All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Jun 18 2001 // Travis County District Court jury to the insurance industry: take care of toxic mold claims adequately and promptly or risk being assessed millions of dollars.That warning came in the form of a $32-million award to a...
Jun 18 2001 // Crude oil and natural gas exploration and production continue at near record levels and most observers see no let up. White House officials are stumping for a national energy policy that among other things seeks increases...
Jun 18 2001 // With the possible exception of Charles Darwin, matters of evolution generally take a back seat on the news bus to matters of revolution. So it has been with the 23 bills affecting the insurance industry that struggled...
Jun 18 2001 // Preliminary cost estimates of damages wreaked by Tropical Storm Allison as it floated around Southeast Texas for several days earlier this month have topped $1 billion. But no one knows what the actual figure will be nor...
Jun 18 2001 // This is the tale of what the Court of Appeals of Maryland—the state’s highest court—called a modified insurance “Ponzi scheme.” The case, decided earlier this year, is Insurance Company of North...
Jun 4 2001 // The Texas Workers’ Compensation Insurance Fund will become the Texas Mutual Insurance Company Sept. 1 if Gov. Rick Perry signs the bill authorizing the change. The governor has 20 days from the Legislature’s...
Jun 4 2001 // Local associations across the state continue to contribute to their communities and their profession in a variety of ways. Following is a report on activities for the past year from those that responded to our queries...
Jun 4 2001 // For a generation, or so, courts around the country have thought that contract law was insufficient to regulate the claims conduct of insurance companies. Consequently, the common law of insurer bad faith has been created....
Jun 4 2001 // During the last decade, the wall separating the worlds of banking and insurance has crashed down. Banks are buying insurance agencies. Banks are merging with insurance companies. The Independent Insurance Agents of America...
Jun 4 2001 // Following is an overview of the 77th Texas Legislature offered by Bo Gilbert, CPCU, IIAT Director of Governmental Affairs. For a complete analysis of these bills as well as other bills that passed this legislative session,...
Jun 4 2001 // Not surprisingly, compensation continues to be the single largest agency expense. The average independent agency in the U.S. spent between 62.2 percent and 66.3 percent on compensation in 2000, according to The Middleton...
Jun 4 2001 // Wade Spilman was always proud to say that, even though he wasn’t an insurance agent, he spent so much of his life working with, and on behalf of, agents that he often found himself thinking like an agent.IIAT will...
Jun 4 2001 // Texas Department of Insurance Commissioner José Montemayor issued a bulletin on May 21 warning HMOs and health insurance companies that they risk disciplinary actions if they violate state laws concerning prompt payment...
Jun 4 2001 // Local associations across the state continue to contribute to their communities and their profession in a variety of ways. Following is a report on activities for the past year from those that responded to our queries...
May 14 2001 // The Texas Senate Nominations Committee approved the reappointment of José Montemayor as the state’s insurance commissioner, but not before grilling him on sanctions against insurance companies that the committee...
May 14 2001 // When I bought my minivan, I refused to buy it from my local dealership. The reason? The local sales rep added no value to my sales transaction. He was satisfied in having me or a rep from another dealership do all of the...
May 14 2001 // A century ago, agents found customers where they gathered—at church, their place of business or the local watering hole downtown. This marketing strategy still works today—only now many agents are going through...
May 14 2001 // The Independent Insurance Agents of Texas’ annual convention set for June 14 and 15 has a new look this year. This year’s event, at the Marriott Rivercenter in San Antonio, will be a jam-packed two days of...
May 14 2001 // A tightening admitted market has helped boost Texas surplus lines business. Volume through the Surplus Lines Stamping Office is up 37 percent through April compared to the same period last year. To help Independent...
May 14 2001 // Insurance intermediaries, whether they are brokers or agents, have fiduciary duties. Often these duties run to policyholders or prospective policyholders. Often they run to insurers. Sometimes, they can run to both at the...