Under a bill poised to win approval in the South Carolina legislature, the decades-old practice of letting many drivers automatically enjoy relatively painless windshield replacements may soon disappear. House Bill 4817, titled the “Insurance Rate Reduction and Policy Holder Protection Act,” also would give the state Department of Insurance more investigative and enforcement powers and would set new penalties for insurers and insureds that violate certain statutes. The 40-page bill, which has multiple sponsors, would end the 37-year-old law that exempts auto glass from mandatory auto insurance deductibles for drivers with comprehensive coverage. If passed and signed into law, the…
Author: Awais
As many as 10–30% of employers misclassify workers at an enormous cost to both workers and social insurance systems. New analysis from the National Employment Law Project, focusing on state-level reports on employee misclassification, estimates that social insurance systems can lose up to 30% of per-worker revenue when workers are misclassified as independent contractors, as independent contractors make no contributions to unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation systems. Independent contractors in the occupations analyzed in the report also typically earn less than they would as employees, and this lower pay translates directly into lower contributions to Social Security. For workers, misclassification…
U.S. cybersecurity officials are considering sharply shorter deadlines for fixing critical flaws in government IT systems, amid concerns hackers could exploit them using artificial‑intelligence tools such as Anthropic’s Mythos, people familiar with the matter said. The move, which has not been previously reported, would slash the deadline for responding to actively exploited vulnerabilities from an average of two or three weeks to three days, the people said. Anxiety over the power and proliferation of AI models like Mythos and OpenAI’s GPT‑5.4‑Cyber has been building for weeks. Although hackers have been deploying AI since at least 2023, these newer models are…
Berkshire Hathaway reported improved first-quarter performance from the conglomerate’s insurance businesses, but CEO Greg Abel told investors the sector faces competitive headwinds. “The reality is that … as our insurance business softens, we cannot realize the value we should for the related risk,” Abel told shareholders attending Berkshire’s annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, on Saturday. The boost in first-quarter revenue to $81.1 billion from $77.6 billion a year earlier reflected what Abel called a “pretty benign period” for insurance losses, one that passed without any major catastrophes such as wildfires or hurricanes. The flip side, he said, is that new…
KBRA, the Kroll Bond Rating Agency, has assigned a BBB issuer rating to Universal Insurance Holdings, along with a BBB credit rating, ahead of the Florida insurance holding company’s refinance of $100 million in unsecured notes. The ratings are slightly lower than the financial strength rating of “A-” that KBRA and the AM Best rating firms granted last fall to Universal Holding’s insurance carriers, Universal Property & Casualty and American Platinum P&C Insurance. “KBRA views UVE’s holding company financial flexibility as supported by substantial recurring dividends and distributions from non-insurance subsidiaries, which provide cash flow not subject to ordinary insurance…
Following the successful issuance of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) first catastrophe bond offerings, Roberta Casali, Vice-President for Finance and Risk Management at the ADB has explained how the cat bonds will provide committed financing for disasters and said she hopes the first ADB cat bonds will “pave the way for future issuances.”As we reported on April 24th, the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) first catastrophe bonds had been priced in the market, securing a $160 million capital market-backed source of parametric earthquake and extreme precipitation disaster risk financing, evenly split $80 million each across issuances for beneficiaries the Kyrgyz Republic…
After surgery, medical evidence showed that Mooney’s work-related radiculopathy had combined with those preexisting cervical conditions. On May 5, 2021, Legacy Health amended its acceptance to cover the combined condition, folding in the preexisting fusion, Brown-Sequard Syndrome, and cervical spondylosis at C6-7. Then, just one day later on May 6, 2021, the employer turned around and denied that same combined condition, pointing to medical opinions that the surgery had resolved the radiculopathy and it was no longer the main driver of Mooney’s disability or treatment needs.
At the trial court level, both insurers moved to pause the bad faith and IFCA claims until the UIM coverage disputes were sorted out, relying on well-established New Jersey precedent that treats bad faith discovery as premature while the underlying claim remains unresolved. Allstate sought dismissal of the claims without prejudice pending resolution of the UIM dispute, while GEICO filed an application to sever and stay. In the Allstate matter, the trial court dismissed the common law bad faith claim by consent but denied dismissal of the IFCA claim. In the GEICO matter, the trial court initially granted the severance…
Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal on April 29, 2026, reversed a lower court order that had denied Hartford’s motion to dismiss a second amended complaint brought by MSP Recovery Claims, Series LLC, MSPA Claims 1, LLC, and MSP Recovery Claims Series 44, LLC. The appellate court found that the trial court got it wrong on two counts: Hartford had not abandoned its challenge to personal jurisdiction, and long-arm jurisdiction could not be extended over the Hartford entities.
Senate Bill 905, filed on April 29, 2026, by Senators Vickie Sawyer and Dana Jones as primary sponsors and Senator Mujtaba Mohammed, would direct the North Carolina Rate Bureau to amend its named driver exclusion endorsement to better serve persons receiving foster care. It would also create a state-funded program to subsidize the cost of auto insurance for that population, backed by a $1,000,000 appropriation.
Cancellation notice cited an FMCSA revocation that hadn’t happened yet
Federal’s pitch to the court starts with a paperwork problem. The insurer says it issued a Comprehensive General Liability policy to the Marianists Society Inc. running “From August 1, 1969 To Until Cancelled,” cancelled effective August 1, 1979, and an Umbrella Excess Liability policy covering Marianist of Ohio, Inc. and Marianists Society Inc. from September 1, 1973 to August 1, 1974. But Federal can only find declaration pages, endorsements and other policy fragments – not the full policies. The Marianist Province, the complaint says, has not produced complete copies either.
The carrier and four affiliates filed suit on April 29, 2026 in the US District Court for the District of Colorado against Daniel Purcell and Dan Purcell Insurance Agency, Inc. They are seeking damages, treble damages and attorneys’ fees across eight claims, including breach of contract, trade secret misappropriation, civil theft and Lanham Act violations.
That, Ohio Security argues, settles the question. Its commercial general liability policy “expressly excludes coverage for bodily injury arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of an auto,” the complaint states – and the policy defines “use” to include loading and unloading. The Utica policy, by contrast, covers Coastal “for liability arising out of the use of the Coastal delivery truck, including loading and unloading.”