State and Regional News

Alabama Gets Its Own Insurance Information Service

Many of Alabama’s personal and commercial lines insurers have established the Alabama Insurance Information Service (AIIS), a not-for-profit, non-lobbying trade association to provide news and information to the public. AIIS is based in Montgomery and plans to work primarily through …

Louisana AG Disputes BP Fund’s Push for Claimant Release of Rights

In a letter dated Nov. 17, 2010, Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell challenged provisions of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) Draft Protocol for Interim and Final Claims that ask claimants to sign a broad release of their rights in …

Drunk Driving Arrests Up, Fatalities Down in Mississippi

DUI arrests have skyrocketed in Mississippi in the past several years, helping lead to the lowest number of drunken driving deaths in decades. It’s welcome news for a state that has ranked among the nation’s worst in per capita alcohol-related …

Mississippi Judge Asks Court to Restore His Immunity

A Mississippi judge is asking a federal appeals court to restore his immunity from being sued over claims that he knowingly making false claims to authorities. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals scheduled arguments for Dec. 6 in New …

DuPont Offers $70 Million to Settle West Virginia Pollution Case

Chemical company DuPont last week offered to pay $70 million and spend millions more on medical monitoring for the next 30 years to end a legal battle over a toxic exposure case it lost in West Virginia. The proposal drew …

Judge Upholds West Virginia Mine Accident Reporting Rule

A Kanawha County Circuit Court judge has upheld a state law giving coal mine operators 15 minutes to tell regulators about fires and other serious accidents. Judge Tod Kaufman’s ruling came in a case involving International Coal Group subsidiary Wolf …

Reports on 2 West Virginia Chemical Plant Incidents Delayed

Reports on a federal board’s investigations of fatal incidents at two West Virginia chemical plants won’t be released until next year. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board is investigating a 2008 explosion at Bayer Corp.’s Institute facility that killed one worker …

Audit: South Carolina Workers’ Comp Board Delayed Money Deposits

The state’s Workers’ Compensation Commission broke state law by not depositing fines as it worried legislators would use the money for something else, according to a state audit. The commission collected but delayed for weeks depositing $244,000, the Legislative Audit …

Florida’s Brightway Insurance Acquires Orange Park Agency

Brightway Insurance recently acquired General Insurance Concepts, a 20-year-old property and casualty insurance agency offering personal and commercial lines of insurance. The company’s offices, located in Orange Park, Fla., will become Brightway’s 23rd northeast Florida location. Brightway Insurance operates 70 …

Feds Say Loren-Maltese Insurance Fraud Conviction Should Stand

Federal prosecutors say the fraud conviction of former Cicero, Ill., president Betty Loren-Maltese should stand, even after a U.S. Supreme Court decision on “honest services” laws. Loren-Maltese served 6 1/2 years in prison for fleecing taxpayers of more than $12 …