Insurer Must Defend Energy Company’s Role In Earthquake Lawsuit: Court

Sep. 27– WILKES-BARRE– A local law firm has filed a series of suits in Luzerne County Court, arguing on behalf of several local businesses that the loss of revenue caused by COVID-19 should be covered by business interruption insurance. Each of the suits is targeting the respective businesses' insurance companies, with Attorney Bill Anzalone saying the suits are…

At the National Council of Insurance Legislators “Summer” Meeting in Alexandria, Va., the organization adopted the NCOIL Private Primary Residential Flood Insurance Model Act.

–Chesapeake Utilities Corporation today announced that its electric subsidiary, Florida Public Utilities Company, received approval from the Florida Public Service Commission on a settlement agreement between FPUC and the Office of Public Counsel regarding final cost recovery and rates associated with Hurricane Michael. “Because of the collaborative…

Attorney Chip Merlin, who specializes in insurance claim disputes and author of Pay Up! Preventing A Disaster With Your Own Insurance Company, is giving policyholders helpful advice during these active hurricane and wildfire seasons. With over a million acres burned from wildfires in western states and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration…

COLUMBUS, OH – The latest research from Nationwide’s Agent Authority study highlights areas of opportunity for agents at a time…

—Tropical Storm Beta made landfall on the upper Texas coast on Monday evening. The storm made landfall about 5 miles north of Port OÇonnor, Texas, with maximum winds of 45 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. “This still is probably the most uncertain part of the forecast,” Dan Reilly, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in the Houston- Galveston…

—Tropical Storm Beta made landfall on the upper Texas coast late Monday night. The storm made landfall just north of Port O'Connor, Texas. Beta will move inland over southeastern Texas through Wednesday and then over Louisiana and Mississippi Wednesday night through Friday.

The massive destruction from the West Coast wildfires– and that smoky haze on the Connecticut skyline last week– has quickly pushed climate change back into the forefront of political debate, from local government to candidates running for the General Assembly to the presidential race. Earlier this summer, the CTLCV sent its 2020 Survey on the Environment to…

On 16 September, Hurricane Sally made landfall on Wednesday near Mobile Bay, Ala., and the western portion of the Florida…

Gabriel Mejias Ocasio remembered Sunday the wrath of Hurricane María, which struck in Puerto Rico three years ago Sunday. More than a dozen families who survived the storm and now live in Central Florida gathered Sunday in heavy rain outside the Super 8 Motel in Kissimmee to remember the deadliest natural disaster to strike the U.S. in a century and to honor…

Sep. 19– ALBANY– As wildfires continue to rage in California, Oregon and Washington, the impact of climate change is considered by many to be the pivotal factor. California fire officials said this week more than 3.4 million acres have burned, destroying thousands of homes and structures and taking at least 35 lives. In the 1880 s, the United States Army was put in…

FOSTER CITY, Calif., Sept. 17, 2020/ PRNewswire/– QuinStreet, Inc., a leader in performance marketplace products and technologies, and NerdWallet, a website and app that provides financial guidance to more than 160 million consumers every year, announce today that NerdWallet has selected QuinStreet to exclusively power its auto insurance marketplace,…

Sep. 16– California's insurance commissioner announced a plan to tackle the state's wildfire insurance crisis Wednesday, saying the state will collaborate with the industry to develop standards for “hardening” homes and communities against fire risk. “We are seeing much more voracious fires,” Lara said on Capital Public Radio's Insight program.

Moody’s Investors Service estimates that 2020 is already the third-highest year for California insured wildfire losses, after 2018 and 2017,…

Sep. 16– While in Louisiana we can hardly say that we dodged a bullet from Hurricane Sally, as potentially damaging rains remain very possible, it's certain that the move of the latest storm to threaten our coast was welcome here, if unwelcome to our neighbors to the east. From the coast at Cameron to the Arkansas line, that storm caused massive property damage in…

—Heavy rain, pounding surf and flash floods hit parts of the Florida Panhandle and the Alabama coast on Tuesday as Hurricane Sally lumbered toward land at a painfully slow pace, threatening as much as 30 inches of rain and dangerous, historic flooding. The storm's center churned offshore 65 miles south-southeast of Mobile, Alabama, as Sally crept…

Sally once appeared to have New Orleans in its sights and it was still moving toward the tip of southeast Louisiana late Monday. But forecasters continued to nudge the track eastward throughout the day, and now expect the storm to blow ashore farther west, near the Mississippi- Alabama state line. There also was a possibility of tornadoes in the Panhandle and…

Tate Reeves said Sunday residents in flood-prone areas in South Mississippi need to already have plans in place to shelter elsewhere when Tropical Storm Sally makes landfall, likely on Tuesday morning, as a hurricane. Shortly after the press conference, the Hancock County Emergency Management Agency issued the first mandatory evacuation in South…

