Insurance Journal

Texas Earthquakes Prompt Oil Regulator to Inspect Disposal Wells

The Texas oil regulator said it’s investigating after several earthquakes hit the Permian Basin last week. Extremely salty water that naturally comes out of oil wells is discarded by injecting the slurry back into the ground, a practice that ha...

Posted: Jul 29, 2024

ECB’s Cyber Security Test Shows ‘Room for Improvement’ for Banks

Euro zone banks have “room for improvement” in their cyber security, starting with how they would keep their business running after a hack, the European Central Bank said on Friday. The ECB’s first ever cyber risk stress test was la...

Posted: Jul 29, 2024

BMS Agrees to Purchase UK Insurance Broker DR&P From Private Equity Firm Inflexion

BMS Group, the London-based independent specialist re/insurance broker, has entered into an agreement to acquire David Roberts & Partners (DR&P) from private equity firm Inflexion. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Founded in...

Posted: Jul 29, 2024

Local Opposition Challenges Wind Farm Development in Rural Nebraska

After NextEra proposed a wind farm in Greeley County, Nebraska two years ago, Robert Bernt, a dairy farm owner in the area, helped to mobilize community members against the idea. His group held town hall meetings and ran ads on …

Posted: Jul 29, 2024

Hurricane Beryl Death Toll Grows to At Least 36, Including Those Who Lost Power

HOUSTON (AP) — The number of Texas deaths after Hurricane Beryl came ashore and knocked out power to millions of residents climbed to at least 36 on Thursday as officials confirmed more people who died in homes that were left …

Posted: Jul 29, 2024

Ohio Manufacturer Faces $145K in Fines After Worker Fatally Burned by Molten Metal

A Hubbard, Ohio industrial manufacturer failed to protect their employees from molten metal that was heated to more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the U.S. Department of Labor determined after its investigation into how a 30-year-old employee suffere...

Posted: Jul 29, 2024

Dozens of Catholic Priests and Nuns Accused of Child Abuse in Missouri Lawsuits

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Sixty people allege in new lawsuits filed in Missouri that they were abused as children by dozens of Catholic priests, nuns and others, and the man who now leads the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska, is among …

Posted: Jul 29, 2024

Crop Insurance Won’t Let Some Farmers Adapt to Climate Change

In Kansas, where a prolonged drought has killed crops and eroded the soil, Gail Fuller’s farm is like an oasis. Sheep, cows and chickens graze freely on crops and vegetation in a paradisiacal mess. But if Fuller’s farm were to …

Posted: Jul 29, 2024

Abbott Loses $500 Million Infant Formula Verdict, Lawyers Say

Abbott Laboratories was ordered by a jury to pay almost $500 million over allegations that it hid the risk that its premature-infant formula can cause a potentially fatal bowel disease, according to lawyers for the mother who won the first …

Posted: Jul 29, 2024

Defense Institute Aims to Educate, End ‘Skyrocketing’ Nuclear Verdicts

Robert Tyson believes the defense bar’s lawsuit approach is overdue for an overhaul. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform reported in May that nuclear verdicts are on the rise, noting that there were a record number of &#8230...

Posted: Jul 29, 2024

Castle Key Nonrenewing 33,000 Policies as Florida Mulls Special Session on Condos

Allstate’s Florida subsidiaries are nonrenewing some 33,000 condominium unit policies over the next several months, delivering another blow for beleaguered condo owners across the state. The Palm Beach Post reported that Castle Key Indemnity an...

Posted: Jul 29, 2024

Amazon Says Washington State Injury Case Has Been Dismissed

A case alleging that Amazon.com Inc. exposed warehouse workers to injuries has been dismissed for lack of evidence, the company said in a statement Thursday. The Washington state Department of Labor and Industries cited the e-commerce giant for setti...

Posted: Jul 29, 2024

Cannabis Firm Fights Insurer’s Denial of Business Income Loss Claim Following Fire

A Berkshire Hathaway insurer is insisting it does not owe $1.3 million in claimed business income losses to a cannabis growing company after a building fire shuttered one of its “flowering” rooms for 68 days. National Fire and Marine Insu...

