Latest Legislation Headlines

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

Mass. Medical Society Pushes for Tort Reforms to Curb Insurance Costs

Mar 12 2008 // Massachusetts medical professionals are calling for reforms to the state’s medical liability system that they say will protect physicians from more lawsuits and help control insurance costs.To support their call, the...

Climate Change No. 1 in Top 10 Risks Facing the Insurance Industry

Mar 12 2008 // Potential climate change is the greatest strategic risk currently facing the property/casualty insurance industry, with demographic changes taking priority for the life insurance industry, according to a new study by Ernst...

Connecticut Lawmakers Want Overhaul of Bail Bondsmen System

Mar 12 2008 // Connecticut lawmakers say it’s time to reform Connecticut’s bail bondsmen system.Legislators held a hearing today on a bill that would subject bondsmen to testing and routine training, and allow the public...

Kentucky Lawmakers Taking Action after Amusement Ride Accident

Mar 11 2008 // Kentucky lawmakers are taking steps aimed at improving the safety of amusement rides in the wake of a grisly accident last year that severed the feet of a girl at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville.A Senate committee...

Oregon Supreme Court Rules Punitive Damages Excessive

Mar 11 2008 // In a victory for an insurance company accused of acting in bad faith, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that a $20.7 million jury award for punitive damages in a fatal traffic accident in 1987 was excessive.The case also set...

Montana Insurance Auditor Named Chair of NAIC Market Regulation Committee

Mar 11 2008 // Montana State Auditor John Morrison has been named chair of the Market Regulation and Consumer Affairs Committee of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Morrison will lead the committee’s oversight of...

States Urged to Lower Drinking Age to Reduce ‘Underground’ Drinking

Mar 10 2008 // More than two decades after the country established a uniform drinking age of 21, a nascent movement is afoot to allow 18- to 20-year-olds to legally buy alcohol under some circumstances.Proponents say the higher age...

Pa. Judge Wants Insurance Fraud Trial Moved

Mar 10 2008 // Former Pa. Superior Court Judge Michael Joyce wants his federal insurance fraud trial moved out of Erie to U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh. Joyce’s attorney says news coverage of the case has generated enormous...

Judge Narrows N.Y.-N.J. Port Authority’s World Trade Center Claim

Mar 10 2008 // The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey can collect insurance only for damage inflicted on two buildings of the World Trade Center site destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, rather than for the entire complex, a U.S. District...

R.I. Weighs Tracking System for Medical Mistakes

Mar 10 2008 // Lawmakers in Rhode Island have proposed creating a system that would track medical errors by Ocean State doctors.The proposal comes after several well-publicized errors last year in which doctors operated on the wrong...

Maryland Weighs Premium Installments for High Risk Drivers

Mar 10 2008 // Lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund, the insurer of last resort for many motorists, to accept installment payments like private companies.Advocates say the proposal...

States Urged to Lower Drinking Age to Reduce ‘Underground’ Drinking

Mar 10 2008 // More than two decades after the country established a uniform drinking age of 21, a nascent movement is afoot to allow 18- to 20-year-olds to legally buy alcohol under some circumstances.Proponents say the higher age...

Iowa Supreme Court Adds Twist to Medical Malpractice Opinion

Mar 10 2008 // The Iowa Supreme Court sent two medical malpractice lawsuits back to district court after offering a new opinion on how the statute of limitations can be interpreted.The decision, which affects a breast cancer patient and...

Industry Fights Back Against Charges of Bad Faith

Mar 10 2008 // The University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business’ latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) shows that property and casualty insurers continue to rank above average in customer service compared to...

Alabama Moves Closer to Hiking Auto Insurance Requirements

Mar 10 2008 // The Alabama House has approved legislation that would bring Alabama in line with about half the South by raising the minimum amount of auto liability insurance that motorists must buy.The House voted 82-0 for legislation...

For Florida Politicians, Property Insurance Just Won’t Go Away

Mar 10 2008 // Property insurance wasn’t supposed to be the big issue in the 2008 Florida Legislature. To the chagrin of many lawmakers, it just won’t go away.Legislators thought they’d largely taken care of the issue...

Industry Fights Back Against Charges of Bad Faith

Mar 10 2008 // The University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business’ latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) shows that property and casualty insurers continue to rank above average in customer service compared to...

Seattle Court Rules Failure to Disclose Pollution Incidents Voids Vessel Policy

Mar 10 2008 // The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle has upheld an Alaskan district court ruling that a primary insurance carrier can cancel a marine vessel’s pollution insurance policy on the basis that the insured...

As the Soft Market Continues, Calif. Wholesalers Seek Specialty Niches

Mar 10 2008 // The members of the California Insurance Wholesalers Association (CIWA) play a vital role in the state’s insurance market. To find out how wholesalers are faring in California’s increasingly soft market,...

Nanotechnology: A Big Risk in a Small Package?

Mar 10 2008 // Insurance professionals gathered in the oak-paneled Old Library of Lloyd’s of London this past December to learn more about a risk that the institution’s 17th century founders could never have dreamed of —...