On Wednesday, just over a week after a U.S. District Court judge ordered New Hampshire to take all necessary steps to continue its vehicle inspection program, the New Hampshire Executive Council voted to let the state’s emissions testing contract expire. Republished from New Hampshire Bulletin At an emergency meeting, the council voted, 3-2, against a 60-day extension to the state’s contract with Gordon-Darby, the Kentucky-based contractor that has provided electronic equipment for the emissions portion of New Hampshire state inspections since 2004. Gordon-Darby is also the plaintiff in a Clean Air Act lawsuit brought against the state over the program’s…
Author: Awais
Under existing Iowa law, insurers can use credit scores to underwrite and rate risks for private passenger, snowmobile, and recreational vehicle policies. However, carriers cannot rely solely on credit information to deny, cancel, or refuse renewal without considering other factors. Regulations also require insurers to use credit scores updated within the prior 90 days.
Allstate Corp. fourth quarter 2025 net income applicable to common shareholders was about $3.8 billion, double the $1.9 billion booked for the same quarter the prior year. Allstate’s Property-Liability business turned in a Q4 combined ratio 14 points better than Q4 2025, at 72.9. Catastrophe losses for the quarter were $209 million compared with $410 million. For the full year, Property-Liability finished with net income up more than 123% to about $10.2 billion compared with 2024. Catastrophe losses were nearly flat at about $5 billion for the full year but the combined ratio improved 9.1 points to 85.2. Property-Liability booked…
Kimberly Noel Capital Insurance Group promoted Kimberly Noel to regional field executive for their Northwest region, overseeing underwriting teams and line of business performance in Oregon and Washington. Noel has more than 20 years of underwriting and leadership experience, including more than a decade with CIG, including roles as regional underwriting manager, underwriting team leader, and regional executive underwriter. She began her insurance career with Travelers Insurance. CIG is headquartered in Monterey, California. Was this article valuable? Yes No Here are more articles you may enjoy. The most important insurance news,in your inbox every business day. Get the insurance industry’s…
The U.S. agency that enforces laws banning workplace discrimination said in a court filing on Wednesday it is investigating Nike for allegedly discriminating against white people through its diversity policies. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in the filing that the footwear and apparel company has refused to comply with a sprawling subpoena seeking information such as data on the racial and ethnic makeup of the company’s workforce and a roster of employees chosen for mentoring and development programs. The commission said it is investigating whether Nike intentionally discriminated against white employees and job applicants, including by disproportionately targeting them…
The chemical trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) is a breakdown product of numerous chemicals, including CFC replacement gases used in refrigeration and air conditioning, pharmaceuticals such as gases used in inhalation anaesthesia, pesticides, solvents and other forever chemicals from a class known as per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Concentrations of TFA have been increasing in rainwater, drinking water, soil and plants over the past two decades. Environmental removal of any of the thousands of different PFAS chemicals is extremely challenging because existing removal technology is difficult to scale up. If emissions aren’t restricted, the projected cost of PFAS removal has been estimated at…
Tristan Baurick, Verite News and Halle Parker, Verite News NEW ORLEANS — Sarah Hess started taking her toddler, Josie, to Mickey Markey Playground in 2010 because she thought it would offer a refuge from lead. After a routine doctor visit revealed Josie had lead poisoning, Hess quickly traced the source to the crumbling paint in her family’s century-old home in the Bayou St. John neighborhood. While it underwent lead remediation, the family stayed in a newer, lead-free house near Markey. “Everyone was telling us the safest place to play was outside at playgrounds, so that’s where we went,” Hess said.…
Swiss Re has now secured its upsized target of $150 million of aggregate and subsequent event retrocessional reinsurance covering North American peak perils from its new Matterhorn Re Ltd. (Series 2026-1) catastrophe bond, while each of three tranches of notes priced at the top-end of initial guidance ranges, Artemis can report.Global reinsurance firm Swiss Re came back to the catastrophe bond market around the middle of January when it had an initial target size for this issuance of $125 million. At that time no individual sizes were given for the three tranches of Series 2026-1 notes that Matterhorn Re Ltd.…
Singapore is urging for international cooperation to curb shadow fleet vessels operating just beyond its territorial waters, as scrutiny intensifies on ships used to evade sanctions. “Singapore fully implements United Nations Security Council resolutions and does not condone illegal or deceptive activities by shadow fleet vessels,” Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow said in a written reply to a parliamentary question dated Wednesday. He added that illicit vessels may be denied entry or detained in Singapore. The world’s largest bunkering hub already works closely with neighboring countries to combat illicit maritime activity in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, sharing information…
According to GEICO, Dr. Bhargav Patel and his company, Patel Medical Care, submitted approximately $3.4 million in fraudulent claims between August 2019 and April 2023. The insurer alleges third-party brokers steered accident victims to one of four Patel clinics in exchange for kickbacks. Patients would get a brief consultation, rarely lasting longer than 30 minutes, then be pushed through a predetermined treatment plan regardless of what they actually needed.
Samuel Tremblett pleaded with a 911 operator to be rescued from his burning Tesla Inc. Model Y SUV after a crash in October: “I can’t get out, please help me.” The transcript of the 20-year-old’s emergency call was included in a lawsuit filed Wednesday, the latest to allege that a driver or passenger died after they were unable to open the electrically powered doors on their Tesla vehicle after a crash. “It’s on fire. Help please,” Tremblett said, according to the lawsuit. “I am going to die.” Details of the crash were previously reported by Bloomberg News as part of…
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed a proposed class action against New Jersey government officials on behalf of families of nursing home residents who died early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately 10,000 elderly residents of New Jersey nursing homes and veterans’ homes died during the COVID-19 pandemic. Eventually, New Jersey reached a $53 million settlement with the families of 119 seniors who died in state-run veterans’ homes. Plaintiffs who brought the suit are the daughters and estate administrators of three private-nursing-home residents who died in April and May 2020 after contracting COVID-19. They blame the deaths on policies…
Three weeks into the 2026 Florida legislative session, with bill deadlines approaching, Florida Senate President Ben Albritton said Wednesday that he expects no major changes to Florida’s property insurance laws this year. The reason: Landmark legislation passed in 2022 and 2023 has essentially fixed the big problems that were causing insurance premiums to spike across the state. Those statutes have suppressed the “thousands of frivolous lawsuits” that were once brought over property insurance claims, Albritton said at a press availability Wednesday morning, broadcast on the Florida Channel. He echoed with what other lawmakers, regulators and insurance industry representatives have said…
Gencon sees it differently. The captive insurer argues that its general liability policies, starting from November 2001, narrowed the sexual misconduct exclusion to cover only “the actual or threatened sexual abuse or sexual molestation.” That language, Gencon contends, preserved coverage for negligence and derivative liability claims, which formed the basis of the students’ cases against Church entities.