Latest Oregon Headlines
All the headlines from our Oregon Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Earthquake Awareness: Not Just a California Thing Anymore
Jun 25 2001 // Residents in Oregon and Washington would probably be surprised to know that more than 1,000 earthquakes per year are recorded in the two states by the seismology lab at the University of Washington. The biggest reason for...
Banning Major Earthquakes-A Savvy, Market-Saving Move
Jun 25 2001 // Apparently, we’ve licked that quake insurance problem. Faced with the devastation (property and market) wrought by the Northridge Earthquake and the realization by insurers that the loss models they had carefully...
PAULA, GNU Begin Process Toward Eventual Consolidation
Jun 25 2001 // Pasadena, Calif.-based PAULA Financial (PAULA) and the managing general agency Great Northern Underwriters (GNU) of Portland, Ore., recently entered into a partnership, the first step of which entails the incorporation of...
USE IT OR LOSE IT
Jun 11 2001 // According to the results of a recent study, property/casualty insurers are no longer using the Internet to simply provide information to customers and prospective policyholders, they are using the web to offer clients and...
TO BE OR NOT TO BE CAPTIVE
Jun 11 2001 // Despite recent reports, Lloyd’s hasn’t made any decision as to whether it will exit the captive market. The issue is under study as part of an overall review of Lloyd’s operations, due to be presented in...
Oregon Supreme Court Quashes Exclusive Workers’ Comp Remedy
Jun 11 2001 // In the multi-decade card game that is the Oregon workers’ compensation system, the state Supreme Court trumped the Legislature (and employers) by issuing a unanimous decision that erodes the exclusive remedy...
Ore. Passes Producer Licensing Bill
Jun 4 2001 // Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber has signed into law SB 268, a bill designed to streamline the insurance producer licensing process which also satisfies the reciprocity requirements of the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act...
AIA Blasts Decision Ore. Supreme Court Ruling
May 16 2001 // According to the American Insurance Association (AIA), the decision handed down by the Oregon State Supreme Court in Smothers v. Gresham Transfer, Inc. will undermine the exclusive remedy clause, a cornerstone of the...
Oregon Court Decision Forces Insurers to Change Auto Policy Language
May 7 2001 // The Oregon Supreme Court is at it again, although on a much smaller scale. Less than two years after the Oregon high court called into question the validity of every ex-clusion in an insurance policy with its decision in...
Busy Times for Oregon’s DCBS
Apr 23 2001 // The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services revoked the licenses of five agents across the state for unrelated violations. In one case, a Cave Junction agent, Cecile G. Zimmerman, had her license revoked after...
Oregon Hopes ‘Fleming Fix’ Will Clear the Clutter
Apr 9 2001 // To the nearly endless list of issues over which trial lawyers and insurance companies have waged legal battles, we can now add… Point sizes and capitalization? Fortunately for the insurance industry, Oregon’s...
S&P Affirms Oregon Mutual
Mar 26 2001 // The “BBBpi” FSRs on Oregon Mutual Insurance Co. was affirmed by S&P. The rating action was based on the consolidated results of the company and its wholly owned subsidiary, Western Protectors Insurance...
Oregon Revokes Four Agents’ Licenses, Suspends One
Mar 21 2001 // The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services has revoked the licenses of five agents across the state for unrelated violations. In one case, a Cave Junction agent, Cecile G. Zimmerman, had her license revoked...
“Fleming Fix” Bill Headed to Oregon Senate
Mar 2 2001 // The Oregon Senate Business, Labor and Economic Development Committee has moved a bill designed to correct a controversial state Supreme Court ruling on pollution exclusions to the Senate floor with a “do pass”...
Conant Named to IIA Oregon Board of Directors
Dec 20 2000 // The Independent Insurance Agents of Oregon named Chris Conant of Lumbermens Insurance to the State Board of Directors. As a member of the 12-person board, Conant will assist in setting policy for the organization and...
Safeco Launches Initiatives, Reports Improved 3Q
Nov 13 2000 // After taking a small step backward last quarter with disappointing results, Seattle-based Safeco reported better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter of 2000. According to Boh Dickey, president and chief operating...
Oregon Revokes Gresham Agent’s License
Oct 16 2000 // Oct. 16, 2000 9:30 a.m. CDT
FRANKEL’S FRIENDS OR FOES’
Oct 16 2000 // Robert Guyer and Robert Todd Bennett, associates of former Greenwich financier Martin Frankel, pleaded guilty on Sept. 18 and Sept. 20, respectively, to federal securities fraud and other charges. Guyer pleaded guilty to...
Oregon Revokes Portland Agent’s License; Takes Action Against Company
Jul 31 2000 // The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services has revoked the insurance agent license of a Portland man, J. Henry Edgmond, for misappropriating funds belonging to an insurance agency. An investigation by the...
No License, No Joke
May 15 2000 // The Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS) revoked Brian K. Dusenberry’s insurance agent license for violations of the Oregon Insurance Code. DCBS also revoked the firm license of Fairway Insurance...