Latest Pennsylvania Headlines
All the headlines from our Pennsylvania Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Supreme Court Opinion on Maritime Law Solidifies Insurer’s Choice-of-Law Clause
Mar 18 2024 // A dispute between an insurer and a yacht owner that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court resulted in a decision — the first of its kind on marine insurance in about 70 years — to clarify federal maritime...
Cleanup and Track Repair Underway After Train Collision and Derailment in Pennsylvania
Mar 6 2024 // Norfolk Southern crews and contractors are working on cleanup and track repair after a collision and derailment in eastern Pennsylvania over the weekend involving three trains that left some railroad cars scattered along a...
Three Trains in Collision and Derailment in Pennsylvania; No Injuries Reported
Mar 4 2024 // Authorities say three trains were involved in a collision and derailment in eastern Pennsylvania on Saturday morning that caused no reported injuries or evacuations but left some railroad cars scattered along a riverbank...
People & Places
Mar 4 2024 // National Xceedance, headquartered in Boston, appointed Peter Flynn as senior vice president, personal lines, Americas. Flynn brings 25 years of insurance experience, having spent the first 15 years of his career various...
Supreme Court Opinion on Maritime Law Solidifies Insurer’s Choice-of-Law Clause
Mar 1 2024 // A dispute between an insurer and a yacht owner went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court with a decision recently—the first of its kind on marine insurance in about 70 years—to clarify federal maritime law and state...
Woman Gets 5-10 Years for Workers’ Comp Scam of Family Dollar, Restaurant
Mar 1 2024 // A Delaware woman will serve 5 to 10 years in state prison for a workers’ compensation scam that spanned 2.5 years, two states, and cost a Pennsylvania employer more than $170,000, according to Pennsylvania Attorney...
Pennsylvania’s State Courts Restore Website Services Disrupted by Cyber Attack
Feb 16 2024 // The Pennsylvania state court system has restored all of its digital platforms that were disrupted by a February 4 cyber attack. In an update, Chief Justice Debra Todd reported that the system’s news, statistics,...
Pennsylvania Courts’ Cyber Battle With an ‘Unknown Opponent’ Enters Third Day
Feb 7 2024 // Pennsylvania’s court system is in a “virtual battle with an unknown opponent” that attacked and shut down key portions of the courts’ online services last Sunday and then again on Tuesday after they...
Pennsylvania State Courts Dealing With Cyberattack
Feb 6 2024 // Pennsylvania’s court system was hit with a cyberattack on Sunday that shut down access to key online services including those used to file documents with appellate courts and guardianship reports, as well as to view...
Pennsylvania’s 7.8% Workers’ Compensation Cut Takes Effect in April
Feb 5 2024 // Pennsylvania workers’ compensation rates will be going down for employers beginning April 1. Insurance Commissioner Mike Humphreys on January 23 approved an overall decrease in loss costs of -7.88%, more than...
Business Moves
Feb 5 2024 // East Arthur J. Gallagher, Hughes Insurance Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. acquired the Queensbury, New York-based independent insurance agency, Hughes Insurance Agency Inc. From its headquarters in Queensbury and an office...
2 Pennsylvania Homeowners Urged to Evacuate Due to Landslide
Feb 2 2024 // Authorities have urged two western Pennsylvania homeowners to evacuate their residences due to a nearby landslide. The slide in the Sonoma Ridge development in Allegheny County’s Moon Township closed part of a road...
Pennsylvania High Court Backs ‘Regular Use’ Exclusion for Underinsured Motorist Cover
Feb 2 2024 // The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has upheld a “regular use” exclusion in an auto insurance policy that prohibits underinsured motorist coverage for injuries involving a non-owned vehicle that an insured used...
Pennsylvania Counties Still Restoring Systems After Cyber Incidents
Feb 1 2024 // Two Pennsylvania county governments — Bucks and Washington— reported some progress this week restoring computer systems and overcoming the effects of cyber incidents. But both still have work to do to return to...
Pennsylvania Counties Dealing With Cyber Incidents
Jan 26 2024 // Pennsylvania’s Bucks County reported that it is continuing to investigate a cybersecurity incident that caused an extended outage of the Emergency Communications’ Department’s computer-aided dispatch...
AM Best Revises Outlooks to Negative for Farmers Mutual Fire of Pennsylvania
Jan 26 2024 // Ratings firm AM Best has revised the outlooks to negative from stable of Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Co. of Marble, Pennsylvania. At the same time, it has affirmed the insurer’s Financial Strength Rating of A...
Pennsylvania Slashes Insurance Licensing Fees, Speeds Up Application Reviews
Jan 24 2024 // The Pennsylvania Insurance Department (PID) announced the removal of certain fees associated with insurance licensing forms and faster review times for pending applications. “Accelerating our review time for pending...
Declarations
Jan 22 2024 // Auto Severity “Workplace patterns have changed post-pandemic with work-from-home arrangements, reducing the number of vehicles on the road. However, driver inattentiveness and riskier driving habits have become more...
States and Congress Wrestle With Cybersecurity at Water Utilities
Jan 3 2024 // The tiny Aliquippa water authority in western Pennsylvania was perhaps the least-suspecting victim of an international cyberattack. It had never had outside help in protecting its systems from a cyberattack, either at its...
Pennsylvania Law Assures Medical Expense Coverage for Injured Unlicensed Driver
Dec 28 2023 // An unlicensed driver exclusion in a Pennsylvania auto insurance policy does not apply to allow an insurer to deny statutorily mandated first party medical expense benefits, the Pennsylvania Superior Court has ruled. The...
