Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Texas County Sues Automaker for $100M Over Doctored Diesels
Sep 30 2015 // The Texas county that includes Houston sued Volkswagen Group of America Inc. for $100 million, claiming the carmaker’s cheating on emission controls worsened pollution in the area. It’s believed to the the...
Watercraft Thefts Down but Texas Still a Top State for Them: NICB
Sep 30 2015 // While the number of watercraft thefts continued on a downward trend in 2014, Texas remains one of the five top states in which such thefts are likely to occur. Texas ranks third for watercraft thefts, behind Florida and...
Surgical Funding Firm Accused of Inflating Claims
Sep 29 2015 // A unit of Johnson & Johnson that makes artificial hips has accused a surgical funding company of seeking excessive profits from financing surgery for patients suing over the devices. The claim by DePuy Orthopaedics...
AmTrust Financial to Buy Texas-Based Insurer, Republic
Sep 28 2015 // AmTrust Financial Services Inc. announced that it has agreed to acquire Republic Companies Inc. and its affiliates (Republic) from Delek Group Ltd. and Republic Insurance Holdings LLC. Republic is based in Dallas. The...
Texas Associates Insurors Adds Peterson as Risk Advisor
Sep 25 2015 // Texas Associates Insurors announced that Erik Peterson has joined the agency as a risk and insurance advisor, specializing in medical device, servicing and malpractice risk. Peterson has experience in the industrial and...
Southwest Louisiana Town Still Struggles a Decade after Hurricane Rita
Sep 24 2015 // Vacant slabs, weed-choked lots and solitary stairs to nowhere permeate Cameron, a tiny town in southwest Louisiana. All that remains of the Klean-N-Kruise car wash is a rusted white sign overlooking an empty, overgrown...
Texas Sets Workers’ Comp Maximum Weekly Benefit at $895
Sep 24 2015 // The workers’ compensation state average weekly wage for dates of injury from Oct. 1, 2015, through Sept. 30, 2016, has been set by the Texas Department of Insurance’s Division of Workers’ Compensation at...
Texas Goes From Drought to Flood to Drought in 60 Days
Sep 23 2015 // Across eastern Texas, parts of Louisiana and Mississippi the land went from moist to parched in a matter of weeks. Drought, which had been eradicated in Texas last spring, returned and spread across the South, reaching as...
Pier 1 Imports Fined $86K for Safety Hazards at 2 Texas Sites
Sep 23 2015 // Pier 1 Imports Inc. has been cited by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for workplace safety hazards at facilities in Fort Worth and Mansfield, Texas. Proposed...
Royalty Lawsuits Against Chesapeake Consolidated in Texas
Sep 22 2015 // More than 400 lawsuits have been consolidated in Texas, where energy drilling giant Chesapeake Operating Inc. is accused of withholding more than $1 billion in royalty payments from about 25,000 property owners. “The...
The Hartford’s Nelligan Named Chairman of IICF’s Texas/Southeast Division
Sep 22 2015 // The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) has named Tim Nelligan, central division executive for The Hartford, as chairman of its Texas/Southeast division board of directors. Nelligan assumes the chairmanship...
Judge Blocks Texas Company’s Attempt to Shield $600K from Disabled Workers
Sep 21 2015 // U.S. District Chief Judge Jorge A. Solis issued an order on Sept. 11, 2015, to override a confidential settlement that would have re-directed nearly $600,000 away from a class of 32 intellectually disabled former employees...
Texas Windstorm Insurance Assoc. Seeks Hike in Liability Limits
Sep 21 2015 // The Texas Department of Insurance will hold a public hearing on a request by the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association to increase maximum policy liability limits. The hearing under Docket No. 2780 will be held at 10:30...
Texas OKs 11 Companies to Self-Insure for Workers’ Comp
Sep 21 2015 // The Texas Department of Insurance’s Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) re-certified 11 employers to self-insure workers’ compensation claims. Together, the companies employ about 50,000 people in...
Texas Surplus Line Stamping Fee Rate to Increase Jan. 1
Sep 21 2015 // The surplus lines stamping fee rate in Texas will increase next year to 0.15 percent of the gross premium amount of surplus lines insurance policies, the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas (SLSOT) reported. The...
Remembering Myron F. Steves Sr.
Sep 21 2015 // Myron Fuller Steves Sr., founder of the Texas independent managing general agency and wholesale insurance broker, Myron Steves, passed away on Aug. 29, 2015, at the age of 103. Myron was born in Atlanta, Ga., in 1912....
People – South Central
Sep 21 2015 // The Texas-based agency partnership, Combined Agents of America LLC (CAA), is expanding into Nebraska and elected Rick Elliott to serve as central regional vice president. Elliott is the owner and president of Elliott...
Texas Court Rules for Former Energy Executive in D&O Dispute
Sep 18 2015 // The Texas 14th Court of Appeals this week ruled in favor of former energy executive in a legal fight over whether the company’s director and officer insurer should have paid to defend or indemnify the executive as...
Lawsuit Filed Against County, Deputies in Fatal Shooting of Texas Man
Sep 17 2015 // Relatives have filed a wrongful death lawsuit in the fatal shooting of a South Texas man by two deputies while both of his hands were raised. The incident was recorded on at least two videos. Gilbert Flores’ family...
Fraud Ruling Against Texas Doctor Stands
Sep 16 2015 // The Austin (Texas) Court of Appeals has upheld felony workers’ compensation fraud-related charges against Howard T. Douglas III, M.D., for using his company — Western Medical Evaluators — to deliberately overbill...
