Daily Headlines: Wednesday, September 21, 2011

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September 21, 2011 News By Region  National  International  East  Midwest  Southeast  South Central  West Video Today's Headlines National Consumers Not Required to Arbitrate Warranty Claims with Car Dealers: Court A federal appeals court handed car owners a victory by striking down a requirement that they arbitrate warranty disputes with dealers. ... Selective to Acquire Montpelier Re E&S Unit for $55M Selective Insurance Group is acquiring Montpelier U.S. Insurance Company (acronym MUSIC), an excess-and-surplus lines unit from Montpelier ... Best Upgrades Philadelphia Insurance Co. and Members Ratings A.M. Best Co. has upgraded the financial strength rating (FSR) to 'A++' (Superior) from 'A+' (Superior) and the issuer credit ratings (ICR) ... Ratings Roundup: Dryden Mutual, Western Ins., Ally Ins., FHM A.M. Best Co. has upgraded the issuer credit rating to "a+" from "a" and affirmed the financial strength rating of 'A' (Excellent) ... Ohio Mutual’s Kennedy Sworn In As Chairman of Insurer Group NAMIC The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies swore in its newest chairman of the board of directors today. James J. Kennedy began ... Zurich to Offer Contract Litigation Insurance for Real Estate Firms Zurich, a provider of property and casualty insurance in North America and globally, now offers Contract Litigation Insurance (CLI). ... RLI Expands Miscellaneous E&O Coverage Through New Product RLI has launched a new miscellaneous professional liability product called RLI Target Professionals. The new product is designed to protect ... Prices Up in All Commercial Lines: Towers Watson In an indication that the market may be hardening, commercial insurance prices in aggregate increased by nearly 1.5 percent during the... More National News East Massachusetts Family Settles Last Wrongful Death Lawsuit from 9/11 The last wrongful death lawsuit remaining from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has been resolved with a settlement, according to an attorney ... Virginia-based Hilb Group Expands in New York State The Hilb Group, a Glen Allen, Va.-based holding company that focuses on acquiring mid-market agencies, is further expanding in New York ... Ex-Insurance Agent in Pennsylvania Sentenced for Fraud A former northeastern Pennsylvania insurance executive has been sentenced to 5 1/2 to 16 1/2 years in state prison in what prosecutors said ... U.S. RE Executive Joins N.Y. Reinsurance Broker Holborn Independent reinsurance broker Holborn Corp. has appointed Arthur Dougherty as a senior vice president in the firm's New York City ... More East News Midwest Insurer Says Exclusion Bars Payment in Nebraska Pastor's Death An insurance company specializing in policies for churches is asking a federal court to absolve it from paying a claim by the widow of a ... USI Insurance Acquires Ohio's First Place Insurance Agency New York-based USI Insurance Services has acquired substantially all of the assets of First Place Insurance Agency Ltd. (First Place ... Central Insurance Honored With Big 'I' Best Practices Award The Central Insurance Companies, headquartered in Van Wert, Ohio, was recently awarded the 2010 Best Practices Award of Excellence from the ... More Midwest News Southeast Kentucky Tries to Find Amish Buggies Compromise A western Kentucky lawmaker is trying to find a compromise in the debate over a law that requires slow-moving vehicles to display a ... Bill Would Funnel Fines Paid by BP to Gulf States U.S. Senators Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss) say they are hopeful that a key Senate committee will this week approve ... West Virginia College Town Tries to Curb Football Game Fires Morgantown, West Virginia fire officials are trying to prevent the spectacle of nationally televised street fires after a big football game ... AssuredPartners Acquires Kentucky-Based Agency Neace Lukens Florida-based AssuredPartners Inc. has acquired the Neace Lukens, a Kentucky-based insurance agency, as part of a plan to build a national ... More Southeast News South Central Fire-Ravaged Texas Land May Lose Half Its Value Texas property blackened by wildfires may suffer reductions in value by as much as 50 to 60 percent and a full recovery could take years, ... Texas Forest Service: Residents Should Clear Debris Around Homes With the wildfire in Texas' Bastrop County mostly contained, the Texas Forest Service is urging residents who live in the area affected by ... Texas Mutual Announces Safety Group for Oil and Gas Industry Texas Mutual Insurance Co. announced a new workers' compensation safety group: Texas Alliance of Energy Producers (TAEP). The group is ... More South Central News West U.S. Risk Acquires American Special Risk of California Woodland Hills, Calif.