Latest Washington Headlines

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

20 Indicted in Washington for Staging Crashes to Defraud Auto Insurers

Jan 7 2019 // Twenty people have been indicted by a grand jury in Spokane, Wash., for allegedly staging vehicle crashes to defraud insurance companies.Defendants are accused of staging a series of automobile, boating, pedestrian/vehicle...

Workers’ Lawsuit Against Washington Farm Given Class-Action Status

Jan 7 2019 // A U.S. District Court judge in Seattle, Wash., has certified a class-action lawsuit on behalf of some 600 Mexican workers who have alleged labor abuses at a Whatcom County blueberry farm.The suit alleges the company...

2019 Insurance Industry Meetings & Conventions Directory

Jan 7 2019 // 2019 CIWA Industry DaysJan 6-8 Hilton La Jolla Torrey PinesLa Jolla, CACIWAwww.ciwa.net2019 Big ‘I’ Winter MeetingJan 9-12 Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the ArchSt. Louis, MOIndependent Insurance Agents &...

Maryland Warehouse Fire Causes Estimated $1.5M in Damage

Jan 2 2019 // A warehouse fire in a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C., has caused damage to a business that supplies temporary bleachers and scaffolding. Prince George’s County fire department spokesman Mark E. Brady told the...

Data Show Car Accidents Up in States That First Legalized Marijuana

Dec 28 2018 // Crashes are up by as much as six percent in Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, compared with neighboring states that have not yet legalized marijuana for recreational use, according to research from the Insurance...

Workers’ Lawsuit Against Washington Farm Given Class-Action Status

Dec 27 2018 // A U.S. District Court judge in Seattle, Wash. has certified a class-action lawsuit on behalf of some 600 Mexican workers who have alleged labor abuses at a Whatcom County blueberry farm.The Seattle Times reported the...

Ineffective Anti-Drone Systems Leave U.S. Airports Facing Risks Like London’s

Dec 27 2018 // U.S. airports may be just as vulnerable as London’s Gatwick airport to the kind of illegal drone incursions that shut down the U.K.’s second-busiest hub this week.Counter- drone technology performed so poorly...

20 Indicted in Washington for Staging Crashes to Defraud Auto Insurers

Dec 21 2018 // Twenty people have been indicted by a grand jury in Spokane, Wash., for allegedly staging vehicle crashes to defraud insurance companies.Defendants are accused of deliberately staging a series of automobile, boating,...

Neon Underwriting Promotes Butt to CEO, Washington to Managing Director

Dec 21 2018 // Neon Underwriting Ltd. (NUL), Neon’s Lloyd’s managing agency, announced the promotions of Theo Butt to chief executive officer and Matthew Washington to managing director with immediate effect.The appointments...

Rare Tornado Touches Down in Washington, Damages Homes

Dec 20 2018 // A rare tornado touched down in a Seattle suburb on Tuesday, the National Weather Service confirmed.The tornado damaged several homes and toppled trees, authorities said. Based on radar imagery and video evidence, a tornado...

Worldwide Facilities Adds Ives as Broker, Cannabis Specialist in Washington

Dec 18 2018 // Worldwide Facilities has named Norman Ives to the management and brokerage team in its NutraRisk division, which specializes in cannabis, nutraceuticals and dietary supplements insurance coverage. Ives, who is based out of...

Harassment Suit Against Washington Prosecutor Settled, $350K to be Paid Out of Insurance Pool

Dec 17 2018 // A former Clallam County employee’s sexual harassment lawsuit against a county prosecuting attorney has been settled for $350,000.The Peninsula Daily News reported Tina Hendrickson, and Prosecuting Attorney Mark...

Alliant Names Davidson Vice President in Washington

Dec 14 2018 // Alliant Insurance Services Inc. has named Megan Davidson vice president within the company’s real estate group. Davidson will be based in Alliant’s Seattle, Wash. office, and will provide insurance and risk...

G20 Skirts Taboos in Reaching Agreement on WTO Reforms

Dec 3 2018 // Many delegates from the world’s 20 largest economies arrived at a summit in Argentina this week determined to clinch an agreement to reform the global trade system, pushed to a breaking point by tensions between the...

How Taxpayers Subsidize Rebuilding Homes After Flooding… Repeatedly

Nov 28 2018 // Floodwaters rose about 15 inches (40 centimeters) into Danielle Rees’ home in September when Hurricane Florence drenched this tidewater city on the Pamlico River and overwhelmed a local creek and marshland. The first...

Valley Insurance Agency in Washington Joins Leavitt Group

Nov 27 2018 // Leavitt Group has made Valley Insurance Agency part of Leavitt Group Northwest.Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Valley Insurance Agency’s Robert Bush, Sheila Siggins and Ginger Patton will remain with the merged...

Earthquake Confirmed in Washington’s Olympic Peninsula

Nov 21 2018 // A magnitude 4.1 earthquake has shaken an area beneath Olympic National Park south of Port Angeles, the U.S. Geological Survey has confirmed.The USGS reported the earthquake hit just after 3 a.m. Monday. There were no...

Jury Awards $600K in Idaho Triple-Fatal Boat Crash

Nov 5 2018 // An eastern Washington man found not guilty of three counts of involuntary manslaughter in a criminal trial following a boating crash on Lake Coeur d’Alene in northern Idaho has been ordered to pay $600,000 in a civil...

Cascade Insurance Agency in Washington Merges with Leavitt Group

Oct 30 2018 // Oak Harbor, Wash.-based Cascade Insurance Agency merged operations with Leavitt Group Northwest.Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Shelli Trumbull will join Sue Blouin and Bonnie Wallin in Leavitt Group’s Oak...

Transit Authority in Washington Settles Bus Fatality for $7.7M

Oct 30 2018 // King County Metro Transit in Washington has apologized and made a multimillion-dollar payment to the family of an Amazon employee who was killed last year by a turning bus.The Seattle Times reports 43-year-old John Ahn had...