Latest Oregon Headlines
All the headlines from our Oregon Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Oregon Workers’ Comp Costs to Remain Stable in 2003
Oct 8 2002 // Most Oregon employers can expect to pay about the same amount of money for workers’ compensation insurance in 2003 as they paid this year. State officials announced that the workers’ comp “pure”...
Friends Caught in Auto Fraud Scheme
Aug 19 2002 // A Sacramento man was arrested by the CDI’s Organized Auto Fraud Interdiction Task Force on charges of auto insurance fraud. An Oregon man who allegedly acted as an accomplice is expected to surrender to authorities...
Safeguarding Customer Privacy Creates New Issue for States
Aug 5 2002 // Insurance associations have been abuzz the past couple of weeks with regard to impending changes and new proposals to privacy regulations under Congress’ Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Modernization Act (GLB). Each...
S&P’s Lowers Northwest Physicians Mutual Ratings to ‘Bpi’
Jul 22 2002 // Standard & Poor’s has lowered its counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Oregon-based Northwest Physicians Mutual Insurance Co. to single-‘Bpi’ from triple-‘Bpi’ because of...
Woodruff-Sawyer Opens Oregon Office
Jan 8 2002 // Woodruff-Sawyer & Co., a San Francisco-based insurance brokerage, announced the opening of its new venture, Woodruff-Sawyer Oregon Inc., located in downtown Portland. Woodruff-Sawyer has been serving the risk...
NAII Defends Insurers’ Use of Credit-Based Insurance Scores
Dec 6 2001 // According to National Association of Independent Insurers (NAII) Northwest Regional Manager Michael Harrold, insurance companies’ use of credit information clearly benefits most consumers, in terms of both price and...
State Farm Auto Rates in Oregon Driven Up
Oct 9 2001 // State Farm auto insurance policyholders in Oregon, who are accustomed to seeing annual dividend checks, instead will see an average 5.4 percent raise in rates starting Nov. 1, the company said earlier this week. According...
Liberty Northwest Insurance Corp. Seeks Purchase of Oregon Company
Sep 27 2001 // Liberty Northwest Insurance Corporation has announced the intended purchase, pending regulatory approval, of Oregon Auto Insurance Company, along with its subsidiary North Pacific Insurance Company. As two of the largest...
Oregon Agent’s License Revoked
Sep 25 2001 // The Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS) revoked the insurance agent’s license of a Salem-area woman, Genie M. Wolfer, for violating the Oregon Insurance Code. DCBS also fined Wolfer $4,000 and revoked...
It’s Fire Season: Time to Brush Up on Coverage and Prevention
Aug 27 2001 // Take an influx of homeowners moving into what was once open land, add a rainy winter which has fueled the growth of brush and vegetation, and you have a potential recipe for disaster. As of Aug. 15, close to 300 wildfires...
Oregon Legislature Wraps Up 2001 Session
Jul 13 2001 // Oregon’s legislature adjourned last weekend having once again considered a staggering number of bills during its biennial session, including dozens of insurance-related bills. Michael Harrold, Northwest regional...
Ore. Lawmakers Weigh Workers’ Comp Issues in Waning Days of 2001 Session
Jun 25 2001 // The National Association of Independent Insurers (NAII) noted that as the 2001 Oregon legislative session rapidly approaches its conclusion, workers’ compensation issues continue to dominate the discussions. SB 485,...
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...