-based American Special Risk Insurance Services has been acquired by managing general agency and surplus line ... Aon Risk Appoints Real Estate-Focused Account Executive in San Francisco Aon Risk Solutions has appointed Jason Caya account executive of the San Francisco office. Caya is responsible for supporting Aon's ... More West News International Lloyd's Reports Billion Dollar First Half Loss Due to Catastrophes As had been more or less predicted, Lloyd's posted a £697 million [$1.094 billion] pre-tax loss for the first six months of 2011, compared ... Typhoon Roke Threatens Japan: AIR Report According to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide more than a million people were evacuated in central and western Japan in advance of ... Cooper Gay Swett & Crawford: A Global Broker Pioneers a New Path Cooper Gay Swett & Crawford (CGSW) is the largest independent (i.e. privately owned by its employees and private equity funds) global ... Lloyd’s Bolt: Offshore Energy Underwriters Aren’t ‘Robustly Managing Risks’ In a keynote speech at the annual Houston Marine Insurance Seminar Tom Bolt, Lloyd's Director of Performance Management, told an audience ... Malta, Slovenia Risk Management Associations Join FERMA The risk management associations of Malta (MARM) and Slovenia (SI.RISK) have been accepted as the latest members of the Federation of ... Ratings Recap: NIPPONKOA (China), Leadway, B&B, Montpelier Re, Milli Re A.M. Best Co. has assigned a financial strength rating of 'A-' (Excellent) and an issuer credit rating of "a-" to NIPPONKOA Insurance ... More International News Sponsored Content The e-Marketing Minute is a bi-weekly video series designed to help insurance agents learn how to grow their agency utilizing the Internet. Check it out. More Sponsored Content Join the Insurance Journal Network Insurance Journal TV PURE Innovation During his 25-year career in the property/casualty insurance business, Ross Buchmueller has... Watch Now Lloyd's Chairman Lord Peter Levene on Reinsurance, the U.S. Market and Some Future Plans Lord Peter Levene talked to the IJ on his balcony at the Hotel de Paris. His reign as... Watch Now Watch more videos at InsuranceJournal.tv New Discussions in the Forums Should I get Cal. Low Cost Auto Ins. in our office? Posted: Tue Sep 20 -- In addition to what D's said, the plan offers low limit, 10/20/3. I agree that it does not make business sense for many agents from multiple... wariline 3 Properties in Texas? Posted: Tue Sep 20 -- Dear all: I am in CA and does anyone know a good carrier for writing 3 Rental properties in Texas? Thanks! roycheong1031 Worker's comp commission Posted: Mon Sep 19 -- Wow-In many years of writing in CA, have yet to get 15% . Most in CA seems to be 12% down to as low as 6% (I do not include SCIF) Big... jackwehoca No Fault insurance question Posted: Mon Sep 19 -- John J90, you need to study up on your state's no-fault laws if you are out marketing auto insurance. It's pretty critical that you know how... BKCPCU Do you recommend bonds or crime insurance? Posted: Fri Sep 16 -- I would say that in many cases there is coverage through a crime policy or endorsement providing employee dishonesty on the victim's package... FurriePrincess Help our MLR (Medical Loss Ratio ) Posted: Fri Sep 16 -- My company is a platinum representative for Blue Cross, however our MLR with them is 130%. We have stopped submitting apps from people who... cbaw1957 Study tips for the California Life Agent Exam Posted: Fri Sep 16 -- I too went through prelicencetraining.ripoff. I passed the test by the skin of my teeth and I studied 2 1/2 months. At first, I just read... cbaw1957 Garage Liability and loaner vehicles Posted: Thu Sep 15 -- "Question: My customer has a GK/GL policy. Customer of his is dropping off her tire at the shop and is turning... Rob Go to Forums Reader Comments Lloyd's Syndicate Sues Saudi Arabia for $215M Over 9/11 Claims Posted: Thu Sep 15 -- Awesome! Go get 'em. Scott Romoser Federal Judge Rejects Health Insurance Mandate in Latest Case Posted: Wed Sep 14 -- This has cost our nation MILLIONS, its time for Congress to step up and repeal this law... The uncertainty alone, of the costs and effectsof... mark hester Pennsylvania Jury Finds Nurse Liable, Awards $23 Million to Amputee Posted: Mon Sep 19 -- If that poor woman lived in VA she would have a med mal cap of under $2,000,000 which is terribly inadequate for such a case. Deborah Brown More Americans Believe World is Warming: Reuters Poll Posted: Mon Sep 19 -- Why is there even a debate as to whether the world is warming? It is. I thought the debate was more around man's connection to the... Matt Top 5 Technology Priorities for P/C Insurers Posted: Mon Sep 19 -- The ultimate company objective is to reduce employee count to the present company officers, a couple of programmers and one guy to take the... 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