Latest Property Headlines
All the headlines from our Property Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Liberty Mutual Drops Direct Sales to Middle Market Businesses
Feb 8 2009 // Puts Faith in Independent Agents Liberty Mutual Group is throwing in the towel on direct distribution of insurance to middle market businesses. Because it couldn’t beat independent agents and brokers — who...
5 Business Owner Policy Gaps and Pitfalls Agents Should Watch Out For
Feb 8 2009 // Business owner policies, traditionally referred to simply as BOPs, were introduced in 1976 and significantly revised in 1987. The BOP evolved gradually since the 1987 revisions to include risk classification and sizes not...
The Hanover Group Sees Profits Shrink
Feb 6 2009 // Fourth quarter profits at The Hanover Insurance Group fell 55 percent from $75.8 million a year ago to $34.1 million. Full-year net income dropped nearly 92 percent to $20.6 million, from the $253.1 million the Worcester,...
State Farm Rejects Call to Let Florida Agents Represent Other Insurers
Feb 4 2009 // Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink is urging State Farm Florida to “immediately” let its agents do business with other insurance companies for their more than one million policyholders now that State...
Illinois Court Denies Insurer Claim That Boys’ Deaths Were Single Event
Feb 4 2009 // The accidental deaths of two teenage boys at an excavation site in 1997 were separate occurrences under the liability insurance policy of the property owner, the Illinois Supreme Court has ruled in reinstating a $2 million...
Report Finds Cat Bond Market Resilient in Financial, Property Catastrophes
Feb 4 2009 // Catastrophe bonds withstood the impact of onerous market forces in 2008, brought on by turmoil in the global capital markets, according to a new briefing on catastrophe bond market activity. The cat bond market update,...
Texas Announces December Insurance Industry Enforcement Actions
Feb 3 2009 // The Texas Department of Insurance announced enforcement actions taken by Commissioner Mike Geeslin that became final during December. The actions include five license revocations, three license denials and fines and...
Texas Lawmaker Proposes Tax Caps for Commercial Property
Feb 3 2009 // Texas State Representative Bill Callegari (Katy) has filed two measures to cap increases in property tax appraisals for commercial property. The bills, HB 979 and HJR 49, limit annual appraisal increases for commercial...
Glencairn Names Andrews for Property Binding Business
Jan 28 2009 // Glencairn, a division of Faber & Dumas, the global third-party wholesale insurance broker established in London by Willis, announced that John Andrews has joined the company as Account Executive. He will help...
Obama Taps The Hartford’s Wolin for Key Economic Policy Post
Jan 28 2009 // The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. today announced that Neal Wolin, president and chief operating officer of the company’s Property and Casualty Operations, has accepted a position in the White House as...
State Farm Pulling Out of Florida Property Insurance Market
Jan 27 2009 // Florida is losing its largest property insurance company. State Farm Florida Insurance announced today it is beginning the process that will allow it to non-renew policies and halt all sales of homeowners or other...
American E&S Offers Vacant Property Insurance Program
Jan 27 2009 // San Francisco-based American E&S Insurance Brokers is offering property and general liability coverage for vacant commercial and residential buildings. Available nationwide (except Kentucky), the program is available...
Florida Panel Backs Rate Hikes, Stricter Rules for Citizens
Jan 25 2009 // A special task force is recommending that Florida’s state-backed property insurer, Citizens Property Insurance, be permitted to raise its rates beginning in 2010 and that restrictions on what homeowners it can insure...
Foreclosures, Vacant Properties Increase with Continuing Financial Crisis
Jan 25 2009 // Properties Vulnerable to Vandalism, Theft In communities across America, several factors have combined to create a “perfect storm” of property risk. Growing numbers of foreclosures are leaving scores of...
People
Jan 25 2009 // American International Group Inc. (AIG) named Russell Johnston president and CEO of AIG Environmental, a unit of AIG Commercial Insurance. Johnston joined AIG in 1990 serving in senior management positions within...
California Appeals Court Reverses Pollution Liability Decision
Jan 25 2009 // The 4th District of the California Court of Appeals has reversed a lower court decision in a pollution liability case, State of California v. Continental Insurance Co. et al. The decision is likely to influence courts...
Continuing Financial Crisis Leads to Vacant Properties, Vulnerable to Vandalism, Metal Theft
Jan 25 2009 // Brooklyn, N.Y. — Thieves who broke the locks on an unoccupied apartment building stripped the entire building of its copper piping, valued at more than $30,000. Las Vegas — The entire electrical system,...
FBI Reports Drop in Crime Including Property Crimes and Arson
Jan 25 2009 // The nation experienced a 3.5 percent decline in violent crime and a 2.5 percent decline in property crime for the first six months of 2008, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Violent crime was down in all...
London’s Reach Bolsters U.S. Specialty Lines
Jan 25 2009 // Insurers Catlin, Beazley, Amlin, Hiscox and Newcomer Torus Find Their Niche in U.S. Market Find a need, then fill it,” is a hoary business principle, but making it work is often harder than it looks. However, a...
Xl Insurance Hires 8 Engineers for Global Property Loss Prevention
Jan 22 2009 // XL Insurance announced from its office in Hartford that the Company has hired eight new field engineers for its worldwide property loss prevention services business, XL Global Asset Protection Services (XL...
