Insurance Journal

US Agency Puts Onus on Amazon for Sale of Hazardous Third-Party Products

Amazon.com is responsible for hazardous products sold by third-party sellers on its platform under the federal safety law and bears legal responsibility for their recall, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said on Tuesday. The CPSC said it h...

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

Recall of Boar’s Head Deli Meats Follows Sample Test for Listeria at Maryland Store

U.S. health officials last Friday announced a recall of some Boar’s Head liverwurst and deli meats as they investigate a listeria outbreak that has sickened nearly three dozen people and caused two deaths. Boar’s Head Provisions Co. recal...

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

South Alabama Woman Charged With 11 Counts of Insurance Fraud

An Alabama woman was arrested after she was indicted by a grand jury, charged with multiple counts of insurance fraud. Allison Dawn Benton Davis, 53, of Dothan, was charged with 11 counts of insurance fraud, according to local news reports. …

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

Meta Platforms to Pay $1.4B to Settle Texas Lawsuit Over Facial Recognition Data

Meta Platforms META.O has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to Texas to resolve the state’s lawsuit accusing the Facebook parent of illegally using facial-recognition technology to collect biometric data of millions of Texans without their consent. Th...

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

Wells Fargo Must Face Lawsuit Over Sham Job Interviews

A U.S. judge ordered Wells Fargo to face a lawsuit alleging it defrauded shareholders by proclaiming its commitment to hiring diversity, even as it conducted sham job interviews of non-white and female applicants it had no plans to hire. U.S. …

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

Microsoft Reports Outage of Some Office and Cloud Services

Microsoft Corp. said it’s investigating outages of some Office applications and cloud services. “We are investigating reports of issues connecting to Microsoft services globally,” the company wrote in an update on a site to monitor...

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

Firefighters Increase Containment on California Wildfire Now at 599 Square Miles

Containment has increased on a fire that exploded in size and in a few days became California’s sixth largest wildfire, destroying hundreds of structures. The Park Fire near Chico, California, has burned 383,619 acres and as of Tuesday morning...

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

Highstreet Expands Florida Footprint with Flagler Insurance Agency

Michigan-headquartered Highstreet Insurance Partners, a rapidly growing, multistate insurance agency, has added to its Florida presence with the acquisition of Flagler Insurance Agency, based in Palm Beach, Florida. The terms of the deal were not rep...

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

Highstreet Expands Florida Footprint With Flagler Insurance Agency

Michigan-headquartered Highstreet Insurance Partners, a rapidly growing, multistate insurance agency, has added to its Florida presence with the acquisition of Flagler Insurance Agency, based in Palm Beach, Florida. The terms of the deal were not rep...

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

AXA IM Prime Buys 20% Stake in French Private Credit Firm Rivage

A unit of AXA Investment Managers has agreed to acquire a minority stake in Rivage Investment, a specialist private credit firm focused on infrastructure debt that oversees more than €7.7 billion ($8.3 billion) in committed capital. AXA IM Prime, as...

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

HDI Global Receives License to Open Office in Dubai

HDI Global SE has received a regulatory license from Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) to open an office in Dubai. The new local presence in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) will allow HDI Global to bring its global financial stren...

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

Cowbell Secures $60M Series C Funding From Zurich

Cowbell, a provider of cyber insurance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), announced on July 26 that it has closed a $60 million Series C equity investment from Zurich Insurance Group, a global multiline insurer. “This investment fro...

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

Minnesota Adds Stricter Guidelines for Rehabilitation Services in Work Comp Claims

Injured Minnesota employees who seek services from the Department of Labor and Industry’s Vocational Rehabilitation unit (VRU) while their disputed workers’ compensation claim goes through the litigation process will soon face new eligibi...

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

South Africa Races to Contain Oil Spill From Wrecked Cargo Ship

South Africa dispatched crews to contain an oil spill from a cargo vessel that ran aground earlier this month because of extreme weather conditions. Strong waves eroded the hull of the 125-meter (410-foot) MV Ultra Galaxy, which beached at Brand &#82...

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

People Moves: BevCap Management Names Vehovic VP of Dealer Risk Services; Skyward Specialty Adds Mig...

BevCap Management, LLC, headquartered in McKinney, Texas, hired Danny Vehovic as vice president of dealer risk services. Vehovic will be focusing on risk consulting and business development for Dealer Management Group, a homogeneous group captive for...

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

Indiana Contractor Faces $199K Fine for Exposing Workers to Deadly Falls

Twice in less than two weeks, federal workplace safety inspectors found an Indiana contractor exposing employees to deadly risks of falls from elevation while they did framing work at two homes under construction in Perrysburg, Ohio Inspectors with t...

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

Typhoon Remnants Bring Rains, Floods That Kill Four in China

Torrential rain and floods killed four people and spurred the evacuation of thousands from homes in China’s southern province of Hunan, lashed by record rainfall from the remnants of Typhoon Gaemi, state media said on Tuesday. Days of heavy rai...

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

Reinsurer SCOR’s Recovery Clouded by First Quarterly Loss Since 2022

SCOR SE reported its first quarterly loss since 2022, delivering a setback to Chief Executive Officer Thierry Leger. The Paris-based reinsurer posted a loss of €308 million ($333 million) in the three months through June, missing analyst estimates. T...

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

Ohio Supreme Ct.: Chicken Wings Advertised as ‘Boneless’ Can Have Bones

Consumers cannot expect boneless chicken wings to actually be free of bones, a divided Ohio Supreme Court ruled last week, rejecting claims by a restaurant patron who suffered serious medical complications from getting a bone stuck in his throat. Mic...

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

Texas Crude Oil Pipelines Are Full to the Brim and Getting Worse

Crude oil pipelines connecting the busiest Texas oil fields to a critical export hub across the state are nearly out of space, threatening to cap US oil exports at a time when the world needs more. Key pipelines that transport …

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

Companies ‘Paralyzed’ as Australia Plans Tough Climate Rules

Australia’s plans to introduce stringent rules on climate disclosures are driving up concerns among businesses about compliance in one of the world’s biggest per-capita emitters. More than 6,000 companies including listed and unlisted fir...

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

Insurance Comparison Site The Zebra Buys Marble

Personal lines insurance comparison site The Zebra said it has acquired Marble, a digital platform for managing and saving on insurance. The acquisition is effective as of July 25, 2024. Terms of the deal, the first in The Zebra’s 12-year &#823...

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

Public D&O Price Decreased 5.2% in Second Quarter, Says Aon

The average price for directors & officers liability insurance decreased 5.2% per $1 million in limits in the second quarter, according to Aon Commercial Risk Solutions. Aon said the decrease compared to the same quarter in 2023 was the ninth &#8...

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

Nationwide Plans 5% Reduction in Employee Headcount

Insurer Nationwide said late last week that it is reducing its headcount by about 5% over the next year. “We can’t speculate on the total number of job impacts,” said Nationwide in a statement. “Eligible associates are able to...

Posted: Jul 30, 2024

Confie Acquires Insurance Agencies in Texas, Florida, North Carolina

Confie, a California-based personal lines distributor, has acquired three insurance agencies in the South, the firm said last week. Affordable Insurance in Hendersonville, North Carolina; US1 Insurance in Miami; and Bridgepoint Insurance in McAllen,...

Posted: Jul 30, 2024