National News

Are Captives the Answer for Uninsured HOAs? Utah Opens Door

When actuary Greg Fears attended a Western Region Captive Insurance Conference in April, he expected to learn and share information about emerging uses of captives for commercial risks, including trucking captives—a recent focus of his attention. But during the last …

Fall Forecast Calls for Stubborn Heat, Increased Wildfire Risks, Severe Weather

Summer heat is expected to last well into autumn across much of America, bringing an increased risk of wildfires and severe weather—especially in the Western U.S. and California. Much of the nation will experience a delayed transition to cooler temperatures …

Extreme Weather Sends Insured Losses 70% Above Historical Norms

Natural catastrophes caused about $62 billion of insured losses in the first half of 2024 — roughly 70% above the 10-year average — as extreme wildfires, droughts and floods upend historical norms. The data, which were compiled by Munich Re, …

Agency Puts Onus on Amazon for Sale of Hazardous Third-Party Products

Amazon.com is responsible for hazardous products sold by third-party sellers on its platform under the federal safety law and bears legal responsibility for their recall, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said on Tuesday. The CPSC said it has issued …

Wildfire in California Now State’s Fifth Largest on Record, Destroyed 277 Structures

The Park Fire near Chico, California, at 609 square miles is now the fifth largest wildfire in history, destroying 277 structures and damaging 29, according to CalFire. The fire covers four counties—Butte, Plumas, Shasta, Tehama—and is 389,791 acres. The fire …

Moody’s Eyes Downstream Impact of CrowdStrike Disruption on Cyber Insurance

Most losses from the CrowdStrike outage will be business interruption, a primary contributor to losses from cyber incidents—and because the losses were not caused by a cyberattack, claims will be made under “systems failure” coverage, according to a new report …

AM Best: Migration to Cat-Prone States Fueled Record HO Underwriting Losses in 2023

The U.S. homeowners insurance segment suffered a $15.2 billion underwriting loss in 2023, more than double the loss seen in the previous year and the line’s worst underwriting results since at least 2000, according to a new AM Best report. …

Meta to Pay $1.4B to Settle Texas Facial Recognition Data Lawsuit

Meta Platforms has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to Texas to resolve the state’s lawsuit accusing the Facebook parent of illegally using facial-recognition technology to collect biometric data of millions of Texans without their consent. The terms of the settlement, …

Wells Fargo Sued Over Drug Costs in Employee Health Plan

Wells Fargo & Co. was accused of overpaying for prescription drugs by former employees, who claim mismanagement of the bank’s health plan drove up costs for workers. A lawsuit filed in federal court in Minnesota Tuesday alleges that the country’s …

AccuWeather: Tropical Threat Developing in Atlantic Could be Next Named Storm

Debby could be the next name most frequently out of the mouths of hurricane watchers and emergency responders. Meteorologists tracking a new threat to the Caribbean and the U.S. coast say a developing tropical rainstorm in the Atlantic east of …

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