Latest USA Headlines

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

New Credit Card Chips Shift Liability to Retailers

Dec 7 2015 // On Oct. 1, 2015, many of the insurance industry’s clients took on a lot more risk, and may not even know it. The Payment Card Industry, PCI, which is the self-regulating organization that oversees everyone that...

Supreme Court Lets Stand State, Local Bans on Assault Weapons

Dec 7 2015 // A divided U.S. Supreme Court steered clear of a politically charged fight over gun rights, turning away a challenge to a law banning semi-automatic assault weapons and large-capacity magazines in a Chicago suburb.The...

U.S. Hospitals Improve Patient Safety: Report

Dec 7 2015 // Fewer patients are dying from conditions acquired while staying in the nation’s hospitals, according to a new federal report.Statistics from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) show that an estimated...

P/C Insurers Told ‘Fresh Approach’ Needed to Face Coming Disruption

Dec 7 2015 // U.S. property/casualty insurers should expect disruptive changes in a number of areas in 2016, including technology, pricing, customer demand, and “heightened regulatory creep,” consultant Ernst & Young...

Business Moves

Dec 7 2015 // Endurance, W. Brown AssociatesEndurance Specialty Holdings Ltd., a Bermuda-based specialty provider of property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, has entered into an exclusive joint underwriting agreement with W....

Study Says Telematics Use Changing Drivers’ Behavior

Dec 7 2015 // Telematics devices offered by auto insurers appear to working to change the behavior of drivers.More than half (56 percent) of the 1,135 drivers participating in an Insurance Research Council (IRC) public opinion survey...

People – East

Dec 7 2015 // CNA Financial Corporation announced the appointment of Dino E. Robusto as its chairman and chief executive officer, effective on or about Dec. 1, 2016. Robusto will succeed Thomas F. Motamed who has decided to retire at...

Blankenship Found Guilty of Conspiracy in W. Virginia Mine Blast

Dec 3 2015 // Former Massey Energy Chief Executive Don Blankenship was found guilty in federal court on Thursday of conspiring to violate safety standards at the Upper Big Branch mine, the site of a 2010 blast that killed 29...

Senate Joins House in Voting to Repeal Obamacare

Dec 3 2015 // The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to repeal the core of Obamacare, bringing Congress closer to sending legislation to President Barack Obama for the first time that would dismantle his signature domestic...

Huge Highway Bill Includes Safety, Trucking, Rail, Ex-Im Bank Provisions

Dec 3 2015 // U.S House and Senate lawmakers reached agreement on Tuesday on a $305 billion, five-year transportation bill that would revive the politically embattled Export-Import Bank while funding roads, bridges and mass transit.The...

Supreme Court Hears Liberty Mutual Case Against Vermont Data Law

Dec 3 2015 // Members of the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday indicated that Vermont and 17 other states could be prevented from collecting healthcare information from certain employee health plan administrators.The nine justices heard a...

Cyber Insurance Rates Up, Unlike Other Commercial Rates

Dec 3 2015 // Cyber insurance stood out in the third quarter as the only line for which insurers saw consistent and large rate increases, which averaged more than 15 percent in the United States, according to the latest analysis from...

15 Automakers, U.S. Meet on Safety, Recalls, Hacking

Dec 3 2015 // Executives from 15 auto companies met with U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx Tuesday to discuss specific industrywide actions that can improve safety and prevent cars from being hacked.The meeting was convened...

Blankenship Jury Still Deadlocked in West Virginia Mine Blast Case

Dec 2 2015 // Jurors at former Massey Energy Co. Chief Donald Blankenship’s criminal trial ended their eighth day of deliberations after telling the judge they remain deadlocked on charges the coal executive plotted to ignore...

U.S. Risk Insurance Group Acquires Matias Underwriters in Boston

Dec 2 2015 // U.S. Risk Insurance Group Inc., a managing general agency and surplus lines wholesaler based in Dallas, announced that it has acquired Matias Underwriters LLC in Boston. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.Matias...

ACE Announces Future Leadership Team for Global Surety Business Unit

Dec 2 2015 // ACE Ltd. announced the leadership team it has appointed for the company’s Global Surety business unit, which will take effect upon completion of the acquisition of Chubb, expected in the first quarter of 2016.As...

California Farm Recalls Produce Used in Costco’s E. Coli-linked Salad

Dec 1 2015 // A California farm is recalling a vegetable mix believed to be the source of E.coli in Costco chicken salad that has been linked to an outbreak that has sickened 19 people in seven states, the Food and Drug Administration...

Anadarko’s $160 Million Fine for 2010 Gulf Oil Spill Falls Well Below What U.S. Sought

Nov 30 2015 // Anadarko Petroleum Corp. was ordered to pay almost $160 million for its role as part-owner of the doomed Gulf of Mexico well that in 2010 caused the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.The fine was the last big...

5 Charged in $580M Southern California Scheme Involving Workers’ Comp

Nov 30 2015 // Five people, including a former hospital executive and two surgeons, are charged with a massive kickback scheme that resulted in billing $580 million to the government and insurance companies, authorities announced.Two...

GM Does Not Have to Turn Over Privileged Ignition Switch Documents: Judge

Nov 30 2015 // General Motors Co. and its law firm need not turn over privileged documents to drivers hoping to show that the automaker intended to commit a crime or fraud by concealing defective ignition switches in their vehicles, a...