Insurance Journal

Trends in Auto Thefts Add to Rising Claim Costs

Vehicle theft rates continue to put pressure on the personal auto insurance market. CCC Intelligent Solutions said in its year-end report that the number of vehicle thefts in the U.S. increased 2% in the first half of 2023 after rising …

Posted: Dec 14, 2023

Tesla Critics Say the Autopilot Recall Fixes Don’t Go Far Enough

Tesla Inc.’s decision to fix more than 2 million vehicles’ Autopilot driver-assistance systems after a federal probe drew some praise from safety advocates, but many said the company should be taking additional steps to ensure drivers are...

Posted: Dec 14, 2023

A Year After Florida Adjusters Dropped a Bomb, They’ve Heard Little and Now Want Investigators Fired

One year ago, three independent claims adjusters stood before the Florida House Commerce Committee and charged that several insurance companies had frequently and misleadingly altered their damage estimates on wind claims. The chairman of that commit...

Posted: Dec 14, 2023

California Labor Commissioner Fines Contractor $1.1M for 74 Workers

The California Labor Commissioner’s Office collected $1.1 million in wages and penalties resulting from a prevailing wage assessment against general contractor Stronghold Engineering and its subcontractor, Perry Coast Construction, both based i...

Posted: Dec 14, 2023

Risk Manager: Road Design, Not Speed Limit, Key to Stopping Pedestrian Deaths

(The Center Square) – To save the lives of bikers and walkers, the question facing local and state officials isn’t getting speed limits right, but getting road design right. The difference between posted limits and how drivers actually behave c...

Posted: Dec 14, 2023

New Jersey Brings Civil Suits Against 3 Gun Dealers Over Visibility, Security, Ghost Guns

New Jersey`s attorney general sued three firearms dealers Tuesday, alleging one illegally stored firearms that were visible from outside a store and that the two others tried to sell “ghost guns.” The suits mark the first complaints filed...

Posted: Dec 14, 2023

Lawmakers Urge Expanded Safety and Mental Health Programs for Commercial Fishermen

A federal program that protects the health and wellbeing of commercial fishermen should be expanded to include substance use disorder and worker fatigue, a group of lawmakers from New England and Alaska said. The lawmakers want to expand a federal &#...

Posted: Dec 14, 2023

GM’s Cruise Robotaxi Unit Dismisses Nine Execs After Safety Probe

General Motors’ Cruise robotaxi unit dismissed nine key people amid an ongoing safety investigation, according to a memo seen by Reuters on Wednesday, which the company confirmed included Chief Operating Officer Gil West. The investigation rela...

Posted: Dec 14, 2023

Crews Work to Contain Gas Pipeline Spill in Washington

Responders set up a containment boom after a gasoline spill from the weekend failure of part of a pipeline in northwest Washington, but federal regulators reported no signs of any fuel reaching the Skagit River. About 25,660 gallons of gasoline &#823...

Posted: Dec 13, 2023

3 Line Items You Can Remove from Your 2024 Budget

This post is part of a series sponsored by AgentSync. It’s that time of year again Fourth quarter is a busy time for nearly everyone, both inside and outside the insurance industry. You’ve got spooky season, fall and winter holidays &#823...

Posted: Dec 13, 2023

People Moves: Marsh Announces Group of Promotions in UK, Global Placement Team; Klingspor Succeeds P...

This edition of International People Moves details appointments at Marsh and Allianz Central Europe. A summary of these new hires follows here. Marsh Announces Group of Promotions in UK, Global Placement Team Marsh, the insurance brokerage business o...

Posted: Dec 13, 2023

North Carolina Insurance Agent Can’t Appeal Sentence in $700,000 Fraud

A former North Carolina insurance agent who pleaded guilty to defrauding trucking company clients and a premium finance company of hundreds of thousands of dollars cannot challenge her sentence and restitution order, a federal appeals court decided....

Posted: Dec 13, 2023

Texas Sues VA Claims Insider for Deceptive Trade Practices Targeting Veterans

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued VA Claims Insider, LLC, (VACI) for engaging in deceptive trade practices to defraud veterans seeking disability benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Claims Insider is a for-profit busine...

