Insurance Journal

Apple Antitrust Suit Mirrors Strategy That Beat Microsoft, but Tech Industry Has Changed

The U.S. government’s antitrust lawsuit against Apple draws on the watershed 1998 case that broke Microsoft’s stranglehold on desktop software, but that may prove to be an imperfect blueprint for addressing smartphone competition. The mar...

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

Challenges to SEC’s Climate Rules Sent to Appeals Court

A U.S. judicial panel on Thursday consolidated at least nine lawsuits challenging the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s new rules requiring public companies to report climate-related risks in a venue favored by Republican-led states and...

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

Vermont Communities Hit by Summer Flooding Seek $3.5M to Elevate 20 Homes

Two of the Vermont communities hardest hit by last summer’s catastrophic flooding have requested $3.5 million in state funding to elevate 20 homes in Barre and the capital city of Montpelier for flood victims who still need safe places to &#823...

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

China Scrutinizes PwC Role in $78 Billion Evergrande Fraud Case

Chinese authorities are examining the role of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in China Evergrande Group’s accounting practices after the developer was accused of a $78 billion fraud, ramping up pressure on the global accounting giant that audited a...

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

People Moves: Massaro Joins Hartford in Northeast; Alliant Adds Spina in New York

The Hartford, headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut, appointed Matthew Massaro head of sales and underwriting for its middle and large commercial businesses’ Northeast division. Massaro has been with The Hartford for over 25 years, most recent...

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

Yemen’s Houthis Tell China, Russia Their Ships Won’t Be Targeted

The Yemen-based Houthis have told China and Russia their ships can sail through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden without being attacked, according to several people with knowledge of the militant group’s discussions. China and Russia reached an und...

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

Tech Update: Aon Launches Climate Risk Monitor to Aid Risk Mgmt, Renewal Decisions

Insurance broker Aon plc has launched its Climate Risk Monitor, a tool that helps clients visualize and understand their exposures to physical climate risk in order to enable better business decisions. The property insurance market is increasingly in...

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

AM Best Downgrades and Withdraws Credit Ratings of Conifer in Michigan and Subsidiaries

AM Best downgraded the Financial Strength Rating to C (Weak) from B+ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings (Long-Term ICR) to “ccc” (Weak) from “bbb-” (Good) of Conifer Insurance Co. and White Pine Insurance Co. They...

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

AM Best Downgrades, Withdraws Credit Ratings of Conifer Insurance Group

AM Best downgraded the Financial Strength Rating to C (Weak) from B+ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings (Long-Term ICR) to “ccc” (Weak) from “bbb-” (Good) of Conifer Insurance Co. and White Pine Insurance Co. They...

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

Apple, Meta, Google to Face EU Digital Markets Act Probes: Sources

Apple, Meta Platforms and Alphabet’s Google are set to be investigated for potential violations of the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) that could lead to hefty fines by the end of the year, according to people with direct knowl...

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

South African Insurer Discovery in Talks With US Insurers to Expand

Discovery Ltd., South Africa’s biggest health insurance provider, is in talks with US peers to bring its flagship wellness program known as Vitality to their market. While Discovery has long had a relationship with John Hancock Life Insurance C...

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

Moody’s on Why 2023 Was So Warm and What Will Happen This Year

A Moody’s publication looks why it was so warm last year and the impacts the effects of global warming will have in 2024. The publication “Warmest Year; Warmest Months: Climate Change and El Niño Edged the Global Closer to the …

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

Biden’s LNG-Permit Halt Challenged by 16 States in Lawsuit

Texas, Louisiana and more than a dozen other US states challenged the Biden administration’s suspension of new licenses to export natural gas via ocean-going tankers. A lawsuit filed against President Joe Biden and the US Department of Energy i...

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

Red Sea Fighting Traps Two Oil Ships in Houthi Waters

Two tankers, containing oil and toxic waste, are stuck in the Red Sea in the firing line between Western naval forces and Yemen’s Houthi militants despite repeated efforts by the United Nations to empty and move the ships to avoid …

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

Denmark Detains Shadow Fleet Oil Tanker After Ship Collision

Danish maritime authorities have detained a tanker that was due to carry Russian oil after it collided with another ship in its waters earlier this month. The Andromeda Star collided with a cargo ship called Peace south of Copenhagen on …

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

SpaceX Forced Workers to Sign Illegal Severance Agreements, Claims NLRB

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been accused by a U.S. labor agency of requiring employees who were laid off or fired from the rocket and satellite maker to sign unlawful agreements barring them from disparaging the company and joining class-action laws...

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

Possibility of a Billion-Dollar Systemic Cyber Event ‘Is Real’

A systemic event and the threat it could pose to insurers’ portfolios is not the million dollar question, but perhaps the billion dollar question, according to Norman Niami, immediate past chairperson and member of The American Academy of Actua...

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

Wary of New Security Law, Foreign Firms in Hong Kong Bolster Contingency Plans

Vague provisions in Hong Kong’s new national security law around state secrets and links to foreign entities have put on edge many global businesses in the financial hub, with some consultants and hedge funds updating contingency plans and seek...

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

Corner Turned? Top Florida Insurers See First Profit in Seven Years, S&P Global Says

Florida’s beleaguered property insurance market is starting to look normal again, with the top insurers in the state showing a collective profit for the first time in seven years, S&P Global Market Intelligence reported this week. The turna...

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

Pinnacol in Colorado Issues $15M Dividend to Businesses

Pinnacol Assurance issued $15 million general dividend to businesses throughout Colorado. This is the ninth straight year Pinacol has issued dividends to customers. Pinnacol Assurance operates similarly to a mutual insurer, treating customers as its...

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

Washington Insurance Commissioner Fines Company $100K for Operating Illegally

Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler fined First Premier Home Warranty Corp. $100,000 and ordered the New York-based home warranty company to stop conducting insurance business in Washington. The cease-and-desist order notes that First Pre...

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

Medical Marijuana Law Does Not Impair Employers’ Right to Drug-Free Workplace

A Connecticut employer has the right to terminate an employee who is impaired by medical marijuana in the workplace. The Connecticut Appellate Court on March 19 upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit brought against a nonprofit pre-school by a teaching &#...

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

A Bridge Too Small: Historic Covered Bridges Threatened by Trucks With GPS for Cars

One of Vermont’s historic covered bridges has fallen under threat from modern technology. Box truck drivers relying on GPS continually crash through Lyndon’s 140-year-old Miller’s Run bridge despite signs, including a flashing one,...

Posted: Mar 22, 2024

Chevron to Pay Over $13M in Settlement for California Oil Spills

Chevron will pay $13.1 million in settlement agreements with two California state agencies for past oil spills in Kern County, Bakersfield, the California natural resources agency said on Wednesday, as the major oil producing state strengthens regula...

Posted: Mar 21, 2024

Texas Cities Rethink Minimum Parking Rules

In car-dependent Texas, most cities have rules on how many parking spots must be built anywhere people live, play or do business. But those requirements have come under scrutiny in recent years, with critics saying they do more harm than …

Posted: Mar 21, 2024