Monthly Archives: <span>January 2020</span>

Top Workers’ Comp Story of 2019: Berkshire Hathaway’s Sale of Applied Underwriters

The news that Berkshire Hathaway was in talks to sell its workers’ compensation unit, Applied Underwriters, caught readers’ attention in February and was easily Insurance Journal’s biggest workers’ compensation story of the year then and as the deal played out. …

Southern California Insurance Agent Arrested for Allegedly Pocketing Premiums

California Department of Insurance detectives on Thursday arrested insurance agent Gelinda Phann Keo, 43, on one felony count of grand theft after she allegedly pocketed a client’s insurance payment. The CDI found Keo, doing business as Global Cargo Insurance Agency, …

Employee Climate Group Claims Amazon Threatened Firings for Speaking Out

A group of Amazon.com Inc. employees who pushed the company to combat climate change say Amazon has threatened to fire some of them if they continue to speak out about their employer’s internal affairs. Two were threatened with termination, a …

Group Continuing Effort to Legalize Recreational Marijuana in Oklahoma

A group seeking to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in Oklahoma refiled their petition in late December after facing a fierce backlash over what the plan might do to the state’s burgeoning medical marijuana industry. Two Oklahoma City residents …

Argo and Shareholder Voce Lay Down Their Swords, Agree to 3 New Board Members

Argo Group International Holdings Ltd., the Bermuda-based re/insurer, announced it has agreed with activist shareholder Voce Capital Management to change the composition of Argo’s board with the addition of three new directors. The agreement ends a contentious dispute with Voce, …

Refusing to Dismiss Lawsuit, Texas Judge Orders Alex Jones to Pay $100K in Sandy Hook Case

A Texas judge ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay $100,000 in legal fees and refused to dismiss a lawsuit that targets the Infowars host for using his show to promote falsehoods that the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre was a …

3 Hurt in Explosion at South Dakota Petroleum Distributor

Three people were hurt in an explosion at a South Dakota petroleum distributor on Dec. 30, the company’s co-owner said. The explosion happened around 2 p.m. in the truck maintenance shop of Harms Oil just west of Aberdeen. Co-owner Jason …

Investigators Cite Leadership Failures at Fire Scene in Illinois Firefighter’s Death

Failures in leadership at the scene of a March house fire in southern Illinois contributed to the death of a firefighter, state investigators concluded. Godfrey Fire Capt. Jake Ringering was killed and three other firefighters were injured on when a …

Alaska Air Carrier Revises Estimate of Damage from Cyber Attack

An Alaska air carrier that suffered a cyber attack has experienced more disruption than initially projected, according to a company announcement. The RavnAir Group on Dec. 20 experienced what it called a “malicious” cyber attack on its information technology network, …

Financial Tug-Of-War Emerges Over California Fire Victims’ Settlement

A financial tug-of-war is emerging over the $13.5 billion that the nation’s largest utility has agreed to pay to victims of recent California wildfires, as government agencies jockey for more than half the money to cover the costs of their …