Insurance Journal

Mercury Launches New Umbrella Insurance in Oklahoma

Rising liability injury claims for home and auto owners that exceed traditional policy limits have spurred Mercury Insurance, headquartered in Los Angeles, to unveil an all-new personal umbrella insurance policy for Oklahomans that offers extra prote...

Posted: May 30, 2024

Miller Acquires Spanish Specialty Re/Insurance Broker Bruzon

Miller, the London-based specialist re/insurance broker, announced the acquisition of Madrid-based commercial insurance and reinsurance broker Bruzon Correduría de Seguros y Reaseguros S.A. and its subsidiary Bruzon Services S.A., subject to regulato...

Posted: May 30, 2024

FBI Takes Down Huge Global Army of Zombie Computer Devices

The FBI said it has dismantled what is likely the world’s largest botnet — an army of 19 million infected computers — that was leased to hackers for cybercrimes. The botnet, which was spread across more than 190 countries, enabled …

Posted: May 30, 2024

Supreme Court Backs NRA in First Amendment Claim Against New York Regulator

The U.S. Supreme Court has revived a claim by the National Rifle Association (NRA) that a former New York regulator allegedly violated the organization’s First Amendment rights by coercing insurers and banks to terminate their business relation...

Posted: May 30, 2024

Everest Launches Mexico Operations, Expanding Its Global Insurance Network

Everest, the Bermuda-based specialty re/insurer, announced it has received regulatory approval to begin operating in Mexico. Trading as Compañía de Seguros Generales Everest México S.A. de C.V., the unit is headquartered in Mexico City and is led by...

Posted: May 30, 2024

Minnesota Program Fails to Deter Alcohol Overservice

A strategy aimed at preventing Minnesota restaurants and bars from serving alcohol to patrons who are already intoxicated does not appear to be effective, according to a study recently published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research. Overser...

Posted: May 30, 2024

Nissan Warns Owners of Older Vehicles Due to Risk of Exploding Air Bag Inflators

Nissan is urging the owners of about 84,000 older vehicles to stop driving them because their Takata air bag inflators have an increased risk of exploding in a crash and hurling dangerous metal fragments. Wednesday’s urgent request comes after...

Posted: May 30, 2024

NC Commissioner Rejects Proposed 83% Mobile Home-Fire Rate Increase

North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey has scheduled a 2025 hearing date after rejecting the NC Rate Bureau’s request for an 83% average rate increase in mobile home fire policies and a 50% increase in mobile home casualty rates over...

Posted: May 30, 2024

ARCW Acquires CLC Insurance Agency in Clearwater

Clearwater-based CLC Insurance Agency has merged with ARCW Insurance, a Leavitt Group affiliate, the companies said in a news release this week. CLC, founded four years ago by Crystal Callahan Lawson, now Callahan-Estes, will relocate to ARCW’s...

Posted: May 30, 2024

Irish Court Case on Russia Jet Insurance Claims to Begin on June 11

Ireland’s High Court is to begin hearing a dispute around insurance claims for aircraft stuck in Russia on June 11, a week later than scheduled, after parties in the case asked for additional time to prepare, a court spokesman said …

Posted: May 30, 2024

Kentucky Families Struggling After Being Hit Second Time by Tornadoes

BARNSLEY, Ky. (AP) — Devin Johnson’s life was uprooted for a second time when a tornado flattened his home over the Memorial Day weekend — on the same lot in Kentucky where another storm left him homeless in 2021. Johnson, …

Posted: May 30, 2024

Latest Texas Storms Bring Damaging Winds, Baseball-Sized Hail

HOUSTON (AP) — Strong storms with damaging winds and baseball-sized hail pummeled Texas on Tuesday, leaving one person dead and about 1 million businesses and homes without power as much of the U.S. recovered from severe weather, including tornadoes,...

Posted: May 30, 2024

Texas Panhandle Braces for Damaging Hail and Wind: Weather Watch

Severe thunderstorms are set to sweep across Texas Panhandle, including Lubbock and Amarillo on Thursday. The risk will drop on Friday and Saturday but destructive systems will still be possible, the US Storm Prediction Center said. “A tumultuo...

