Daily Headlines: Thursday, December 6, 2012

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December 6, 2012 News By Region  National  International  East  Midwest  Southeast  South Central  West Video Today's Headlines National Business Should Prepare for Potential East, Gulf Coast Port Strike: Marsh A potential labor strike by longshoremen in ports from Maine to Texas at the end of the year could have devastating economic consequences ... Small Business Owners Face Health Insurance Dilemma Rose Wang looks at her staff of 70 employees and wonders if she'll have to lay off some of them to comply with the health care law. The ... S&P Affirms Liberty Mutual Group's Ratings; Outlook Revised to Stable Standard & Poor's Rating Services has affirmed its 'BBB-' counterparty credit and senior debt ratings on Liberty Mutual Group Inc. as well ... National Interstate Names Mercurio as Executive VP, Chief Operating Officer National Interstate Corp., headquartered in Richfield, Ohio, has appointed Tony Mercurio as executive vice president and chief operating ... ACE USA Restructures Global Property Division ACE USA, the U.S.-based retail operating division of The ACE Group, has reorganized its Global Property division to now include three ... Commercial Lines Rates Up 5% in November: MarketScout The overall composite rate for insuring commercial accounts in the United States ticked up 5 percent in November 2012 compared to the same ... Obamacare Medical Loss Ratio Saved $1.5 Billion in 2011: Report Consumers saw nearly $1.5 billion in insurer rebates and overhead cost savings in 2011, due to the Affordable Care Act's medical loss ratio ... Brokers Pay Special Attention to Specialized Government Contractor Segment The U.S. Department of State's decision to take an open-market approach in fulfilling the Defense Base Act (DBA) insurance requirement for... More National News East NJM Insurance: Sandy-Related Claims Could Exceed $300M With more than 52,000 Sandy-related claims filed to date, New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company said it anticipates that payouts to ... New Jersey Lawmaker Seeks to Cap Public Adjuster Fees in Wake of Sandy A leading New Jersey lawmaker is planning to introduce a bill that would cap how much a public adjuster can charge a homeowner for ... Travelers Cos.' Preliminary Estimate: $650M Net Loss From Sandy The Travelers Companies Inc. announced its preliminary estimate of net losses relating to Superstorm Sandy is approximately $650 million ... Surge in New York City Fires After Superstorm Sandy The Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) responded to about 37 percent more fires last month.Officials blame the spike on the ... W.R. Berkley Names President of B F Re Underwriters in Conn. Greenwich, Conn.-headquartered W.R. Berkley Corp. announced Gregory A. Douglas has been named president of its B F Re Underwriters unit. ... More East News Midwest Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Acquires Nebraska's Brendis & Brendis Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired employee benefit specialist, Brendis & Brendis Inc., located in Omaha, Neb. Terms of the transaction ... Ohio Senate Panel Advances Asbestos Lawsuit Bill An Ohio Senate committee advanced a bill on Dec. 4 aimed at curbing duplicate lawsuits over on-the-job asbestos exposure in a state with ... GOP Support Helps Move Illinois Immigrant Driver's License Bill A plan that would allow illegal immigrants in Illinois to get driver's licenses cleared another hurdle on Dec. 4, with the state Senate ... More than 90,000 Iowa Residents Hit by Data Breach Iowa officials say more than 90,000 residents in the state have been affected by a nationwide insurance breach that's impacted more than a ... More Midwest News Southeast Florida Lawmakers Ponder More Pricing Freedom for Property Insurer Citizens Some Florida legislators said this week they would consider giving the state's largest property insurer more control over its rates, ... North Carolina Reaches $1.6 Million Rebate Settlement with Insurers North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin announced an agreement with two insurers that will result in consumers receiving $1.6 ... South Carolina Firm Settles Suit Over Value of Twitter Followers A South Carolina Internet company has settled a lawsuit with one of its former employees over the value of Twitter followers. Attorneys for ... Keystone Insurers Group Continues Expansion in Georgia Keystone Insurers Group has added two new franchise partners in Georgia: Boswell Insurance Group of Athens and Ash/Welborn Insurance of ... More Southeast News South Central Texas Work Comp 'Notice to Employees' Language Changes Jan. 1 State law requires Texas employers to notify employees if they carry workers' compensation insurance. The TDI-DWC recently adopted ... Jan. 1 to Bring New Texas Work Comp Nonsubscriber Reporting Requirements Effective Jan. 1, 2013, Texas employers who do not carry workers' compensation insurance coverage have new requirements for reporting their ... Award Winning Oklahoma Account Manager Reaches Another Milestone Kristina E. Donaldson, a commercial insurance account manager with Messer-Bowers Co. in