Latest Virginia Headlines
All the headlines from our Virginia Topic Page, ordered by recency.
W.Va. claimant pleads guilty of workers’ compensation fraud
Jan 23 2006 // Terry Lee Villers of Wirt County, W.Va. has been sentenced to two felony counts of workers’ compensation fraud according to Insurance Commissioner Jane L. Cline. Villers was sentenced Dec. 16 in the Circuit Court of...
W.Va. mine survivor Randall McCloy Jr.,families of deceased, eligible for benefits
Jan 22 2006 // Randal McCloy Jr., the only survivor of the recent tragedy at the the 260-foot-deep Inter-national Coal Group Mine in West Virginia, will be eligible for medical benefits and wage replacement benefits immediately, and will...
Another W.Va. Mine Disaster: Two Miners Found Dead
Jan 21 2006 // Two miners were found dead in Melville, W.Va. Saturday, after an underground conveyor belt caught fire, filling the mine with poisonous fumes–19 workers were able to escape, but the two others were separated. Rescue...
W.Va. Governor Appoints Haden, Prunty to AccessWV Board of Directors
Jan 17 2006 // West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin III has announced today appointment of David E. Haden and Paul Prunty to the AccessWV Board of Directors. The AccessWV Board of Directors works to provide access to health insurance to...
W.Va. Governor Supports Pilot Health Care Program
Jan 16 2006 // A pilot program to bring affordable and preventable health care to West Virginians, based on a Wheeling doctor’s idea, has been announced by Gove Joe Manchin. According to the Wheeling News-Register the Preventive...
Workers’ Comp Violations Cited: Court Asked to Enjoin Ingersoll-Rand From Doing Business in W.Va.
Jan 13 2006 // West Virginia Insurance Commissioner Jane L. Cline has asked a Kanawha County Circuit Court to enjoin Ingersoll-Rand of Montvale, N.J. from doing business in the state because it owes the West Virginia Workers’...
W.Va. Workers’ Compensation Claimant Sentenced to Six Months for Fraud
Jan 11 2006 // West Virginia Insurance Commissioner, Jane L. Cline, has announced that Jason C. Davenport pleaded guilty last month to one misdemeanor offense of wrongfully seeking workers’ compensation benefits, and has been...
Feds Promise Full Probe of Mine Disaster; Democrats Seek Hearings
Jan 6 2006 // The White House promised a full investigation of the West Virginia coal mine disaster that killed 12 people. Congressional Democrats called for hearings to look into both the safety record of the mining company and the...
West Va. Mine Survivor McCloy, Families of Deceased, Eligible for Benefits, Officials Say
Jan 6 2006 // Randal McCloy Jr., the only survivor brought out alive from the 260-foot-deep International Coal Group Mine, will be eligible for medical benefits and wage replacement benefits immediately, and will receive workers’...
Escape Blocked: Black Hole Claims 12 in W.Va. Nightmare
Jan 5 2006 // With their escape routes blocked by heavy smoke, most of the 13 miners caught in an explosion in Tallmansville, W. Va. did what they were trained to do: They retreated deeper into the mine and hung a curtain-like barrier...
All But 1 West Virginia Miners Found Dead; Early Reports Said 12 Survived
Jan 4 2006 // Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 3 a.m. EST. News prior to then indicated that early reports were 12 miners in a West Virginia coal mine explosion had been found alive. Hours later, officials said that was...
WellPoint and WellChoice Complete Major Merger
Jan 3 2006 // WellPoint, Inc. and WellChoice, Inc. have completed their merger that they first announced on Sept. 27, 2005. The value of the transaction at that time was estimated to be $6.5 billion. “Our focus as a combined...
Jacobs Financial Group Acquires West Virginia Fire and Casualty Co.
Jan 3 2006 // Jacobs Financial Group Inc. has acquired all of the issued and outstanding stock of West Virginia Fire and Casualty Company (WVFCC) from The Celina Mutual Insurance Company (Celina) of Celina, Ohio. The transaction had...
Virginia OKs Workers’ Comp Rate Changes, Up and Down
Jan 3 2006 // Virginia officials have approved changes that will increase overall workers’ compensation premium levels in the voluntary market for the industrial and federal (F) classes while decreasing premiums levels for coal...
W. Va. Coal Mine Had High Injury Rate, Multiple Safety Violations
Jan 3 2006 // A West Virginia coal mine where 13 miners were trapped after an explosion Monday was cited 208 times for alleged safety violations in 2005, up from just 68 citations the year before. Federal regulators’ allegations...
From New England to Virginia, Courts Made Insurance Headlines in 2005
Dec 30 2005 // From Maine to Virginia, many of the insurance headlines in 2005 dealt with compensation and reinsurance probes, just as they did across the country, casting the industry’s reputation in a bad light. But much of the...
2005, a Year to Remember: Busiest Hurricane Season of the Century for United States
Dec 29 2005 // The hurricane season made 2005 a year-to-remember, with the southeast encountering the busiest hurricane season of the century, with 26 named storms and 13 hurricanes, meteorologists used up the list of 21 proper names and...
W.Va. Bus Driver Sentenced for Workers’ Comp Fraud
Dec 22 2005 // Terry Lee Villers of Wirt County, W.Va. has been sentenced to two felony counts of workers’ compensation fraud according to Insurance Commissioner Jane L. Cline. Villers was sentenced Dec. 16 in the Circuit Court of...
Insurers Support Va. Red Light Cameras
Dec 22 2005 // The American Insurance Association has added its support to the call of traffic safety advocates to reinstate red light camera enforcement in the state of Virginia. The law that allowed seven Virginia communities to use...
Virginia Considers Tougher Dog Owner Liability Law After Widow’s Mauling
Dec 21 2005 // Lawmakers in Richmond are proposing tough legislation to punish Virginia dog owners whose pets injure or kill following the attack of an 82-year-old widow who was fatally mauled by three roaming pit bulls. Dorothy...
