Insurance Journal

Kansas Court System Seeks $2.6M to Recover from Cyberattack

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas court system needs at least $2.6 million in additional funds to recover from an October cyberattack that prevented the electronic filing of documents and blocked online access to records for weeks, the state’s top...

Posted: Jan 19, 2024

Spanish Court Rules Facebook Moderator Suffered Work-Related Mental Trauma

A Spanish court has ruled a former Facebook moderator’s mental health was damaged by his work reviewing graphic content such as beheadings, in a case that could have implications for how social media firms work with moderators. The Barcelona co...

Posted: Jan 19, 2024

People Moves: Zurich N.A. Names Chai CRO; World Insurance Associates Names Peterson Chief Growth Off...

Zurich North America names Chai Chief Risk Officer Zurich North America appointed Ann Chai as chief risk officer. She is based in Zurich North America’s Schaumburg, Ill., headquarters. Chai, who previously served as head of finance for U.S. Mid...

Posted: Jan 19, 2024

Melting Greenland Has Lost 1 Trillion Tons More Ice Than Previously Thought

The Greenland ice sheet, an expanse of frozen water about three times the size of Texas, is disappearing much faster than previously thought, according to new research, and the difference may already be affecting the distribution of heat around the &...

Posted: Jan 19, 2024

Near Record Jump in CO2 Emissions This Year Risks Climate Goal

Carbon dioxide emissions are on track for one of the biggest increases on record this year, pushing the planet closer to catastrophic climate change. That jump is the result human-induced pollution, plus the El Niño weather pattern, which weakens the...

Posted: Jan 19, 2024

Markets/Coverages: Hub International Starts Property Practice

Brokerage Hub International announced Jan 18 that it is today the launch of the HUB Property Practice. Blake Giannisis, who recently joined Chicago-based HUB as executive vice president, will serve as North American property practice leader and will...

Posted: Jan 19, 2024

Another View: Yes, P/C Industry Underwriting Profit Will Be Back in ’24

Not all analysts think an underwriting profit is out of reach for 2024. While a recent forecast from Fitch Ratings puts the 2024 combined ratio above 100, an improvement from 2023, a report by Swiss Re Institute projects both 2024 …

Posted: Jan 19, 2024

Alera Group Buys Med Mal Insurer CLS Healthcare Liability

Alera Group, an insurance and financial services firm in the U.S., announced the acquisition of CLS Healthcare Liability Specialists. Based in North Palm Beach, Florida, CLS provides malpractice coverage for physicians, surgeons, hospitals, locum ten...

Posted: Jan 19, 2024

Robinhood Settles Massachusetts Regulators’ Trading Case for $7.5 Million

Online brokerage Robinhood on Thursday agreed to pay a $7.5 million fine and overhaul its practices to resolve allegations by Massachusetts’ securities regulators that it encouraged inexperienced investors to place risky trades. Massachusetts S...

Posted: Jan 19, 2024

Safety Investigators Find No Engine Problems With News Helicopter That Crashed

A television news helicopter that crashed in a southern New Jersey forest last month, killing the pilot and a photographer, had no engine problems that would have prevented normal operation, federal investigators said Wednesday. The National Transpor...

Posted: Jan 19, 2024

Mother of Child Who Died in TikTok ‘Blackout Challenge’ Asks Court to Revive Lawsuit

A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday wrestled with whether the video-based social media platform TikTok could be sued for causing a 10-year-old girl’s death by promoting a deadly “blackout challenge” that encouraged people to choke the...

Posted: Jan 19, 2024

Fishing Trawler That Crashed on Maine Coast to Be Demolished

A fishing trawler that wrecked on rocks off the Maine coast during a powerful storm, requiring a harrowing early-morning rescue, is a total loss and will be removed over the next few days, a salvage business owner said Wednesday. The …

Posted: Jan 19, 2024

14 People in Yale Building Hospitalized for Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Blood tests of a construction worker who collapsed Wednesday outside a building owned by Yale University led emergency crews to uncover potentially lethal levels of carbon monoxide inside. Another 13 people were hospitalized, but the discovery may ha...