The fires consuming the forests of California and Oregon and darkening the skies over San Francisco and Portland are also damaging a regional economy already singed by the coronavirus outbreak. The credit rating agency A.M. Best estimates that insured losses from the blazes in California could top the unprecedented $13 billion recorded in 2017 when the…

Sep. 13– Good news for the thousands of Iowans who lost vehicles, roofs or trees in last month's destructive derecho– your loss could fuel a local economic boom. That's probably not much consolation if you're uninsured or still out of work because of the historic storm. The vast majority of structures in Cedar Rapids and adjacent communities were affected by the…

At least four have died in the record-breaking blazes, which over the course of just three days have burned over 900,000 acres, nearly double the annual average, according to the Oregon Office of Emergency Management, The Washington Post reports. The many people fleeing Clackamas County, the third-most populous in the state, to escape the Riverside Fire,…

Sep. 10– Washington Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz visited local leaders in the burned town of Malden on Wednesday, saying the wildfire that raged through the area on Monday should be a wake-up call to Washingtonians and state lawmakers about the need for better fire prevention and response strategies. Little remains of Malden, which counted about 200…

Sep. 10– Tom Wheeler is a Madera County supervisor and loves to brag about the area's many attributes– the lakes, the mountains, the proximity to Yosemite. Wheeler lives in North Fork, in the Sierra Nevada foothills, and in the past decade his insurance premiums have grown sixfold, to more than $6,000 a year. Now the Creek Fire is ravaging parts of Madera and Fresno…

Sep. 9– DAVENPORT– The scene in Lincoln County remained a smoldering mess Tuesday as crews struggled against the massive Whitney Road Fire. The sparks ignited flames which were whipped into a wind- fueled inferno that raced southwest across Highway 2 west of Davenport and took out at least four homes, and continued to grow on Tuesday. The fire started out in the…

Sep. 9– The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season has reached the climatological halfway point, and already 13 records for early forming storms have fallen. On average, Sept. 8– which happens to be the anniversary of the landfall of the devastating Galveston hurricane of 1900– is the date that the sixth named storm of the season forms. “Paulette is going to be a fish storm, and…

Sep. 8– An “unprecedented disaster” continued to unfold Tuesday in Fresno and Madera counties as the Creek Fire consumed more than 143,000 acres, prompted a new round of helicopter-driven evacuations and destroyed dozens of homes and other structures including an iconic Shaver Lake landmark. Among the destroyed businesses: Cressman's General Store along…

Sep. 8– Hurricane Laura survivors who are insurance policy holders were impacted by a new emergency rule by the Louisiana insurance commissioner which enables residents to file insurance claims during a situation when hundreds of thousands are still without electricity in Southwest Louisiana. It includes the following parishes: Acadia, Allen, Beauregard,…

Sep. 3– Iowans who have registered with FEMA may also be eligible for reimbursement if they paid out-of-pocket expenses for temporary lodging because their primary residences had sustained damage from the August 10 storm. The 11 counties designated for FEMA Individual Assistance are: Benton, Boone, Cedar, Jasper, Linn, Marshall, Polk, Poweshiek, Scott, Story and…

COLUMBUS, OH – Nearly 8 in 10 middle market business owners are concerned about making it through the economic downturn,…

A new U.S. consumer auto insurance shopping study provides key insights to help insurers improve their engagement strategies in order to help increase policyholder retention.

Sep. 1– North Dakota's Democratic-NPL Party on Friday endorsed a new candidate for state insurance commissioner, days after the state Supreme Court ordered the party's nominee removed from the ballot. The party's Executive Committee endorsed Mutual of Omaha insurance agent Jason Anderson, of Fargo, to replace Bismarck critical care respiratory specialist…

Sep. 1– BOULDER CREEK– As wildfire evacuation orders for some lesser-effected parts of Santa Cruz County continue to fall, some residents facing the worst impacts from the CZU August Lightning Complex fire remain in the dark about their property losses. Santa Cruz County- based architect Stephanie Barnes Castro shared her recent experience working with a…

LAKE CHARLES, La.— In a matter of hours last week, Hurricane Laura tore through the tire shop Layla Winbush’ s family started just under a year ago, reducing most of it to rubble and scattering hundreds of tires across the lot. But Winbush said she feels alone, particularly after seeing a video of President Donald Trump, who visited the area Saturday, joking with Gulf…

In 2005, Rita pushed a foot of floodwaters into his white, wooden home in Hackberry, Louisiana, a tiny Cameron Parish community 15 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. A retired welder who worked at many of the refineries that dot the Louisiana coast, the 62- year-old Beard climbed through the debris, laboring with two artificial knees. Across Cameron Parish, the coastal…

Law firm Grant & Eisenhofer has filed a pair of class actions against 11 insurance companies who denied coverage claims for business shutdowns due to COVID-19.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Internal Revenue Service issued the following news release:. The Internal Revenue Service reminds people to create or maintain an emergency preparedness plan. A well-thought-out plan is a critical component for surviving natural disasters.

