Massachusetts News

Heartbreak Aside, Emergency Rooms Quieter When Red Sox Make Playoffs

When is a medical emergency really an emergency? Not during key Boston Red Sox games, report investigators from Children’s Hospital Boston in a letter published in the October issue of Annals of Emergency Medicine. Although previous studies have found a …

William Gallagher Promotes Bixby, Clifford and Martin in P/C Group

William Gallagher Associates in Boston has promoted three executives within its property and casualty group. Doug Bixby to has been elevated to senior vice president and Janice Clifford and Kristen Martin to assistant vice presidents. Bixby has more than 15 …

Auto Reform Advocates in Mass. Take to TV, Radio to Drive Message

An insurance industry-backed group that calls itself Fairness for Good Drivers is going on television to advance its program for changes in the auto insurance system in Massachustetts. The group has bought advertising time on local TV and radio stations. …

Conn. AG Blumenthal Expands Suit Against Marsh to Include Bid Rigging, Kickback Allegations

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced new allegations in his lawsuit against insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Inc., including bid rigging, price fixing and illegally steering Connecticut businesses and consumers to favored insurers in exchange for tens of millions of …

GlaxoSmithKline Agrees to Pay $150 million to Settle Fraud Case

GlaxoSmithKline PLC will pay $150 million to settle claims it overcharged the government for two anti-nausea drugs, and prosecutors say they’re looking into 150 cases of drug price fraud. The Glaxo settlement is the latest in a series of whistleblower …

AGENTS CONTRIBUTE $20K TO KATRINA RELIEF:

The Massachusetts Association of Insur-ance Agents is sending a $20,000 check to the Big ‘I’ Katrina Relief Fund established by its national organization, the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America, to help fellow agents and their employees affected by …

Business Moves

Marsh, Crump Group Marsh & McLennan Cos., the world’s largest insurance broker, has agreed to sell the Crump Group Inc. wholesale brokerage business of its Marsh Inc. unit to an affiliate of J.C. Flowers & Co., a New York-based private …

MIT Tragedy Has Schools Anxious Over Suicide Liability

Elizabeth Shin was engulfed in flames when police burst into her dorm room at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., on the night of April 10, 2000. After the state medical examiner ruled her death was “self-inflicted,” it …

News Briefs

MASSACHUSETTS Agents Contribute $20K to Katrina Relief: The Massachusetts Association of Insur-ance Agents is sending a $20,000 check to the Big ‘I’ Katrina Relief Fund established by its national organization, the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America, to help …

Tropical Storm Ophelia Weakens, Sparing New England from Damage

Predicted heavy rains and fierce winds never materialized and New England escaped the worst of Tropical Storm Ophelia. By Saturday morning, Ophelia pushed past southeastern Massachusetts, the Cape and the Islands, and Rhode island with little effect. Off Nantucket, some …