Posted: Jan 19, 2024

Viewpoint: California’s Homeowners Insurance Shift: Residential Population, Inflation, and Admitted...

The excess and surplus lines homeowners’ insurance market in California has undergone significant changes in recent years. The number of policies has changed substantially in over the last decade—first increasing, then declining rapidly. Howeve...

Posted: Jan 19, 2024

People Moves: Zimmer Named CEO of Alliant Insurance Services in California

Alliant Insurance Services, headquartered in Irvine, Calif., appointed Greg Zimmer as chief executive officer. Zimmer joined Alliant in 1998 as chief financial officer and was named president in 2007. He assumes the role of Alliant leader Tom Corbett...

Posted: Jan 19, 2024

Uninsured California Subcontractor Charged with 30 Felony Counts

The California Department of Insurance is urging business owners to verify the insurance coverage for any subcontractor or vendor they do business with after trucking company owner and operator Raymond Youash, 37, of Encino, appeared in court this we...

Posted: Jan 19, 2024

California Emergency Services Official Sued for Sexual Harassment, Retaliation

A lawsuit accused a deputy director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services of sexual harassment and retaliation against a senior employee while the agency did nothing to stop it. Ryan Buras, an appointee of Gov. Gavin Newsom,...

Posted: Jan 19, 2024

Cyclone Forming Near Australia’s Coast May Have ‘Severe Impact’

Australia’s resource-rich Queensland state is bracing for its second tropical cyclone in a little more than a month, with a storm off the coast expected to strengthen during the weekend. A tropical low developing in the Coral Sea is set …

Posted: Jan 19, 2024

Deep Freeze Across South Central US Forces LNG Exporters to Cancel, Delay Cargoes

The recent freeze across Texas and Louisiana disrupted scheduled exports of US liquefied natural gas, temporarily tightening some supply of the heating and power-plant fuel. The Cameron LNG export plant in Louisiana canceled at least one scheduled sh...

Posted: Jan 18, 2024

Illinois Manufacturer Faces in $298K Penalties for Safety Machine Violations

An Illinois manufacturer faces $298,000 in penalties after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found the company failed to guard industrial equipment, develop a lockout/tagout program...

Posted: Jan 18, 2024

People Moves: VIAA Promotes Kaatman to Director of Growth; Krieger Joins Alliant in Iowa

Valley Insurance Agency Alliance Promotes Kaatman to Director of Growth Valley Insurance Agency Alliance (VIAA), headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., promoted Bill Kaatman to director of growth. Kaatman brings 17 years of experience in the insurance indu...

Posted: Jan 18, 2024

Iowa Man Sentenced for Disaster-Related Insurance Fraud

An Iowa man was sentence last week to 21 months in prison after pleading guilty to crimes of insurance fraud. Timothy Daryle Sletten, age 32, of Marshalltown, was sentenced on January 11, 2024. The charges against Sletten stem from an …

Posted: Jan 18, 2024

Inszone Acquires Texas’ Dina King Insurance

Inszone Insurance Services has announced the acquisition of Dina King Insurance. This acquisition is a major move for Inszone Insurance as they expand in Texas. Dina King Insurance, founded by Dina King in 1985, has been a part of the …

Posted: Jan 18, 2024

10 Largest Auto Insurers Each Raised Rates by Double Digits in 2023

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence’s RateWatch, Farmers Insurance instituted double-digit rate increases in 43 states in 2023 for a weighted average rate increase of 17.6%—and its private-auto insurance peers in the U.S. did the sa...

Posted: Jan 18, 2024

Arthur J. Gallagher Acquires New England’s Rowley Agency

Global insurance broker Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. announced it has acquired Concord, New Hampshire-based The Rowley Agency. The Rowley Agency is a retail insurance broker providing property/casualty, surety and employee benefits products to comme...

Posted: Jan 18, 2024