Aug. 25– HYANNIS– A cosmetic dentist in Hyannis has filed a federal class-action lawsuit against his insurer for denying his claim for loss of income caused by Gov. Paul Marshall, who has a cosmetic dentistry practice on Winter Street, filed the suit Aug. 17 in U.S. District Court in Boston against Safety Insurance and Safety Indemnity Insurance Co. alleging breach…

Miami, FL—- 08/24/2020– Whether the roof is new or if it's one that has endured many weather conditions, there are ways to protect it without spending a ton of money. One way is to take a close look at the gutters and clean them out about twice a year at least. Clearing the gutters of leaves reduces odds of clogging which means fewer chances of wall or siding damage.

Casino in Hanover and entertainment centers, casinos, malls and hotels across the United States, is suing its insurer for failing to cover hundreds of millions of dollars in business losses amid pandemic closures. The Baltimore- based developer filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Affiliated FM Insurance Co., arguing that business interruption losses…

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA– After a week sleeping outside on a lawn chair, Jason Lincoln wasn’ t impressed by President Donald Trump’ s hourlong visit last week, eight days after the worst disaster ever to hit this eastern Iowa city. Stopping in on a campaign swing, Trump got a 20- minute briefing from Iowa officials and never left the airport. Kim Reynolds didn’ t fare any better,…

The National Hurricane Center on Sunday expected the dual storms to wallop the coastlines of Louisiana and Texas mere days apart– starting with Hurricane Marco on Tuesday and Tropical Storm Laura, expected to strengthen to at least a category 2, on Wednesday. The NHC's forecasts throughout the day reflected a growing danger for the Gulf Coast and a lessening…

—An unwelcome change in the weather, with higher winds, temperatures and lightning that threatens to spark new wildfires was coming Sunday to parched Northern California, where firefighters have for nearly a week battled three huge“ complexes” of fires that have destroyed hundreds of homes and forced tens of thousands to flee. “There's not a feeling of pure…

Buying car insurance online has become a necessity in our highly-active modern world. Spending countless hours on the roads, or endless negotiations with agents represent a waste of time. Purchasing coverage online comes with certain benefits.

COLUMBUS, OH – New Agent Authority* research from Nationwide* found that small business owners would benefit from more tailored and…

COVID-19 has forced many people to work from home. In many ways, this has reduced some risks – for example…

Kent Sullivan has notified Governor Greg Abbott that he will resign as Texas Insurance Commissioner in September to return to the private sector.

A national survey of Big “I” leadership agencies by the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America shows that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on the day-to-day operations of independent insurance agencies as the crisis lingers.

Kern County officials confirmed updated maps provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency would reclassify what appear to be developed portions of Wofford Heights and Mountain Mesa as part of an expanded area where the threat of a flood is relatively high. Parts of Bakersfield along the Kern River also have been preliminarily reclassified by FEMA…

Aug. 15– CEDAR RAPIDS– It sounds incredible to say it, Cedar Rapids native Elizabeth Mitchell told U.S. Sen. Iowa's senior senator agreed that damage from the derecho storm that shredded homes, businesses and crops across the state Monday was “more widespread than anything I've seen before” in comparison to floods, tornadoes and winter storms he's witnessed in Iowa.

SPARTA, N.C.- Sparta has less than 2,000 residents, but it's been the talk of the east coast after a 5.1 magnitude earthquake shook the town and its surroundings on Sunday morning. Sparta Mayor Wes Brinegar said the state of emergency was called so they can apply for FEMA and state financial aid. The jolt started in Sparta and was felt throughout the Piedmont Triad…

WINDSOR With the reported number of damaged homes growing, Bertie County local government is stepping in to provide some measure of financial assistance to those impacted last week by Hurricane Isaias, which included a deadly tornado. As part of their scheduled workshop here Monday, the Bertie County Board of Commissioners devised a plan that will…

After a stifling hot July that saw 25 days of 90- degree-plus weather- breaking a record that stood for nearly a century and a half- August swept into Maryland with tornadoes and torrential rain from Tropical Storm Isaias. The report on coastal flooding published in Scientific Reports, for example, cites the Northeast United States as one of the world's most…

Aug. 8– With concerns ranging from throwing out hundreds of dollars' worth of food from the fridge and freezer, to thousands of dollars' worth of property damage, to accessing life-saving medical equipment, the power outages have made the lives of many Connecticut residents more difficult in what has already been a difficult year. Tropical Storm Isaias brought…