Posted: Jul 29, 2024

Black Bear and Cub Destroy Car in Connecticut After Getting Trapped Inside

Trapped inside a car, the adult black bear and cub thrashed about. The horn was blaring and the radio blasting. Outside the car, a second cub ran around in apparent distress by the Connecticut home. State environmental conservation police were &#8230...

Posted: Jul 29, 2024

Black Bear and Cub Destroy Car After Getting Trapped Inside

Trapped inside a car, the adult black bear and cub thrashed about. The horn was blaring and the radio blasting. Outside the car, a second cub ran around in apparent distress by the Connecticut home. State environmental conservation police were &#8230...

Posted: Jul 29, 2024

Bayer’s Monsanto to Pay $160M to Resolve Seattle’s PCB Contamination Lawsuit

Monsanto will pay $160 million to settle a lawsuit by the city of Seattle that accused the unit of Germany’s Bayer of polluting the city’s drainage system and the local Lower Duwamish River with toxic chemicals known as PCBs. City …

Posted: Jul 29, 2024

Maine Schools Face Unique Challenges in Ridding Water of ‘Forever Chemicals’

Days before winter break ended in December 2022, Bill Hansen was relieved to learn that Jordan-Small Middle School in Raymond had no traces of ‘forever chemicals’ in tests of the school’s water system. Hansen, the Windham Raymond Sc...

Posted: Jul 29, 2024

A Guide to Healthcare Insurance: Part 2

This post is part of a series sponsored by PCF Insurance Services. In the second installment of a three-part series, PCF Healthcare Practice Leader Brian King helps us understand healthcare facility insurance. In Part 1 of our series, we unpacked &#8...

Posted: Jul 28, 2024

Elevating the Customer Experience: Innovations in the Insurance Industry

This post is part of a series sponsored by Dyad. In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, customer experience is paramount across all industries, including insurance. While traditionally viewed as a transactional service, insurance compan...

Posted: Jul 26, 2024

California Commissioner Announces FAIR Plan Modernization Deal

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said on Friday that he and the California Fair Plan have agreed to establishing a new high value commercial coverage option with limits up to $20 million per building and other steps that he said …

Posted: Jul 26, 2024

Business Moves: NFP, Clear Group, and Strategic Risk Group Complete 4 Acquisitions

Three brokers – NFP, Clear Group, and Strategic Risk Group – each announced acquisitions during July. In reverse chronological order, the acquisitions are listed as follows: NFP, the New York-based insurance broker and Aon subsidiary, announced on Ju...

Posted: Jul 26, 2024

Paris Trains Hit By Sabotage Hours Before Olympics Kick Off

Trains to and from Paris, including the international Eurostar service, were hit by what authorities called a “massive attack aimed at paralyzing the network” of France’s super-fast trains just hours ahead of the inauguration ceremo...

Posted: Jul 26, 2024

J&J Loses Latest Legal Bid to Revive Talc Bankruptcy Strategy

Johnson & Johnson lost its bid in a federal appeals court to revive a plan to settle tens of thousands of talc cancer lawsuits by placing a subsidiary into bankruptcy. The ruling Thursday upheld a bankruptcy judge’s dismissal last year &#82...

Posted: Jul 26, 2024

ALKEME Acquires Georgia’s Morris & Templeton Agency

ALKEME, a national insurance broker, has acquired Morris & Templeton in Savannah, Georgia, expanding ALKEME’s footprint in the Southeast. Morris & Templeton was founded in 1981, offering commercial and personal insurance coverage, inclu...

Posted: Jul 26, 2024

Woman Dies in West Virginia’s Second Coal Mine Fatality This Year

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia woman died Wednesday more than a week after an accident at a southern West Virginia coal mine, Gov. Jim Justice said. Ashley Cogar, 33, of Erbacon, was injured at the Wyco Surface Mine, …

Posted: Jul 26, 2024