Posted: May 30, 2024

Property-Catastrophe Reinsurance Rates Drop by 5% at June Renewals: Howden Re

Property-catastrophe rates saw some moderating trends during the June 1 reinsurance renewals, with average risk-adjusted rates-on-line decreasing by 5% within a typical range of -7.5% to -2.5%, according to Howden Re, the reinsurance business of Howd...

Posted: May 30, 2024

32.7M Homes at Risk of Hurricane Damage, CoreLogic Report Shows

More than 32.7 million residential properties from Texas to Maine are at risk of moderate or severe damage sustained from hurricane-force winds, a new report shows. The large number of at-risk homes in CoreLogic’s 2024 Hurricane Risk Report, wh...

Posted: May 30, 2024

Ex-Employee Accuses Private Equity Firm of Retaliatory Firing Over Complaint

A former executive assistant at One Equity Partners sued the private equity firm on Wednesday, claiming she was subjected to sexist and racist conduct and was fired for complaining about it. Dianna Toomey, an Arab American of Lebanese descent, said &...

Posted: May 30, 2024

People Moves: Ryan Specialty Promotes Pouliot to Chief Reserving Officer

Ryan Specialty, headquartered in Chicago, promoted Derek Pouliot to chief reserving officer of Ryan Specialty Underwriting Managers (RSUM). In his expanded role, Pouliot is responsible for valuation of underwriting results for all business written by...

Posted: May 30, 2024

Robot to Remove Melted Nuclear Fuel From Japan’s Damaged Fukushima Reactor

The operator of Japan’s destroyed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant demonstrated Tuesday how a remote-controlled robot would retrieve tiny bits of melted fuel debris from one of three damaged reactors later this year for the first time sinc...

Posted: May 30, 2024

SambaSafety and The National Alliance Unveil 2024 Driver Risk Report: Key Trends Shaping Automotive...

Austin, TX, May 30, 2024 – The National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research has partnered with SambaSafety, a leading provider of cloud-based risk management solutions, to release a new research report, titled: “2024 Driver Risk...

Posted: May 30, 2024

Climate Lawsuits Build as Latin American Court Hears Largest Case Ever

Latin America’s human rights court holds a final hearing in Brazil on Wednesday in a case that’s part of a global wave of climate litigation, as several international courts prepare first-time opinions on what countries must do to combat...

Posted: May 30, 2024

China Weighs Record Fine for PwC Over Evergrande Audit Work

China is poised to impose a record fine on PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and suspend some of the global auditor’s local operations over its role in one of the nation’s biggest alleged financial fraud cases, according to people familiar with...

Posted: May 30, 2024

EU Weighs Proposal to Sanction Russian Oil Tanker Insurer Ingosstrakh

The European Union’s executive arm is examining the feasibility of a proposal by one of its member states to sanction Russia’s Ingosstrakh Insurance Co., as part of efforts to choke revenue generating streams that Moscow needs to finance...

Posted: May 30, 2024

Wisconsin Average Indemnity Benefit Up, Disability Duration Still Short: WCRI

Wisconsin’s average indemnity benefit per claim grew nearly 10% in 2022, fueled by large growth in the average duration of temporary disability per claim, according to a recent study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute. Nevertheles...

Posted: May 30, 2024

Survey: Mid-Market Leaders Peg Cyber, Economy and Regulation as Top Concerns

Business leaders place cybersecurity, the economy, regulatory challenges and global instability among their top concerns for the coming year, fueled by factors such as AI, climate change, nuclear verdicts and political unrest. The annual Marsh McLenn...

Posted: May 30, 2024

How AI Can Reshape Claims Management

How can artificial intelligence change property and casualty insurance claim processing? Two industry experts answered that question from a few angles during Carrier Management’s annual InsurTech Summit. Frank Giaoui, founder and CEO of Optimal...

Posted: May 30, 2024