Posted: Dec 13, 2023

Texas Mutual President Jeanette Ward Honored with 30-Year Milestone and Yellow Rose of Texas Award

Texas Mutual President and CEO Jeanette Ward recently celebrated two significant achievements with the Texas Mutual board and members of its executive council. On November 17, Ward reached 30 years with Texas Mutual and the governor’s office re...

Posted: Dec 13, 2023

Missouri’s Denali Specialty Expands Investor Property Program to Include Student Housing

Denali, a wholesale insurance specialist, announced that its Investor Property Program has grown to include student housing. The expansion of Denali’s package insurance for investor properties is well timed. Limited housing supply and high dema...

Posted: Dec 13, 2023

OneDigital Acquires Ohio’s RiskSOURCE

OneDigital, an insurance brokerage, financial services and HR consulting firm, has acquired RiskSOURCE Clark-Theders, a property & casualty firm based in Cincinnati, Ohio. RiskSOURCE, founded in 1977 and licensed in 46 states, specializes in cust...

Posted: Dec 13, 2023

Ryan Specialty Forms International Financial Lines MGU Ryan Financial Lines

Ryan Specialty said it has formed an international financial lines managing general underwriter (MGU), Ryan Financial Lines. This MGU is being created by unifying the operations of EmergIn Risk, led by Jamie Bouloux; StartPoint Executive Risks, led b...

Posted: Dec 13, 2023

Crypto, Insurance-Linked and Trend Hedge Funds Most Popular With Investors: Report

Trend-following and niche hedge funds that trade crypto currencies and insurance-linked assets attracted most new investor money in the first three quarters of 2023, according to a global report by research firm Preqin on Wednesday. Hedge funds makin...

Posted: Dec 13, 2023

Tech Update: Chubb and NetSPI Launch Cyber Protection Partnership

Chubb announced a collaboration with NetSPI, a global provider proactive security. The pairing is designed to strengthen clients’ cyber-risk profiles with enhanced attack surface management and penetration testing solutions. According to a pres...

Posted: Dec 13, 2023

Former Georgia Insurance Agent Wanted on Charges of Pocketing Premium Payment

A former Georgia insurance agent was missing Wednesday after he was charged with diverting a premium payment to his own bank account. Michael Durrell Preston Jr., 42, of Woodstock and Canton, was charged with insurance fraud and forgery, the Georgia...

Posted: Dec 13, 2023

Heart of Hawaii’s Historic Lahaina Reopens to Residents and Business Owners

The heart of Lahaina, the historic town on the Hawaiian island of Maui that burned in a deadly wildfire that killed at least 100 people, reopened this week to residents and business owners holding day passes. The renewed access marks …

Posted: Dec 13, 2023

Agency E&O Webinar: Panelists Discuss Changing Exposures, AI & More

While today’s insurance agency errors and omissions market remains mostly stable, emerging exposures, cyber risk, natural disasters and more could shape its course ahead. Insurance Journal gathered three experts to share their perspectives on t...

Posted: Dec 13, 2023

New York Law Bars Subrogation by Lloyd’s in LaGuardia Project, Appeals Court Affirms

A federal appeals court has declared that New York law prevents Lloyd’s from recovering some loss payments from Zurich American because Zurich’s insured was also an insured of Lloyd’s in a case involving a construction project at La...

Posted: Dec 13, 2023

Tesla Recalling 2 Million US Vehicles Over Autopilot Safeguards

Tesla is recalling just over two million vehicles in the United States fitted with its Autopilot advanced driver-assistance system to install new safeguards, after a safety regulator said the system was open to “foreseeable misuse.” The N...

Posted: Dec 13, 2023

Meta Used Copyrighted Books for AI Training Despite Lawyers’ Warnings, Say Authors

Meta Platforms’ lawyers had warned it about the legal perils of using thousands of pirated books to train its AI models, but the company did it anyway, according to a new filing in a copyright infringement lawsuit initially brought this …

Posted: Dec 13, 2023