Articles by Kenneth J. St. Onge

Will Gay Marriage Bring New Marketing Opportunities for Agents?

In business, change brings opportunity. And when it comes to states that have recently legalized gay marriage, some see a marketing opportunity in selling insurance products for wedded gay couples. The “gay market” in the United States is huge, according …

Mass. Supreme Court Rules Against Agents in Auto Insurance Lawsuit

The Massachusetts Supreme Court has sided with the state’s insurance commissioner in a heated lawsuit brought by the state’s insurance agents and Arbella Mutual Insurance Co. over how new companies are assigned costs and policies in the assigned risk plan. …

New York Requires Agents to Reveal How Much They’re Paid

Agents Balk at Plan, But Consumer Advocates Say New Rule Doesn’t Go Far Enough New York insurance regulators have recently unveiled new regulations that will require agents to reveal to their clients how much money they get paid. The proposal, …

Distracted By Research

The results seem to defy everyday experience, common sense and human psychology. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that nearly 6,000 people died in 2008 in crashes involving a distracted or inattentive driver, and more than half a million …

Mass. Supreme Court Rules Against Agents in Auto Insurance Lawsuit

The Massachusetts Supreme Court has sided with the state’s insurance commissioner in a heated lawsuit brought by the state’s insurance agents and Arbella Mutual Insurance Co. over how new companies are assigned costs and policies in the assigned risk plan. …

New York to Issue Watered-Down Disclosure Rules for Agents

New York regulators are expected to release new rules tomorrow that require agents to disclose to clients some aspects of their compensation, although the rules are more palatable to agents than previous proposed regulations, according to an agents’ trade group. …

New Jersey Court: Coffee Break-Injury Gets Full Disability

A New Jersey plumber who was severely injured while driving to a coffee break can collect full workers’ compensation benefits, a Superior Court has ruled. The decision centers on injuries suffered by Jesse J. Cooper Sr., a master plumber and …

Business Risk Exclusion Means No Coverage for Toppled Conn. House

The Hanover won’t have to pay $26,000 in claims on behalf of a Connecticut contractor who accidentally knocked over the house he was working on, a Connecticut Superior Court has ruled. The decision stems from a lawsuit by homeowner James …

65 Speed Limit

With the economy’s ill health continuing and their own personal health improving, America’s senior citizens are not retiring like they used to. In fact, more of them are working every day. Since the late 1980s, the labor force has seen …

N.H. Supreme Court: State Can’t Take Malpractice Reserves

New Hampshire’s highest court has ruled that state lawmakers cannot raid $110 million in reserves from the Joint Underwriting Association, which underwrites medical malpractice insurance in the state. The Supreme Court decision, released this morning, upholds a lower-court decision that …