Latest Contractors Headlines
All the headlines from our Contractors Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Michigan Court Sides with Westfield Insurance in ‘Employee/Contractor’ Case
Jul 10 2017 // The Michigan Court of Appeals has reversed the ruling of a trial court in a case involving whether a commercial insurer or a personal insurer is responsible for paying no-fault personal injury protection benefits when a...
Opinion: Floridians Will Pay More For Less Under Citizens Managed Repair Program
Jul 6 2017 // Florida is famous for its catastrophic hurricanes, however, we also have our fair share of daily claims such as fire, vandalism and water losses. Florida is now becoming known for what is referred to as the...
Missouri Plumbing Contractor Hit with $714K in Fines Over Trench Collapse
Jun 28 2017 // A month after a 33-year-old worker died while working in an unprotected trench, U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors found another employee of the same Missouri plumbing...
Regulator Fines Contractor Following Oregon Bridge Incident
Jun 21 2017 // A contractor has been fined nearly $200,000 for violations discovered after two workers were injured in a mishap on Portland, Ore.’s Ross Island Bridge. Oregon OSHA announced the penalty Monday, following an...
Michigan Court Rules for Westfield Insurance in ‘Employee v. Contractor’ Case
Jun 20 2017 // The Michigan Court of Appeals has reversed the ruling of a trial court in a case involving whether a commercial insurer or a personal insurer is responsible for paying no-fault personal injury protection benefits when a...
Tech Targets Construction Risk Management
Jun 19 2017 // Water sensors that detect leaks before a lot of damage is done, wearables that track workers’ whereabouts and video cameras that monitor sites — the building industry is gradually adopting these and other...
XL Catlin Launches New Contractors Pollution Liability Express Program
Jun 15 2017 // XL Catlin has launched its new Contractors Pollution Liability Express Program in the US and Canada for small to mid-size construction firms. According to Cathy Cleary, XL Catlin’s executive environmental...
American Family Disagrees with Jury Finding that Agents Are Employees
May 15 2017 // A federal jury in Cleveland, Ohio, on April 18 determined that thousands of agents with Madison, Wisconsin-based (AmFam) are employees, not independent contractors. The insurer stands by its classification practice and...
Bunker, Startup Broker for Small Business, Contractor Insurance, Raises $6 Million
May 11 2017 // Bunker, a startup digital insurance broker focused on independent contractors and small businesses, has raised $6 million in Series A funding that will help fuel product development and expansion. Hiscox and American...
Settlement Reached in Connecticut Christmas Fire that Killed Five
May 5 2017 // A Connecticut city on Tuesday announced that it has settled a lawsuit filed by the family of three girls who died in a Christmas morning house fire that also killed their grandparents. Terms of the settlement announced by...
Cunningham Joins American Risk Management Resources in Wisconsin
May 3 2017 // Jeff Cunningham has joined American Risk Management Resources Network LLC (ARMR) in Madison, Wis., as director of underwriting for its managing general agency through Berkley Specialty. Cunningham leads the MGA, which...
Ohio Jury Says American Family Agents Are Employees; Insurer Disagrees
Apr 28 2017 // A federal jury in Cleveland, Ohio, on April 18 determined that thousands of agents with Madison, Wisconsin-based American Family Mutual Insurance (AmFam) are employees, not independent contractors. According to a news...
Family Sues Mental Health Contractor in Oregon Bridge Suicide
Apr 20 2017 // The family of a woman who jumped off the Astoria Bridge in northwestern Oregon seeks nearly $1 million in a lawsuit filed against a county mental health contractor. The lawsuit filed Saturday alleges Clatsop Behavioral...
California Awards Contractor $275M Contract to Fix Troubled Dam
Apr 19 2017 // California water officials say they have awarded a contract to repair Oroville Dam’s two damaged spillways to a Nebraska construction company. The Department of Water Resources announced that Kiewit Corp. of Omaha...
Alaska Workers’ Comp Reform Has Labor, Businesses Disagreeing
Mar 29 2017 // Alaska Gov. Bill Walker is sponsoring workers’ compensation legislation aimed at making it easier to determine whether someone is an employee or an independent contractor. Walker’s bill creates a new definition...
California Judge Approves $27M Driver Settlement in Lyft Lawsuit
Mar 17 2017 // A U.S. judge has given final approval to a settlement agreement in a class-action lawsuit against Lyft Inc., ending a legal case that challenged the independent contractor status of the ride-hailing service’s...
Wyoming to Protect Homeowners from Storm-Chasing Contractors
Mar 13 2017 // Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead made his the 28th state to enact legislation designed to protect homeowners who have suffered damage as a result of a hailstorm from being victimized a second time by storm-chasing contractors. The...
Federal Contractor Disclosure Rule Next on Trump Chopping Block
Mar 7 2017 // Republicans in the U.S. Senate passed a measure to eliminate an Obama administration rule that would require prospective federal contractors to report violations of more than a dozen U.S. labor and employment laws. On a...
New Bill Grants Bonding Assistance to Small Businesses in New Jersey
Mar 6 2017 // A recently passed bipartisan bill in New Jersey has brought good news to small businesses that want to participate on public construction projects. Senate Bill 123, signed by Gov. Chris Christie on Jan. 4, introduces a new...
A Cyber Mandate Isn’t the Way to Address Cyber-Insurance Takeup
Feb 24 2017 // To improve cyber preparedness and help companies recover from cyberattacks, it’s essential that the takeup rate for cyber insurance continues to rise. The insurance capacity plainly exists to write virtually all of...
