December 21, 2007
West Virginia’s mine safety chief has delayed deployment of steel-shelled shelters in underground coal mines because they could not meet a state standard for internal temperatures during testing. Ron Wooten, director of the state Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and …
December 19, 2007
Ann Callis knows Madison County’s court system has taken mighty public knocks, from President Bush branding it an example of medical malpractice litigation run amok to a special-interest group calling the venue a “judicial hellhole.” As the county’s chief judge, …
December 19, 2007
Atlantic County, N.J. has earned a dubious ranking: It’s one of six “judicial hellholes” nationwide, according to one tort reform group. “Personal injury lawyers seem to have gained a monopoly in Atlantic County,” declares the American Tort Reform Association in …
December 17, 2007
Two companies are suing West Virginia’s workers’ compensation writer BrickStreet Mutual Insurance Co. over agent commissions. Aero-Fab Inc. and The Bunch Co. allege that Brickstreet is billing companies for the commissions as part of their workers’ compensation premiums, even if …
December 14, 2007
The Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of New Zealand’s monopolistic Accident Compensation Corp. are visiting West Virginia’s BrickStreet Mutual Insurance to learn the state’s workers’ compensation provider and its transition from state agency to fully private operation. ACC’s …
December 12, 2007
The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has warned 20 companies across the country that they may face sanctions as repeat violators of health and safety rules. The list includes coal operations in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, along …
December 12, 2007
Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Julie Benafield Bowman was re-elected to the position of vice chair of the Southeastern Zone of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) at the association’s quarterly meeting held in Houston. The Southeastern Zone includes commissioners and …
December 11, 2007
The deadly Sago Mine explosion in West Virginia may have been nearly seven times more powerful than previously reported, according to a government report obtained by the Sunday Gazette-Mail. The 138-page Army Corps of Engineers study was obtained through the …
December 10, 2007
A former West Virginia doctor facing more than 120 medical malpractice cases lists few assets and a pile of debt in a document filed as part of his bankruptcy proceedings in Alabama. John King’s assets consist of a 1993 Volvo …
December 10, 2007
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has announced various rating actions on insurance companies with public information (pi) ratings. S&P explained that “ratings with a ‘pi’ subscript are based on an analysis of an issuer’s published financial information, as well as …