Latest Vermont Headlines

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

Liberty Mutual Opens Captive Office in Vermont

Feb 4 2005 // Liberty Mutual Captive Services opened its second on-shore office in the past four months on January 20 when it gained approval to establish Liberty Mutual Management (Vermont) LLC in South Burlington.The principal...

AIA Opposes Vt. Underinsured Motorist Bill

Jan 25 2005 // The American Insurance Association on Tuesday called upon the Vermont State Legislature’s House Commerce Committee to reject a bill (H. 79) that would expand underinsured motorist coverage and increase auto insurance...

Consumers Warned Over Alleged Loan, Insurance Scam by Jefferson Financial, Watermark Insurance

Dec 29 2004 // The Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration and the nation’s Better Business Bureaus have issued consumer advisories against companies going by the names Watermark...

From Maine to Virginia … What Happened in 2004

Dec 20 2004 // Leaving aside the insurance brokerage compensation investigations, the World Trade Center trial, the St. Paul-Travelers merger and the UnumProvident settlement, all of which have their roots in this region but grew to...

VT. RULES IN SAME-SEX CUSTODY:

Dec 6 2004 // A Vermont Family Court judge has ruled that both members of a same-sex civil union are the legal parents of a child. Judge William Cohen’s decision is the latest twist in a nationally watched custody dispute that has...

Maine, N.H., Vt. Rules May Spur Attorney Competition

Dec 3 2004 // Despite an agenda that ranged from identity theft to best practices in agency management, the brokerage probe was what had attendees at the recent Independent Insurance Agents of Connecticut (IIAC) midyear meeting in...

Hilb Rogal & Hobbs Completes Acquisition of Vt.-based Smith, Bell & Thompson

Dec 2 2004 // Hilb Rogal & Hobbs Company announced the completion of the previously announced acquisition of the stock of Smith, Bell & Thompson Inc., a Vermont-based managing general underwriter (MGU) with 2003 revenue of...

Pierce Elected PCI Chairman; Whitburn, Tierney Appointed to Vice Chair Positions

Oct 27 2004 // Harvey R. Pierce, chairman and chief executive officer of the American Family Insurance Group was elected chairman of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) at its annual meeting today.Pierce began his...

VT. COURT SAYS TRACTOR IS NO TOY:

Oct 25 2004 // A John Deere lawn and garden tractor is made for work, not for fun. At least that’s how the Vermont Supreme Court sees it. The court ruled in a dispute between an insurance company and the driver of a lawn tractor...

VERMONT WELCOMES ITS 700TH CAPTIVE:

Oct 11 2004 // Helmerich & Payne Corporation, an energy-oriented company engaged in contract drilling, primarily in the U.S. and South America, has established Vermont’s 700th captive insurance company, according to the...

Vermont OSHA Probes Fatal Construction Accident

Oct 5 2004 // The state of Vermont said it will need about 10 days to investigate a construction accident that killed one man and sent a fellow worker to the hospital in Proctorsville.The Vermont Occupational Safety and Health...

Vermont Welcomes Its 700th Captive

Sep 28 2004 // Helmerich & Payne Corporation, an energy-oriented company engaged in contract drilling, primarily in the U.S. and South America, has established Vermont’s 700th captive insurance company, according to the...

State Sets Vermont Hospitals’ Budgets

Sep 17 2004 // In their annual attempt to hold down hospital costs, Vermont officials have pared down rate increases sought by hospitals that averaged 7.7 percent in the state for 2005.The average 7.7 percent average requested increase...

Toronto Bank Buying Majority of Banknorth

Sep 2 2004 // Officials at Banknorth Group, Inc. (NYSE: BNK) of Portland, Maine, and TD Bank Financial Group (TDBFG) of Toronto announced that they have signed a definitive agreement for TDBFG to acquire 51 percent of the outstanding...

Sweet Success

Aug 23 2004 // Only a few months ago, insurance captives were a topic of some criticism in the presidential primaries. But after Vermont Governor Dean was eliminated, candidates stopped talking about them and, come to think of it, about...

Captive Industry Makes Green Mountain State Even Greener

Aug 23 2004 // Vermonters from the governor on down are not shy about expressing their affection for the state’s captive insurance industry. At the recent 19th annual conference of the Vermont Captive Insurance Association (VCIA)...

Vt. Crime Project Pays for Windshield Repairs

Aug 11 2004 // A new pilot project in Burlington, Vermont will give up to $250 to help cover the cost of a smashed car window as long as the smashing took place in the city.The victim, who needn’t live in Burlington, must have a...

University of Vt., Captives Launch Training Program

Aug 11 2004 // The University of Vermont has joined a captive insurance industry group to launch a new educational program to serve the industry, the first of its kind in the nation.“Because the captive industry has grown so...

Vermont Supreme Court Rules Intentional Sexual Harassment Not Covered Under Liability Policies

Jul 12 2004 // The Vermont Supreme Court on July 9 rejected an effort by two women to collect from insurance companies covering the home and business of a man they said sexually harassed them.Cindy Serecky and Shannon Gioia were...

Veto of Vt. UIM Bill Upheld:

Jul 5 2004 // Vermont House members gathered for a brief reunion a bit less than a month after they thought they had finished for the year, voted to sustain Gov. James Douglas’ veto of a bill relating to car insurance, and went...