After 10-Year Crime Spree, 60 Arsons

Mar 28 2005 // An insurance fraud scheme that continued for 10 years and left a trail 60 arsons across southern West Virginia, including burned mobile homes, buildings and automobiles, has netted a Logan County, W.Va. woman 15 years in...

Main Street Matters

Mar 21 2005 // New York is one of the worst; New Jersey is also poor; Virginia remains among the best; Massachusetts and Maryland are looking better and better; Connecticut is holding steady, while Pennsylvania has some catching up to...

Third-Party Bad Faith Reform Moving Quickly in W. Va.

Mar 21 2005 // In a surprise move, the West Virginia Senate Finance Committee, meeting in Charleston, speeded up its consideration of a third-party bad faith reform bill, quickly approving the bill and sending it to the Senate for a full...

GENERAL RE UNDER SCRUTINY:

Mar 21 2005 // General Reinsurance, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., has been subpoenaed in an investigation of Reciprocal of America, a former Virginia-based professional liability insurer whose collapse is considered one of the...

W. VA. AGENCY TO SERVE HISPANICS

Mar 21 2005 // Veronica Hall, an associate agent with Maiden Financial in Martinsburg, W. Va., has opened what she thinks is West Virginia’s first insurance agency catering to Hispanic clients. Hall said she didn’t intend to...

W. Va. Tort Reform Bill Survives Toughest Test Yet; NAMIC Comments

Mar 18 2005 // Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin’s bill to eliminate third-party bad faith lawsuits survived its toughest test to date on March 17 when the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill out of committee over the strenuous...

STATE PULLS PLUG ON RED LIGHT CAMERAS:

Mar 7 2005 // Pilot programs that use cameras to catch red light runners in several Virginia localities will end July 1 unless supporters of the technology can find a way to reverse action taken by a legislative committee. The House...

INSURANCE FEDERATION SUPPORTS REPEAL OF THIRD PARTY CAUSES OF ACTION

Mar 7 2005 // Members of the West Virginia Insurance Federation have endorsed the findings of a West Virginia Insurance Commission report calling for elimination of private third party cause of action lawsuits brought under the Unfair...

General Re Under Scrutiny for Reinsurance Dealings with Failed Virginia Liability Reciprocal

Mar 2 2005 // General Reinsurance, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., has been subpoenaed in an investigation of Reciprocal of America, a former Virginia-based professional liability insurer whose collapse is considered one of the...

W. Va. Governor Manchin Addresses PIIA This Morning, Discusses His Proposals

Feb 28 2005 // Proposals by West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin to bring down insurance rates and increase availability will be discussed this morning during two presentations in Charleston during Insurance Day, sponsored by the...

Med-Mal Writer ProAssurance to Expand Mid-Atlantic Reach with NCRIC Merger

Feb 28 2005 // Brimingham,Alabanama-based medcial malpractice insurer ProAssurance Corporation (NYSE: PRA) and NCRIC Group, Inc., our of Washington, D.C., (NASDAQ: NCRI) announced an agreement to merge NCRIC into ProAssurance in a $69.6...

Feb. 27-28 PIIA Legislative Day Topics to be Broadcast Live Across W. Va.

Feb 25 2005 // Details of an extensive look at the first comprehensive insurance consumer research study completed in West Virginia in decades will be presented by RMS Strategies Inc. during the opening Feb. 27 and 28 Insurance Day...

PIA of W. Va. EVP Describes Medical Liability Crisis; Hopes for Legislative Action

Feb 24 2005 // West Virginia’s medical liability insurance market is in a crisis and it has be fixed soon according to Gray Marion, Professional Independent Insurance Agents of West Virginia executive vice president. Marion...

W. Va. Agency Opening Martinsburg Office to Cater to Hispanic Clients

Feb 22 2005 // Veronica Hall, an associate agent with Maiden Financial in Martinsburg has announced the opening of what she thinks is West Virginia’s first insurance agency catering to Hispanic clients. Hall said she didn’t...

E&S Markets Medium, Softening Across the Board

Feb 21 2005 // Rising property prices and a healthy economy after the election year have encouraged competition for casualty business. Although account size is sometimes a factor in the directions prices move, E&S specialists say...

W. Va. Insurance Federation Supports Repeal of Third Party Causes of Action

Feb 17 2005 // The West Virginia Insurance Federation has announced that its members have endorsed the findings of a recently released West Virginia Insurance Commission report calling for elimination of private third party cause of...

NAMIC Supports W. Va. Civil Justice Legislation

Feb 16 2005 // A plan by West Virginia Gov. Joseph Manchin to introduce legislation as early as next week to help reform the state’s civil justice system and address certain insurance-related issues is long overdue, an official of...

W. Va. Gov. Forms Working Groups to Discuss Insurance, Tort Reforms

Feb 14 2005 // West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin has formed several formal working groups to discuss insurance reforms and frivolous lawsuits. The groups are comprised mainly of lobbyists and lawmakers. During his State-of-the-State address...

Two Plead Guilty in Big Virginia Insurance Fraud Case Involving Former Malpractice Reciprocal

Feb 11 2005 // Two former top officers of collapsed Reciprocal of America are scheduled for sentencing in June for their roles in what a federal prosecutor called one of Virginia’s biggest insurance fraud cases. Kenneth R....