It Figures

39

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe in late March declared 39 counties disaster areas due to damage from heavy rains and floods. The counties declared disaster areas are: Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Clay, Conway, Crawford, Craighead, Cross, Faulkner, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Hot Spring, Howard, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Johnson, Lawrence, Logan, Madison, Marion, Monroe, Nevada, Newton, Perry, Pope, Prairie, Randolph, Scott, Searcy, Sharp, Stone, Van Buren, Washington, White, Woodruff and Yell. While the highest water moved south toward the Mississippi River, state-and-federal response teams began more thorough damage assessments in areas of North Arkansas, a key step in obtaining individual assistance for flood victims, the governor’s office said.

$315,000

CVS Pharmacy Inc. will pay $315,000 to the state of Texas under an agreement negotiated with Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott that resolves the state’s April 2007 enforcement action against CVS. The company was charged with violating state laws that govern the disposal of customer records containing sensitive personal information. The money will be appropriated for the investigation and prosecution of other identity theft cases, pursuant to the Identity Theft Enforcement and Protection Act. Under the settlement, CVS will overhaul its information security program. The program must be fully documented in writing and contain administrative, technical and physical safeguards designed to protect the personal information of CVS customers. In addition, CVS must implement a new training program to inform its Texas employees about the company’s enhanced information security procedures. The AG’s office took legal action against the defendant after hundreds of documents containing customers’ personal information wre unlawfully dumped behind a CVS store in Liberty, Texas.

$1.66 Billion

Citigroup has agreed to pay Enron Corp creditors $1.66 billion to resolve the two largest remaining claims against Citi arising out of the collapse of Enron in 2001. Both settlements are fully covered by Citi’s existing litigation reserves, the company said. The Enron Bankruptcy Estate had filed bankruptcy and fraud claims against Citi in the United States Bankruptcy Court in New York totaling approximately $21 billion. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Citi will pay $1.66 billion to Enron and withdraw certain claims in the Enron bankruptcy proceeding. Citi said it denies any wrongdoing and agreed to the settlements solely to eliminate the uncertainties, burden and expense of further protracted litigation.

7.9%

Farmers Insurance Group, through Texas Farmers Insurance Company, filed a rate increase with the Texas Department of Insurance for its “Texas Family Home Policy.” The rate change averages a 7.9 percent increase across Texas but varies by regions of the state from +3.2 percent to a maximum of +13.5 percent. The company said the increase would impact 200,000 customers who have the policy or approximately 35 percent of Farmers’ homeowners customers in Texas.

Topics Texas