Latest Indiana Headlines

All the headlines from our Indiana Topic Page, ordered by recency.

COPART OPENS OCALA AUTO SALVAGE YARD; 19TH IN REGION

Mar 7 2005 // Copart Inc. a large provider of vehicle salvage disposition services has opened its seventh salvage yard in Ocala, Fla., its 19th in the Southeast region. The 21-acre Greenfield facility will add needed capacity in the...

PINAULT, ARTEMIS NOW SOLE DEFENDANTS IN EXEC. LIFE TRIAL:

Mar 7 2005 // French billionaire financier François Pinault and his holding company, Artemis S.A., are the sole remaining defendants in the civil lawsuit seeking to recover some $4 billion on behalf of policyholders of the failed...

Ind. Jury Says PSI Not Entitled to Insurance Recovery

Feb 24 2005 // A Hendricks County (Indiana) jury returned a verdict this week finding that Cinergy Corp. subsidiary PSI Energy Inc. was not entitled to any insurance recovery from its London Market Insurers for the costs incurred as a...

TWO GUILTY IN RECIPROCAL OF AMERICA FRAUD:

Feb 21 2005 // Two former top officers of collapsed Reciprocal of America are scheduled for sentencing in June for their roles in what a federal prosecutor called one of Virginia’s biggest insurance fraud cases. Kenneth R....

HOMEOWNERS RATES 4TH LOWEST IN NATION

Feb 21 2005 // Ohio insurance consumers continued to benefit from a healthy property/casualty market in 2004 and rates are not expected to change significantly in 2005, the state’s insurance department announced. Homeowners...

BILL WOULD TOUGHEN INSURANCE FRAUD PENALTIES

Feb 21 2005 // Strengthening Indiana’s weak insurance-fraud law will raise Indiana’s fraud statute to a par with other states, the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud told key legislators in testimony recently.According to the...

RATE BUREAU REQUESTS 11.5 PERCENT INCREASE IN AUTO RATES

Feb 21 2005 // The North Carolina Department of Insurance doubts new methodology used by the North Carolina Rate Bureau, which has just requested an 11.5 percent statewide increase in private auto insurance rates. NCRB is an independent...

Fraud Bill Passes Ind. House

Feb 16 2005 // The Indiana House passed HR 1403, a fraud bill that would increase jail terms for larger insurance scams, by 95 to one and will move to the Senate for debate.According to the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud,...

Ind. Fraud Bill May Get Facelift

Feb 9 2005 // Strengthening Indiana’s weak insurance-fraud law will raise Indiana’s fraud statute to a par with other states, the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud told key legislators in testimony recently.“This bill...

ASSURANCEAMERICA APPROVED IN ALA.

Feb 7 2005 // Atlanta-based AssuranceAmerica Corp., with operations in Georgia, Florida and South Carolina, has been approved by the Department of Insurance to sell policies in Alabama. AssuranceAmerica, a property and casualty...

SEABRIGHT FILES IPO; PLANS TO WRITE WORKERS’ COMP IN CALIFORNIA:

Feb 7 2005 // Seattle-based Seabright Insurance Holdings Inc. raised $78.8 million in their initial public offering Jan. 20, with shares priced at the high end of the expected range, Reuters reported. Seabright recently entered the...

TORT COSTS REACHED RECORD HIGH IN 2003

Jan 24 2005 // U.S. tort costs reached a record $246 billion in 2003, or about $845 per person, according to U.S. Tort Costs: 2004 Update from the Tillinghast business of Towers Perrin. This represents a 5.4 percent increase in tort...

AMERICAN MUTUAL CLOSES OFFICE IN CHARLESTON, S.C. :

Jan 24 2005 // American Mutual Fire Insurance Co. has closed its offices in Charleston due to efforts by its British parent, Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance to reduce losses in the United States. At one time American Mutual had 500...

Calloway Turns Down Ind. Commissioner Post

Jan 23 2005 // The Evansville man whom Gov. Mitch Daniels had appointed as the state’s insurance commissioner has decided to turn down the position, the governor’s office said last Thursday.Daniels announced the pick of...

State Farm Agent Named Ind. Commissioner

Jan 21 2005 // Indiana’s new Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels has named W. Harold Calloway, a State Farm agent, as the state’s new insurance commissioner. Calloway, 58, takes over an agency with a $15 million budget and 75...

Insurance Institute of Indiana Brings Halt to Municipal Accident Report Surcharge

Jan 17 2005 // The Insurance Institute of Indiana has received word the city of Mount Vernon, Indiana has agreed to indefinitely table a proposed ordinance calling for a surcharge, on insurers of “at fault” drivers, for...

S&T Bank Acquires Two Pa. Agencies

Jan 4 2005 // S&T Bank, based in Indiana, Pa., has acquired Bennett Associates, Inc. and Cowher- Nehrig & Co., (the Bennett Group), two multi-line insurance agencies. These agencies, which are located in Ebensburg and Nanty...

MISCLASSIFIED IN MASS:

Jan 3 2005 // Employers seeking to avoid Massachusetts payroll taxes and some employee benefits are wrongly classifying thousands of workers as self-employed or independent contractors, according to a report by the University of...

MICH. TO SEE 11.2% DROP IN AVERAGE COMP RATE:

Jan 3 2005 // Michigan will see an 11.2 percent decline in the average workers’ compensation insurance rate, the largest drop in nearly a decade. The pure premium rate decline is reportedly due, in part, to well-developed safety...

NONSTANDARD AUTO MARKET STUCK IN CYCLE, SAYS BEST:

Jan 3 2005 // A study released by A.M. Best has confirmed that the nonstandard automobile insurance sector is cyclical in nature, characterized by periods of severe price competition and excess capacity followed by periods of high...