Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Secondary Perils Drive Global Insured Catastrophe Losses of $31B During H1: Swiss Re
Aug 12 2020 // Global insured property losses from disasters were US$31 billion in the first half of 2020, up from US$23 billion during the same period last year, according to Swiss Re Institute’s sigma estimates. Natural...
Federal Judge in Mississippi Calls On Supreme Court to Examine Qualified Immunity
Aug 12 2020 // A federal judge in Mississippi has issued a sharply worded ruling that calls on the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the principle of qualified immunity, which protects law enforcement officers from being sued for some of...
Derecho Winds Tear Through U.S. Farmland, Leave 500K-Plus Without Power
Aug 11 2020 // A storm packing hurricane-force winds tore across the U.S. Midwest on Aug. 10, causing widespread property damage in cities and rural towns and leaving more than half a million homes and businesses without power. The storm...
Tropical Storms Could Set a Record at 25 This Season
Aug 11 2020 // The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) last Thursday predicted up to 16 more named tropical storms this year, to as many as 25, the highest in the agency’s history. The 2020 Atlantic...
McConnell’s Coronavirus Liability Shield Could Be Bargaining Chip in Relief Negotiations
Aug 11 2020 // Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s insistence that legal liability protections for businesses, schools and colleges be included in any new coronavirus relief bill is approaching a moment of reckoning. Warning...
Insured Losses for Europe’s Storm Sabine (aka Ciara/Elsa) Estimated at €1.6B: PERILS
Aug 11 2020 // The industry loss footprint for extratropical cyclone “Sabine” – also known as “Ciara” and “Elsa” – is estimated at €1.61 billion (US$1.9 billion), according to PERILS, the...
Directors & Officers’ Insurance Rates Surge on Fears of Coronavirus Litigation
Aug 11 2020 // Premiums for directors’ and officers’ liability insurance surged in the second quarter, broker Marsh said on Monday, as insurance underwriters fear the coronavirus pandemic will lead to hefty litigation...
U.S. Drug Regulator Vows Outside Review of Any COVID-19 Vaccines
Aug 11 2020 // The United States will need to have independent experts review COVID-19 vaccine candidates before approval, the country’s top drug regulator said on Friday, offering reassurance that his agency would not cut corners...
Insured Losses From Hurricane Isaias Could Reach $4 Billion in U.S.
Aug 10 2020 // Hurricane Isaias likely caused $4 billion of insured losses in the U.S. and $200 million in the Caribbean, according to risk modelers at Karen Clark & Co. The estimates cover privately insured wind and storm surge...
Average Commercial Insurance Prices Rose 19% in Q2: Marsh Index
Aug 10 2020 // Global average commercial insurance prices increased 19% in the second quarter of 2020, the eleventh straight quarter they have risen. Average price increases were driven principally by increases in property insurance...
Chubb Names Lupica President, North America; Krump Vice Chair, Global Underwriting, Claims
Aug 10 2020 // Global insurer Chubb announced appointments to two new executive positions. Chubb has named John Lupica as president of North America Insurance, the company’s largest division. Lupica is currently vice chairman,...
Business Moves
Aug 10 2020 // East NFP, Team Scotti Insurance broker NFP has acquired LFG Inc., which does business as Team Scotti. The transaction closed effective Dec. 1. Team Scotti, based in Pittsburgh, Penn., and founded in 1987, is a national...
People & Places
Aug 10 2020 // National Aon announced that Brent Rieth is the new U.S. practice leader of the Cyber Solutions Errors and Omissions/Cyber Broking team. Rieth first joined Aon in 2009 as team leader of the E&O/Cyber broking effort for...
Hurricane-Vulnerable Counties Are Home to 32% of U.S. Businesses
Aug 10 2020 // As the 2020 hurricane season gets underway, emergency officials pay attention to the growing share (29%) of the U.S. population in the nation’s 255 coastline counties. They’re also looking at ways to minimize...
Appeals Panel Rejects Suit over Abandoned Mine Shaft Death in Colorado
Aug 7 2020 // A federal appeals panel has upheld the dismissal of a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a woman who died when the car she was riding in drove off a Forest Service road and into an abandoned mine shaft in the...
Sampo Group and S. African Investor to Acquire UK Insurer Hastings for $2.2B in Cash
Aug 5 2020 // UK insurer Hasting Group Holdings has agreed to a £1.66 billion (US$2.2 billion) cash acquisition by Finnish insurer Sampo and Rand Merchant Investment Holdings Ltd., a South African financial services investment...
Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty Sells U.S. Products Recall Business to Axon
Aug 5 2020 // New Jersey-based specialty lines program administrator Axon Underwriting Services has acquired the renewal portfolio of Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty’s (AGCS) U.S. contaminated and consumer products recall...
U.S. Eyes $13 Billion of Claims in Purdue Pharma Opioid Probes: Reuters
Aug 5 2020 // U.S. prosecutors are pursuing possible penalties of nearly $13 billion to resolve investigations of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma after uncovering evidence of criminal and civil misconduct stemming from the company’s...
Tropical Storm Isaias Left Death, Darkness, Tornadoes, Floods on East Coast
Aug 4 2020 // 08/05/2020 02:06 AM— Tropical Storm Isaias killed at least four people on Tuesday as it made its way up the U.S. Atlantic Coast, including two deaths at a North Carolina trailer park that was struck by a tornado spun off...
N.Y. Manufacturer Fined, Citations Upheld for Falsely Claiming Violations Corrected
Aug 4 2020 // An administrative law judge with the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission has upheld citations and penalties from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration...
