Insurance Journal

Change Healthcare Cyberattack Is Still Disrupting Pharmacies, Other Providers

A cyberattack that has disrupted Change Healthcare’s computer networks for nearly a week is creating a growing administrative problem for pharmacies and health-care providers around the nation. Change Healthcare, a division of UnitedHealth Grou...

Posted: Feb 28, 2024

OpenAI Says New York Times ‘Hacked’ ChatGPT to Build Copyright Lawsuit

OpenAI has asked a federal judge to dismiss parts of the New York Times’ copyright lawsuit against it, arguing that the newspaper “hacked” its chatbot ChatGPT and other artificial-intelligence systems to generate misleading evidence...

Posted: Feb 28, 2024

Markets/Coverages: Legal & Contingency Launches EV Charging Site Insurance for England and Wales

Legal & Contingency Ltd. (L&C), the London-based MGA that specializes in underwriting legal indemnities and title risks, announced the launch of an insurance policy which will cover the installation of electric vehicle charging points in Engl...

Posted: Feb 28, 2024

People Moves: Alabama, NC DOIs Name Two to Key Positions

Two state insurance departments have named new people to high-level positions. North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey this week announced that Amy Funderburk, a longtime attorney for a number of state government agencies and a credit union...

Posted: Feb 28, 2024

Florida Senate Panel Advances Bill Making it a Felony to Expose Responders to Fentanyl

A Florida Senate committee on Tuesday approved an amended bill that could potentially reduce workers’ compensation costs for first responders in the state, people who are at increasing risk of exposure to accidental fentanyl overdoses. Senate B...

Posted: Feb 28, 2024

Boston Property Manager Sued For Revoking Job Offer for Woman With Breast Cancer

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is suing a Boston property management firm for allegedly violating federal law by failing to provide a reasonable accommodation to a new hire with a disability and subsequently withdrawing her job of...

Posted: Feb 28, 2024

Forecast: Blizzard Conditions Could Bury California Mountain Towns in Feet of Snow

Snow was expected to pick up across portions of Oregon, Northern California and northwestern Nevada by Wednesday night, according to AccuWeather meteorologists, who are forecasting heavy snow to expand through the northern and central Sierra on Thurs...

Posted: Feb 28, 2024

Magnitude 4.9 Earthquake Shook Idaho

An earthquake of 4.9 magnitude struck north of Boise, Idaho, reportedly causing no major damage or injuries, authorities confirmed. The quake happened at 10:25 a.m. on Monday and was centered about 6.2 miles north of Smiths Ferry, according to the &#...

Posted: Feb 28, 2024

Multiple Causes Cited in Deaths of 14 Horses at Saratoga. Could Rainfall Be One?

A review of 14 horse deaths at Saratoga Race Course last summer found no definitive cause of why they happened, saying rainfall “could not be overlooked” as a factor. The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, in a report released Mo...

Posted: Feb 28, 2024

Multiple Causes Likely in Deaths of 14 Horses at Saratago Last Year. Could Rainfall Be One?

A review of 14 horse deaths at Saratoga Race Course last summer found no definitive cause of why they happened, saying rainfall “could not be overlooked” as a factor. The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, in a report released Mo...

Posted: Feb 28, 2024

Baldwin to Stand Trial in Summer over Deadly New Mexico Movie Set Shooting

A New Mexico judge has set a trial date for Alec Baldwin on an involuntary manslaughter charge stemming from the 2021 deadly shooting on the set of the Western movie “Rust.” The scheduling order calls for jury selection to begin …

Posted: Feb 28, 2024

People Moves: Hudnall Joins Alliant Insurance Services’ Denver Team

Chris Hudnall has joined Alliant Insurance Services as vice president within its Alliant Americas division. Hudnall is based in Denver. Before joining Alliant, Hudnall was vice president at Moreton & Company and worked as an associate producer at...

