Latest Texas Headlines

All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Texans Helping Texans: Independent MGAs Join Forces for Targeted Harvey Relief

Sep 21 2017 // A group of independently owned Texas managing general agents (MGAs) have come together to provide targeted, direct, local relief to communities affected by Hurricane Harvey. Texas MGAs for Disaster Relief is working with...

Air Monitoring Company Added to Texas Chemical Plant Negligence Lawsuit

Sep 21 2017 // Air monitoring company Bureau Veritas SA has been added to a negligence suit alleging first responders inhaled dangerous fumes during a fire at a chemical plant, lawyers for Texas police and emergency workers said. The...

States Need Better Protections for Insurance Consumers in Natural Disasters: Rutgers Report

Sep 21 2017 // As homeowners continue to file insurance claims in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, a research report released by the Rutgers Center for Risk and Responsibility at the Rutgers Law School in Camden, N.J., suggests...

FEMA Not Relying on Trailers to House Hurricane Victims

Sep 20 2017 // The hurricanes that battered Texas and Florida have likely spawned the worst disaster-created housing crisis since Hurricane Katrina left hundreds of thousands of Gulf Coast residents without homes more than a decade...

Sunderman Appointed President of Hotchkiss Insurance Programs

Sep 18 2017 // Hotchkiss Insurance Programs LLC, based in Dallas, has appointed Timothy Sunderman as president. He will assume operational responsibility and will report to Michael Hotchkiss, the company’s chief executive officer....

‘Future-Proofing’ Texas a Political, Bureaucratic Challenge for Harvey Recovery Czar

Sep 18 2017 // The man tasked with overseeing Texas’ Hurricane Harvey rebuilding efforts sees his job as “future-proofing” before the next disaster, but he isn’t empowered on his own to reshape flood-prone Houston...

Hurricane Harvey-Caused Oil, Chemical Spills Dwarfed by Katrina’s

Sep 18 2017 // More than 22,000 barrels of oil, refined fuels and chemicals spilled at sites across Texas in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, along with millions of cubic feet of natural gas and hundreds of tons of other toxic substances, a...

Linhardt Named Regions Insurance’s State Exec for Arkansas, Texas

Sep 18 2017 // Regions Insurance, an affiliate of Regions Bank, has hired David Linhardt as state executive for Arkansas and Texas. As state executive, Linhardt will oversee Regions Insurance operations in the Little Rock, Fayetteville...

Some Insurance Adjusters Camping Out in Texas after Harvey

Sep 18 2017 // To process tens of thousands of auto and property claims with losses already well into the billions of dollars, insurance companies have adjusters camping out across Texas. The Houston Chronicle reports in one case, the...

Hey Congress, Hurricanes and Health Care Have a Lot in Common: Bloomberg View

Sep 18 2017 // As Congress continues to struggle with health insurance reform, members should be ruminating on the scenes of “recovery” beaming in from East Texas and Florida, where the majority of households — many now...

Firms Hit by Harvey, Irma Hope Business Interruption Coverage Pays Off

Sep 18 2017 // Business owners who are trying to get back on track after hurricanes Harvey and Irma now face a different sort of challenge: trying to recoup lost income from their insurers. Exclusions in the fine print of policies, along...

People

Sep 18 2017 // Dallas-based insurance and risk management firm Dexter & Company has added Jeff Twitty to its team as senior vice president and promoted Stephen Bivins to vice president. A seasoned insurance professional with more...

Mixed Messages Sent Over Texas’s New Cat Claims Statute

Sep 18 2017 // Ambiguity surrounding a Texas law that went into effect on Sept. 1 had insurance industry representatives and attorneys who represent insurance policyholders issuing conflicting messages to insureds who may have suffered...

6 Tips to Consider in a Post-Harvey and Irma Homebuilding Market

Sep 18 2017 // The images of familiar places underwater in South Texas and Floria haunt us. The spirit of volunteers risking their lives to help strangers emboldens us. But those in the home building insurance industry naturally start to...

ICT Pegs Hurricane Harvey Insured Losses at $19B

Sep 15 2017 // The Insurance Council of Texas (ICT) has placed the insured losses from Hurricane Harvey at $19 billion. That number includes an estimated $11 billion in flood losses insured by the National Flood Insurance...

Number Drops but Texas Still Has Highest Rate for People Without Health Insurance

Sep 13 2017 // The number of people without health insurance in Texas continues to decline, but the state still has more residents without coverage than anywhere in the nation. U.S. Census Bureau data released Tuesday shows Texas’...

Texas AG Sues 3 Businesses for Price Gouging During Hurricane Harvey

Sep 13 2017 // Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed lawsuits against three Texas businesses, accusing them of unlawful price gouging while consumers were in need of fuel, shelter and other essentials as a result of Hurricane...

Waiting Period Suspended for Harvey-Related Claim Payouts for Totaled Vehicles

Sep 13 2017 // Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has suspended a state statute in ordered to help facilitate the payment of insurance claims for vehicles that were totaled by Hurricane Harvey, the governor’s office said. Abbott temporarily...

Texas Mutual Creates $10M Fund for Policyholders Affected by Hurricane Harvey

Sep 13 2017 // Workers’ compensation insurance provider Texas Mutual Insurance Co. has established a grant of $10 million to policyholders affected by Hurricane Harvey. The grant program is intended to support the recovery of...

U.S. Investigating Arkema’s Safety Practices After Texas Fires

Sep 13 2017 // The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is investigating whether chemical maker Arkema SA followed safety rules at its Crosby, Texas, plant where chemical containers exploded and burned for days after flooding from...