Daily Headlines: Wednesday, January 25, 2012

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January 25, 2012 News By Region  National  International  East  Midwest  Southeast  South Central  West Video Today's Headlines National January P/C Reinsurance Renewals Flat or Up Slightly: Towers Watson January 1 renewal rates for U.S. property/casualty reinsurance premiums showed firming with changes from -5 percent to +5 percent on an ... Court Upholds Travelers vs. Reinsurers in Big Asbestos Award A New York appellate court affirmed a $420.4 million ruling in favor of insurer The Travelers Companies, handing it a victory in one of the ... Crop Insurance Payouts at a Record $9.1 Billion Crop insurers paid out a record $9.1 billion in indemnities on 2011 U.S. crops, and the total could top $10 billion when all claims are ... ACE Risk Management Launches Specialty Transportation Segment ACE Risk Management has created a national transportation industry segment to offer customized primary casualty coverage for this class. ... Report: Most Workplace Homicides Happen During Robberies What do robberies and healthcare patients have in common? Workplace violence. While the numbers of workplace homicides and injury-causing ... Ratings Roundup: Montpelier US, Medico, First Sealord, Pathfinder A.M. Best Co. has upgraded the financial strength rating (FSR) to 'A+' (Superior) from 'A-' (Excellent) and issuer credit rating (ICR) to ... Auto Insurers Find It Better to Forgive Than Lose Business When insureds suffer a loss in most of the insurance market, they expect their rates to go up. However, insureds' expectations are changing... More National News East Nationwide Calls Harleysville Deal ‘Fair and Compelling’ Nationwide is brushing off Liberty Mutual's allegation that Nationwide's pending acquisition of Harleysville Mutual would unfairly benefit ... Loreley Financing Sues Citigroup Over $1 Billion Investments Citigroup Inc. was sued for fraud by Loreley Financing over nearly $1 billion worth of collateralized debt obligations purchased in 2006 ... Travelers CEO: Business Insurance Renewal Price Up 10% in December Travelers Companies Inc.'s business insurance had renewal premium rate gains of 8 percent for the fourth quarter 2011 and 10 percent for ... More East News Midwest Lawsuit Seeks Information on Michigan Auto Injury Claims A coalition fighting proposed changes to Michigan's auto insurance laws filed a lawsuit seeking claims information from an association that ... Oak Street Funding Adds Gray as Chief Financial Officer Carmel, Ind.-based Oak Street Funding has appointed W. Todd Gray as chief financial officer. Gray will lead the finance and underwriting ... Former North Dakota Insurance Agent Sent to Prison A former Fargo insurance agent has been sentenced to three years in prison and five years on supervised probation for stealing hundreds of ... Missouri Senate Debates Workplace Discrimination Bill Democrats in the Missouri Senate say a bill revising workplace discrimination laws would make it harder for people to prove the claim ... More Midwest News Southeast Kentucky’s Churchill Downs, Jockeys’ Guild Reach Insurance Agreement Churchill Downs Inc. and the Jockeys' Guild have reached an agreement to subsidize riders' health insurance, life insurance and disability ... Leavitt Group Names Bridges President of Atlanta Office The Leavitt Group insurance brokerage has named David Bridges as the president of its Atlanta office. He will also serve as an executive ... More Southeast News South Central Allstate Wants a Rate Increase in Louisiana Allstate Corp. is asking to raise rates for 144,000 Louisiana homeowners who get their insurance coverage from two Allstate companies. ... Another Lawsuit Filed Over ’09 Boat Wreck That Killed 5 The owner of a boat that slammed into a barge at night off the Louisiana coast, killing all five oilfield workers on it, has sued its ... Lubbock Office of Shofner, Lynch & Shulse Joins MHBT Two well-known Texas independent insurance agencies have merged. Dallas-based McQueary Henry Bowles Troy (MHBT) and Shofner, Lynch & ... HCC's Cat Losses in Q4 Mostly Related to Thailand Flooding HCC Insurance Holdings Inc., headquartered in Houston, has reported preliminary fourth quarter 2011 catastrophe losses, after reinsurance ... More South Central News West Bills Named Colorado Casualty President and CEO Centennial, Colo.-based Colorado Casualty has named Lucas J. Bills as president and chief executive officer of the commercial lines ... Milliman Forms Risk Institute Seattle, Wash.