Maryland News

Md. Task Forces Hears From Industry on Need for Stronger Structures

Opportunities exist in the public and private sectors to increase the disaster resistance of homes and businesses and contribute to the overall health of Maryland’s insurance market, says Harvey Ryland, president and CEO of the Institute for Business & Home …

States Sue Bush Over Limits on Children’s Health Insurance

Several states say they will challenge the Bush administration in federal court over its new rules that block the expansion of a health insurance program for children from low-income families. Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York …

Report Finds Accidents at Nation’s High-Risk Biolabs Increasing

American laboratories handling the world’s deadliest germs and toxins have experienced more than 100 accidents and missing shipments since 2003, and the number is increasing steadily as more labs across the country are approved to do the work. No one …

Maryland’s Shore Bancshares Acquires Marine Insurance Agency, Wholesaler

Shore Bancshares, Inc. , parent company of three independent community banks and two retail insurance agencies serving the Delmarva peninsula, has closed two new acquisitions including a retail agency specializing in marine insurance and a wholesale insurance agency offering a …

Canada’s TD Banknorth to Buy N.J.’s Commerce Bank; Sell Insurance Unit

Canada’s TD Bank Financial Group reports that it will acquire the Mid-Atlantic regional bank Commerce Bancorp Inc. in a 25 percent cash and 75 percent stock deal valued at $8.5 billion. If approved, the purchase would double TD Bank’s presence …

Trustee of Bankrupt West Virginia Steelmaker Sues Zurich

The trustee of the former Weirton Steel Corp. is suing Zurich Specialties London Ltd., claiming the insurance company refused to pay a legitimate claim and now owes the bankrupt steelmaker’s creditors $39 million. The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court …

More States Join Centralized Insurer Market Conduct Exam Initiative

Alabama, California, Montana, Rhode Island and Washington will begin requiring insurance companies to file annual statement data as part of a growing effort to make market conduct exams more efficient that now includes 30 states. The 30 states require companies …

Maryland Jury Awards $4 Million in Boy’s Drowning at Country Club

An jury in Maryland’s Anne Arundel County has awarded the parents of a five-year-old boy who drowned at Crofton Country Club last year more than $4 million in damages. The jury found Hunt Valley-based DRD Pool Service, the club’s pool …

Erie Insurance Announces Plans to Enter Minnesota Market in ’09

Penn.-based Erie Insurance recently announced that the company plans to write business in Minnesota beginning in the fourth quarter of 2009. . “We are looking forward to entering Minnesota because of the substantial growth opportunities the state provides for our …

People

The National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices has named its officers and directors for the 2007-2008 term. The new NAPSLO president is Mary Ellen Rozzell, who is with Continental/Marmorstein & Malone in Paramus, N.J. Other officers include Vice President, …