Latest USA Headlines

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

AIG Appoints Former IRS Attorney as Deputy Tax Director

Sep 22 2011 // American International Group Inc. (AIG) has hired Clarissa Potter, former deputy chief counsel at U.S. Internal Revenue Service and former law professor, as deputy tax director. In this role, Potter will be responsible for...

How Federal Reserve’s Move Hurts Life Insurers

Sep 22 2011 // The Federal Reserve’s latest move to stimulate credit for consumers and businesses, known as Operation Twist, is likely to threaten the earnings of some of the country’s largest insurers for years to come.Wall...

Politicians, Investors Worry Over Shrinking Middle Class, Role of Social Media

Sep 22 2011 // The rising gap between rich and poor in nearly every country, rich or poor, went largely ignored during the decades of globalization-fueled boom.But with large parts of the world in financial crisis, ending the time when a...

Selective to Acquire Montpelier Re E&S Unit for $55M

Sep 21 2011 // Selective Insurance Group is acquiring Montpelier U.S. Insurance Company (acronym MUSIC), an excess-and-surplus lines unit from Montpelier Re U.S. Holdings Ltd., for $55 million. Selective said the deal would be completed...

Zurich to Offer Contract Litigation Insurance for Real Estate Firms

Sep 21 2011 // Zurich, a provider of property and casualty insurance in North America and globally, now offers Contract Litigation Insurance (CLI).According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the most common form of civil litigation in...

U.S. Risk Acquires American Special Risk of California

Sep 21 2011 // Woodland Hills, Calif.-based American Special Risk Insurance Services has been acquired by managing general agency and surplus line wholesaler U.S. Risk Insurance Group Inc. American Special Risk is a managing general...

U.S. RE Executive Joins N.Y. Reinsurance Broker Holborn

Sep 21 2011 // Independent reinsurance broker Holborn Corp. has appointed Arthur Dougherty as a senior vice president in the firm’s New York City headquarters. Dougherty is an industry veteran, having worked more than three decades...

Cooper Gay Swett & Crawford: A Global Broker Pioneers a New Path

Sep 21 2011 // Cooper Gay Swett & Crawford (CGSC) is the largest independent (i.e. privately owned by its employees and private equity funds) global wholesale and reinsurance broker. Over 1,400 professionals work in some 60 offices...

Consumers Not Required to Arbitrate Warranty Claims with Car Dealers: Court

Sep 21 2011 // A federal appeals court handed car owners a victory by striking down a requirement that they arbitrate warranty disputes with dealers.Reversing a lower court ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a...

Former Controller for Texas Insurer Sentenced for Wire Fraud Scheme

Sep 20 2011 // The former controller for a Houston-based property/casualty insurance company has been sentenced to 120 months in federal prison for her conviction of conspiracy to commit wire fraud involving almost $1 million in loss to...

Italy Downgrade, Greek Worry Dominate Europe’s Financial Markets

Sep 20 2011 // Standard & Poor’s downgrading of Italian debt hit the euro on Tuesday, although stock investors shrugged off the move to push European stocks higher.Markets remain on edge about Greece’s rickety finances...

U.S. Court Unfreezes $18 billion Ecuador Award against Chevron

Sep 20 2011 // A U.S. appeals court reversed an order freezing enforcement outside of Ecuador of an $18 billion damages award against Chevron Corp over pollution in the Amazonian rain forest.The order, issued by the 2nd U.S. Circuit...

More Than 800,000 Vehicles Recalled in U.S. Last Week

Sep 20 2011 // Automakers, including Hyundai Motor Co. and Subaru recalled more than 800,000 cars and trucks last week for defects including faulty airbags, according to federal regulators.Separately, the National Highway Traffic Safety...

Court Dismisses U.S. Suit Against BP Executives, Directs Investors to File in UK

Sep 19 2011 // Current and former BP executives and directors won dismissal last week of one of several U.S.-shareholder lawsuits filed over last year’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill.A federal court in Houston on Sept. 15 said it was...

New Patent Reform Law Aims to Reduce Backlog, Curb Lawsuits

Sep 19 2011 // President Barack Obama signed into law a patent overhaul bill Friday that backers say will curb frivolous lawsuits and help the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office do the hiring needed to clear a huge backlog of...

Punitive Damages Ruling May Be Pivotal in BP Case

Sep 19 2011 // A key court ruling in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill litigation could change the landscape in the massive case — encouraging more plaintiffs to sue, or spurring the parties to make a deal to resolve what could be a long...

Damages Ruling May Be Pivotal in BP Gulf Oil Case

Sep 19 2011 // A key court ruling in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill litigation could change the landscape in the massive case – encouraging more plaintiffs to sue, or spurring the parties to make a deal to resolve what could be a...

U.S. Taking a Beating from Disasters

Sep 19 2011 // Nature is pummeling the United States this year with extremes.Unprecedented triple-digit heat and devastating drought. Deadly tornadoes leveling towns. Massive rivers overflowing. A billion-dollar blizzard. And now,...

The Increasing Cost of Data Breaches

Sep 19 2011 // The cost of responding to data breaches is on the rise, according to a recent study. The 2010 Annual Study: U.S. Cost of a Data Breach, released in March 2011 by Symantec Corp. and privacy and information management...

Court Tosses Virginia Challenge to Healthcare Law

Sep 19 2011 // A U.S. appeals court handed President Barack Obama a victory for his signature healthcare law on Sept. 8, ruling against challenges by the state of Virginia and others seeking to invalidate the law as unconstitutional.The...