Insurance Journal

Miami Labor Supplier Charged With Underreporting Payroll to Travelers

Florida authorities charged a Miami contractor with vastly underreporting his payroll and skipping out on $253,000 in workers’ compensation insurance premiums to Travelers Property and Casualty Co. Gustavo Antonio Munguia, 48, owner of American...

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

AXIS Capital Names Becker as Chair-Elect of Board of Directors, Succeeding Smith

AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd., the Bermuda-based specialty re/insurer, announced that W. Marston (Marty) Becker will succeed Henry B. Smith as non-executive chair of its Board of Directors. Smith, who has served as chair since May of 2020, has decided t...

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

Florida Bills Moving, But Agents Disagree on One that Bars Cancellations After Storms

Florida legislation that has been called an “agents’ bill” because it could perhaps make life a little easier for insurance agents after storms, passed a major hurdle this week, moving it closer to approval by the full Legislature....

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

Florida Bills Moving: Surplus Lines to Get Second Homes; Cancels Barred After Storms

Florida legislation that has been called an “agents’ bill” because it could perhaps make life a little easier for insurance agents, passed a major hurdle this week, moving it closer to approval by the full Legislature. But all Flori...

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

Florida Bills Moving, But Agents Disagree on One That Bars Cancellations After Storms

Florida legislation that has been called an “agents’ bill” because it could perhaps make life a little easier for insurance agents after storms, passed a major hurdle this week, moving it closer to approval by the full Legislature....

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

Embedded Business Insurance Agency Coverdash Raises $13.5 Million

Coverdash, which offers embedded commercial insurance technology with products for startups and small-to-medium businesses, announced $13.5 million in Series A funding. This financing comes within one calendar year of Coverdash’s seed round, br...

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

Tesla Must Face Class Action Claims by 6,000 Workers in Race Bias Case

A California state judge has tentatively ruled that nearly 6,000 Black factory workers can sue Tesla as a group for the electric vehicle maker’s alleged failure to address rampant race discrimination and harassment at its Fremont plant. Califor...

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

Destination Progressive… or One of These Other Carriers

Commissions are more certain than insurance losses. Those were not exactly the words that a Progressive executive used when he described the work the insurer has been doing to help customers meet all their insurance needs—sometimes through the polici...

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

Profit Recovery Will Vary Among U.S. Personal Auto Carriers: Fitch

Fitch Ratings said it expects underwriting results for U.S. personal auto insurer to continue to improve this year but the pace to profitability will vary. Auto insurers Progressive and GEICO were the only two of 10 publicly traded carriers analyzed...

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

Horse Race Authority Says Equine Deaths Are Lower at Tracks Under its Watch

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Horse racing’s federal oversight body says racetracks under its jurisdiction experienced 1.23 racing-related equine fatalities per 1,000 starts in 2023, a much lower rate than at tracks outside its watch. The Horseracing I...

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

Disney Faces Wrongful Death Claim Over Pub Food ‘Guaranteed’ as Allergen Free

The husband of a New York doctor who died shortly after dining at a Disney Springs restaurant last year accused Walt Disney Parks and Resorts of negligence in a 19-page lawsuit filed in Florida. Jeffrey Piccolo is seeking in excess …

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

Lawsuit by Elon Musk’s X Against Hate Speech Watchdog Heads to Court

A U.S. judge on Thursday will consider whether to dismiss X Corp’s lawsuit against a nonprofit that has criticized a rise in hate speech on the social media platform once known as Twitter since Elon Musk took it over. X …

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

Companies in Ukraine See Problems Pile Up; Insurance Issues Make Matters Worse

German supermarket chain Metro and its 3,400 employees in Ukraine have worked hard to get their business back to where it was before Russia’s full-scale invasion two years ago. After a sales slump of 10.4% in 2022 – when the …

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

Texas Wildfire Conditions Seen Worsening After Brief Respite

Dry, windy weather that’s been fanning the worst Texas wildfire in almost two decades will return later this week after a brief respite of rain and snow. Fires raging across the Texas Panhandle have scorched homes and ranches, menaced an &#8230...

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

Howden Acquires Ireland’s Intersure Group

Howden, the London-based insurance intermediary group, announced it has acquired Intersure Group Ltd., trading as Intersure Group, further strengthening its ability to service the Irish insurance market, as it expands its geographical footprint acros...

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

St. Louis Suburb to Pay $4.5M Settlement Over ‘Debtors Prison’ Suit

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis suburb where Michael Brown was fatally shot by a police officer has agreed to pay $4.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused it of operating a so-called debtors’ prison. The legal …

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

Google Hit With $2.3B Lawsuit by 32 European Media Groups

BRUSSELS – Alphabet’s Google was hit with a 2.1-billion-euro ($2.3 billion) lawsuit by 32 media groups including Axel Springer and Schibsted on Wednesday, alleging that they had suffered losses due to the company’s practices in digital ad...

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

Insurance Journal’s Jergler Named Editor of Claims Journal

Claims Journal, a Wells Media Company, has named Don Jergler as editor. He succeeds Jim Sams who retired in January. Jergler has covered the insurance industry for over 20 years and holds multiple nominations and an AZBEE award from the …

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

Companies Walk ESG Tightrope, Under Fire From All Sides Over Disclosures

Since joining Asahi Group in 2020 as sustainability chief, Preeti Srivastav has helped the Japanese brewer make several environmental and social pledges but has not got it to disclose all its progress. Asahi said on Feb. 9 it had brought …

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

EU Lawmakers ‘Outraged’ After States Block Landmark ESG Law

A European Union law designed to clean up corporate supply chains has been derailed by the bloc’s biggest member states, forcing negotiators back to the drawing board on one of the most consequential pieces of ESG legislation ever attempted. Th...

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

UnitedHealth Faces Antitrust Probe by US Justice Department

The US Department of Justice has initiated an antitrust investigation into UnitedHealth Group Inc., people familiar with the matter said Tuesday. The probe opens a new layer of scrutiny on the largest US health insurer that operates in pharmacy benef...

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

UnitedHealth Hackers Say They Stole ‘Millions’ of Records, Then Delete Statement

In a message posted to, and then quickly deleted from their darknet site, the hackers blamed for striking the UnitedHealth Group said on Wednesday they stole millions of sensitive records, including medical insurance and health data, from the company...

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

Woman Sues NFL Star Tyreek Hill, Says He Broke Her Leg in Backyard Football Drills

Miami Dolphins superstar Tyreek Hill has been named in a lawsuit by a model and social media influencer, who claims that Hill broke her leg after she knocked him backwards in an impromptu football instruction last year. Hall’s complaint, filed...

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

People Moves: Rex Joins Insurance Office of America’s Western Division Team

Insurance Office of America (IOA) named J.D. Rex to its Western division team. Based in Salt Lake City, Rex joins IOA as a risk management specialist focusing on the transportation industry. Before joining IOA, Rex was most recently president at &#82...

Posted: Feb 29, 2024

FTP of California Rebrands as Hinterland Insurance, Moves Headquarters Amid Expansion

FTP of California LLC has rebranded to Hinterland Insurance and moved its headquarters to the Denver Tech Center in Colorado. The rebrand is part of a larger strategy to reflect the firm’s growing business in the U.S. The company continues &#82...

Posted: Feb 29, 2024