Enid, Okla., who was named Risk Management ... More South Central News West Earthquake And Drilling Link Prompts Colorado Review A new report says earthquakes in Colorado and elsewhere may have been caused by a drilling procedure to dispose of wastewater. In a report ... Hawaii Finds Boat That May Be Tsunami Debris The state Department of Land and Natural Resources says a boat recovered from Kahana Bay on Oahu's windward coast may be tsunami debris ... Mediation In Montana Church Abuse Lawsuits Set For April Attorneys for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena, a Montana order of nuns and hundreds of alleged sex-abuse victims said this week they ... Hull & Co. Opens Marine Department, Names Schmit Marine Broker In California Hull & Company has now opened a new marine department at its Stockton, Calif. office and named marine risk specialist Quincy M. Schmit as ... More West News International UPDATE: Death Toll from Philippine Typhoon Bopha Passes 270 Mud-stained bodies covered with banana leaves were laid out in a row and survivors dried their soiled belongings on the roadside under a ... APC Underwriting Agency Expands into Continental Europe with Holland Office Commercial insurance underwriting agency, APC, announced that it has begun its expansion drive into Continental Europe by launching APC ... Travelers Increases Stake in Brazil's J. Malucelli Joint Venture The Travelers Companies, Inc. announced that it has increased its ownership stake in J. Malucelli Participações em Seguros e Resseguros ... Nicholls Joins Miller to Bolster Downstream Energy Team Miller Insurance Services announced that production and broking specialist Daniel Nicholls has joined its downstream energy team. Julian ... Ratings Recap: Grain, Chartis (Europe), Boubyan Takaful A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating of 'A' (Excellent) and issuer credit rating of "a" of Grain Insurance and ... More International News Join the Insurance Journal Network Insurance Journal TV Rate Changes Coming to Healthy Railroad Industry At one time it seemed that the railroad industry was doomed, but thanks in part to the... Watch Now Effects of Worldwide Economic Instability on American Companies Despite a slightly improved economy here in the U.S., the global economy is not out of the... Watch Now Watch more videos at InsuranceJournal.tv New Discussions in the Forums QQEvolution AMS ??? Posted: Thu Dec 6 -- QQ Evolution is horrible. At least from a commercial CSR standpoint. Agency i'm with uses it and all CSRs in agency just move beyond the... insgirl Truck & Crane operator Posted: Wed Dec 5 -- I should have mentioned------California dgarzoli Designation Suggestions Posted: Wed Dec 5 -- I would agree they do seem similar. The CIC requires 5 courses of 20hrs each with a 2 hr essay exam to pass each one. The AAI is in 3... Shagster1261 Can an employer fire an employee because their pre-convicted Posted: Wed Dec 5 -- In my opinion, firing an employee based on a mugshot isn't right. The employer should get the facts first and find out if the employee was... BeatrixLewis Taxi Cab Insurance Posted: Wed Dec 5 -- You can try piconline or dcapinsurance. The former provide limits up to $5M and has $20M excess market capability and you can even fill out... BeatrixLewis My CPCU journey - almost finished..... Posted: Tue Dec 4 -- I am in the process of reentering the Commercial Insurance world being away for about 15 years. I was thinking of working toward my CPCU. I... margo Dental Plan or Dental Insurance Posted: Tue Dec 4 -- Dental plan is actually an alternative to dental insurance because it's more cost-effective. With the former you can visit the dentist at a... BeatrixLewis Signing up for an insurance directory Posted: Tue Dec 4 -- Thanks for your input, Beatrix. I've decided against the directory, but I appreciate your interest. Robert742 Small agency looking for personal lines carrier Posted: Mon Dec 3 -- You don't say where you are located, but some good national carriers are Safeco, Travelers, Hartford, and Chubb. Insurance Gal Go to Forums Reader Comments Indiana Truck Driver Logs 3 Million Miles of Safety Posted: Thu Nov 29 -- Congratulations and thanks to Mr. Batt. It is a wonderful milestone. So many drivers think only of themselves and where they want to go or... v Lawsuit: Fedex Fires Utah Driver Over Russian Accent Posted: Fri Nov 30 -- Did he not have the accent when they hired him? Or did it just come on all of a sudden one day? Libby Oklahoma Insurance Department Spends $180K on Guns, Police Vehicles Posted: Wed Dec 5 -- More than half of the posts in this comment thread have been by you, and none of them even seem to relate to the risk/insurance industry. It... FYI Homeowners in Mississippi's Moss Point Fight Flood Insurance Rules Posted: Thu Nov 29 -- It is about time that folks were forced to improve their own situation. Not living in a flood prone area I am sick to death of having tax... Tired of it all 6 Things for Independent Agents to Worry About in 2013 Posted: Mon Dec 3 -- I have owned an independent agency for almost 30 years and approaching the exit strategy of my agency within the next 15 years. If you are... 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