-based consulting and actuarial firm Milliman Inc. has formed Milliman Risk Institute, designed to provide scientific-based ... Group to Push Idaho Liquor Vote, Grocers Back Off A grocery lobbying organization won't advance a liquor privatization ballot measure in 2012, but a second group announced it will seek to ... Climate Change Lawsuit in Court in Oregon A Lane County Circuit Court judge is deciding whether to allow a lawsuit brought by two girls against Gov. John Kitzhaber, accusing him of ... Magnitude-4.7 Shakes Hawaii's Big Island A magnitude-4.7 earthquake and several small aftershocks shook Hawaii's Big Island on Sunday, but there were no reports of injury or ... More West News International Study: Major Earthquake Could Hit Tokyo Within Years A new study is warning that the Tokyo region has a 70 percent chance of being hit directly by a powerful magnitude-7 earthquake within four ... Cruise Liners Need Tighter Safety Rules Say Marine Insurers Passenger ship operators should tighten up safety procedures and crew training standards to prevent a repeat of the Costa Concordia ... WillisWire Bloggers Reveal Their Top Emerging Risks for 2012 A bulletin from Willis Group Holdings identifies 18 "emerging risks," as causing increasing concern among the world's insurance community. ... Euro Zone Ministers Reject Private Bondholders’ Offer on Greek Bonds Euro zone finance ministers on Monday rejected as insufficient an offer made by private bondholders to help restructure Greece's debts, ... Analysis of New EU Data Protection Laws Command the Tide but Not the Cost New data-protection proposals from the European Union to help people regain control of personal information from sites like Facebook could ... Best Places PartnerRe and Operating Subs Ratings on Review/Negative A.M. Best Co. has placed under review with negative implications the financial strength rating (FSR) of 'A+' (Superior) and issuer credit ... Best Sees No Ratings Change for QBE Despite Lowered Profit Estimates A.M. Best Europe - Rating Services Limited has commented that the ratings of Australia's QBE Insurance Group Limited and its main ... More International News Sponsored Content Agents & Brokers: Take IJ's 2012 Agency Salary Survey Today and Receive an Advance Copy of the Story and the Survey Results! More Sponsored Content Join the Insurance Journal Network Insurance Journal TV How Insurance Distribution Is Changing Retail and wholesale brokers face the challenge —and opportunity— of redefining their... Watch Now Vertafore: Intelligence in Technology Insurance technology leader Vertafore serves 15,000 agencies, 1,000 carriers and about 750... Watch Now Watch more videos at InsuranceJournal.tv New Discussions in the Forums How have you Benefited from your Cluster Membership? Posted: Wed Jan 25 -- Love, LOVE, SIAA. They were a God send when setting up my IA after 17 years with FIG. Helped me determine what carriers were competitive in... sacman Farmers - your opinion Posted: Tue Jan 24 -- Ok- I have been with Farmers for 21 years. Some have been really good and some have been really ugly. I have been very fortunate to be very... justthere Producer Compensation-Florida Posted: Tue Jan 24 -- Thank You. that was my thought as well, but I wanted to get some other opinions saabins Tracking Producer Comission Posted: Tue Jan 24 -- The stand-alone system that I wrote is geared more for Brokerage General Agents (BGA) and tracks the complete payout of cases including who... RAC30188 My CPCU journey - almost finished..... Posted: Mon Jan 23 -- I am starting this month with CPCU 530 and wasn't sure if I should get the flash cards, etc. After reading this post, I'm going to stick... AnMarieB The transition from underwriter to producer... Posted: Sat Jan 21 -- Just found this for ya! Looks like a slam dunk to me!... dm307799 Taxi company - CA 25 Units Posted: Sat Jan 21 -- Hello, Can anyone beat Mercury's rate of approximately 4k a unit? My client is paying $100,000 AP and has 30,000 in losses in last 3 years.... InsureTime SOCAL Brush Posted: Wed Jan 18 -- Anyone know of standard carriers that wil write in CA Brush line? Travelers, Hartford, Fidelity have all said no. Value is $1.1. I know... JAM Go to Forums Reader Comments Lawyer Hits Jailing of Amish Men in Kentucky Over Buggies Posted: Mon Jan 23 -- This isn't just an "Amish thing", it has to do with safety on the roadway..PUBLIC roadways. It's fine if the Amish want to put *their*... Susan Mississippi Supreme Court to Hear Grocery Store Parking Lot Beating Posted: Mon Jan 23 -- INSANITY prevails. Come on, an armed guard in the parking lot? What a ridiculous presumption of safety. Shame on the jury of me, women and... reality bites Mississippi Handling 20 Cases of Teacher Misconduct with Students Posted: Wed Jan 18 -- That is definitely scary; however, one thing that bothered me is that a hug was considered sexual. I think that's a shame that because of... Doug New Jersey High Court Clears County in Bicyclist's Death Posted: Mon Jan 23 -- Sanity prevails! Seriously, a 1.5" deep hole? Tragic consequences indeed, but hardly an unnegotiable road hazard. Had it been a 1.5" bump,... reality bites Healthcare Individual Mandate Too Weak to Matter, Aetna CEO Says Posted: Thu Jan 19 -- You knew I would weigh in, just as I knew you would. :) I know that agents will probably lose a share of their commissions. Again, I say too... 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