Insurance Journal

People Moves: Sompo Int’l Promotes Hyland to President of North America Reinsurance, Succeeding Hank...

Sompo Int’l Promotes Hyland to President of N. America Reinsurance, Succeeding Hanke Sompo International, the Bermuda-based provider of commercial and consumer property and casualty re/insurance, announced the promotion of Margaret Hyland to pr...

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

Kansas Steakhouse to Pay $55K Over Pregnancy Discrimination Suit

A.V.I. Sea Bar & Chophouse restaurant, a Wichita, Kansas steakhouse with an attached catering service known as Corporate Caterers of Wichita, has agreed to pay $55,000 to a former employee and furnish other relief to settle an employment discrimi...

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

Insurers Balk at Coverage for Firm Accused of Delivering Damaging Biofuel to Customers

Two Crum & Forster subsidiaries have asked a federal court in Massachusetts to declare that they have no duty to provide coverage to an insured heating oil company over its delivery of oil diluted with high quantities of biodiesel that …

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

Louisiana Lost $82M of Natural Gas Due to Leaks, Report Says

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Louisiana lost more than $82 million worth of natural gas in 2019 due to leaks, venting or flaring at production sites, according to a study released Thursday by an environmental group and government watchdog organizations. T...

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

Global Insured Losses Estimated at $15B in Q1, With Economic Price Tag of $63B: Aon

Private and public insurance entities saw an estimated $15 billion of global losses during the first quarter – close to both average and median losses of the last 10 years, according to Aon’s Q1 Global Catastrophe Recap Report. However, potenti...

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

Inszone Acquires Houston’s Champions Insurance Group

Inszone Insurance Services, a national provider of benefits, personal, and commercial lines insurance, announced the acquisition of Champions Insurance Group, an agency with a decade-long track record in the Houston community and a strong reputation...

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

Minneapolis to Pay $8.9M Over Officer’s Actions before Floyd Death

The city of Minneapolis agreed Thursday to pay nearly $9 million to settle lawsuits filed by two people who said former police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into their necks years before he used the same move to kill …

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

New Federal Mandates Won’t Impact Premium Finance Transactions: Big I

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently issued a final rule as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, and thanks to the lobbying efforts of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (Big “I”) and others, premium financing t...

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

French Court Clears Air France, Airbus Over Rio-Paris Plane Crash

A French court on Monday cleared European planemaker Airbus and Air France of “involuntary manslaughter,” almost 14 years after an airliner plowed into the Atlantic en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, killing everyone on board. The rul...

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

Navajo Nation Receiving Federal Aid for Severe Flood Damage

The Navajo Nation is set receive federal emergency aid to help repair damage caused by severe flooding during a series of storms earlier this year. President Joe Biden granted a disaster declaration for the largest Native American reservation in the...

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

California Church Paying $1.2M over Broken COVID Rules

A California church that defied safety regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic by holding large, unmasked religious services must pay $1.2 million in fines, a judge has ruled. Calvary Chapel in San Jose was fined last week for ignoring Santa Clara &...

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

Drought Dwindles to Less Than 9% of California

Only remnants of California’s three-year drought remain after winter’s epic storms. The U.S. Drought Monitor reported last week that areas of drought cover less than 9% of the state, down from more than 99% at the Oct. 1 start of …

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

Fox-Dominion Defamation Trial Delayed, to Continue Tuesday

Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation trial against Fox Corp FOXA.O and Fox News will proceed with jury selection starting on Tuesday, a judge announced on Monday. Judge Eric Davis did not provide a reason for the delay. Dominion is...

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

Why Downpour in South Florida Just Wouldn’t Stop, Portending Future Floods

In some ways, it was the Florida Man of storms – not quite knowing when to say when. Usually, thunderstorms fizzle out after they run out of rain or get cold air sucked in. But not Wednesday, when the storm …

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

Two Tornadoes Confirmed in Georgia Towns

The National Weather Service confirmed two weak tornadoes touched down last week in middle Georgia. No one was reported injured in either storm. A tornado with top winds of 90 mph touched down on the southeast edge of Cordele. The …

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

Mississippi City Faces Tough Road Rebuilding After Tornado

The scent of the Mississippi Delta’s soil took hold of Charlie Weissinger’s psyche at an early age, and he has chased it ever since. Weissinger, 37, works at a bank to support his farming addiction in Rolling Fork, where his …

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

Can Insurance Carriers Stem the Bleeding from Tech Layoffs?

This post is part of a series sponsored by AgentSync. In January 2023 alone, Amazon laid off 18,000 people; Google laid off 12,000 people; Microsoft laid off 10,000 people; and Salesforce laid off 7,000 people. And these are just the …

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

MGA Rokstone Launches Credit and Surety Treaty Division

Rokstone, the London-based speciality re/insurance MGA, part of the Aventum Group, has launched a Credit & Surety Treaty division. Rokstone has appointed Luis Antonio Ibáñez as the portfolio manager to lead the division, based in Madrid. The divi...

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

Laredo ISD Students Earn CISR Designation, Start Internships with IBC Insurance Agency

April 17, 2023 – Austin, TX – Seven Laredo Independent School District students earned the Certified Insurance Service Representative (CISR) designation in January through an innovative high school program. Administered by The National Alliance for I...

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

Western Australia Assesses Damage From Cyclone Ilsa’s ‘Path of Destruction’

Emergency authorities in Western Australia were assessing damage on Saturday from a tropical cyclone that hit the state’s northwest, sparing heavily populated areas but affecting several remote communities. Ilsa, downgraded to a severe weather...

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

U.S. P/C Underwriting Profit in 2023? Not Yet, Fitch Predicts

Analysts at Fitch Ratings predict a better underwriting result for U.S. property/casualty insurers in 2023 than 2022, but the combined ratio is still going to hover above breakeven, according to their forecast. Fitch forecasts a 100.4 industry combin...

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

G-7 Ministers Set Big New Targets for Solar Power and Offshore Wind Capacity

SAPPORO, Japan — The Group of Seven rich nations on Sunday set big new collective targets for solar power and offshore wind capacity, agreeing to speed up renewable energy development and move toward a quicker phase-out of fossil fuels. But &#8...

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

Refinance Rap: Boost Cash Flow by Switching Out of a Variable Rate Loan

This post is part of a series sponsored by InsurBanc. When we first addressed last year’s economic unrest, the Federal Reserve was just beginning to raise rates that had hovered just above zero. Today, the economy is still unpredictable, and &#...

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

Scandal at CBI Plunges UK Business Lobby Into Existential Crisis

When Rishi Sunak stepped up to the podium at the Vox venue in Birmingham in November, he had one mission: to convince business leaders to stay loyal after his predecessor unleashed economic mayhem. The UK prime minister was addressing the …

Posted: Apr 17, 2023

Lyft Investors Call for More Safety Protections for Drivers

A group of Lyft Inc. shareholders is calling on the company to establish stronger safety protections for drivers, change its shareholder voting structure and subject directors to annual elections. SOC Investment Group — which represents pension funds...

Posted: Apr 17, 2023