Posted: Feb 28, 2024

Join the Future: 6 Reasons to Explore Automated Compliance and Producer Management with AgentSync

This post is part of a series sponsored by AgentSync. The insurance industry has been slow to adopt digital-first frameworks for doing business, and the part of the business that deals with compliance and regulation change management even more so. &#...

Posted: Feb 28, 2024

People Moves: Markel’s Colosimo Joins CRC; Risk Strategies Consulting Names Piltch

CRC Group, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, hired Vince Colosimo as executive vice president in the company’s New York City downtown office. Colosimo will assume the role of office president in mid-2025, with current Office President Fred...

Posted: Feb 27, 2024

People Moves: Ardonagh’s Price Forbes Taps Horler From Lockton as Deputy CEO; Marsh Names Fort From...

This edition of International People Moves details appointments at the brokers Price Forbes and Marsh. A summary of these new hires follows here. Ardonagh’s Price Forbes Taps Horler From Lockton as Deputy CEO Sarah Horler has been appointed as...

Posted: Feb 27, 2024

Family Dollar to Pay $41M Fine Over Rodent-Infested Distribution Center

Family Dollar agreed this week to pay $41.7 million for holding food, drugs, medical devices, and cosmetics under insanitary conditions at company’s West Memphis, Arkansas, distribution center. A criminal information unveiled Feb. 26 in federal...

Posted: Feb 27, 2024

Iowa Meat Processing Plant Accused of Illegally Hiring Children

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — U.S. authorities have accused another sanitation company of illegally hiring at least two dozen children to clean dangerous meat processing facilities, the latest example of illegal child labor that officials say is increasing...

Posted: Feb 27, 2024

Illinois Insurance Agent Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for Swindling Premiums

The owner of a suburban Chicago insurance agency has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison for swindling more than $1 million from clients by collecting annuity premiums for policies that he never purchased, the U.S. Attorney’s Office...

Posted: Feb 27, 2024

Six Charged in Alleged $1M Auto Insurance Claims Scheme in Massachusetts

Six people have been indicted in connection with the alleged filing of fraudulent insurance claims through their auto body repair business in Everett, Massachusetts. Four of the defendants were arraigned this week in Middlesex Superior Court, while t...

Posted: Feb 27, 2024

Signers National, Acrisure Mark Expansions in Southeast

Signers National, the New York-based parent of several insurance companies, said it has acquired Ballantyne Insurance Group in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ballantyne specializes in coverage for human service organizations. It is own by William Bradley...

Posted: Feb 27, 2024

Southern California Edison to Pay $80M to US Over 2017 Wildfire

Southern California Edison agreed to pay the United States $80 million to cover costs and damages incurred by the U.S. Forest Service from the 2017 Thomas wildfire in California’s Los Padres National Forecast, the Department of Justice said on...

Posted: Feb 27, 2024

IVF Clinic Insurance Affected by Ruling as Alabama Lawmakers Look for a Fix

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Lawmakers began scrambling for ways to protect Alabama in vitro fertilization services after multiple providers paused treatment in the wake of a state Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos could be considered children unde...

Posted: Feb 27, 2024

EU Lawmakers Approve Tougher Penalties for Environmental Crimes

The European Parliament on Tuesday approved tougher penalties for environmental crimes such as illegal timber trade, with offenses punishable by up to 10 years in prison and company directors prosecuted for corporate wrongdoing. “It is about ti...

Posted: Feb 27, 2024

Nvidia’s $70M Florida Supercomputer Hobbled by DeSantis Law

(Bloomberg) — When Chris Malachowsky, a billionaire founder of chip giant Nvidia Corp., bankrolled one of the world’s biggest supercomputers at the University of Florida, Ron DeSantis predicted the machine would be a magnet for artificial...

Posted: Feb 27, 2024

Employee Wins Workers’ Compensation Under Exception to ‘Coming-and-Going’ Bar

An exception to the workers’ compensation “coming-and-going” rule applies where the employer provides the transportation even if the employer says there was no explicit agreement that he would supply rides. The exception can apply w...

Posted: Feb 27, 2024