XEROX SETTLES SUIT WITH RETIREES OVER PENSION PLAN
CONTRIBUTIONS.
The Xerox Corporation has decided to settle rather than appeal the
August decision of the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals finding it
owed about $250 million to employees who retired between . . .
HOUSE PASSES PENSION FIX TO REPLACE 30-YEAR TREASURY BOND
RATE.
The House voted Nov. 20 to replace the current 30-year Treasury
bond interest rate as the rate employers must use to calculate employee
pension plan liabilities. Instead, a blend of corporate bond . . .
HOUSE REAUTHORIZES NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE PROGRAM TO
2008.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-LA)
found himself on the losing side of a fight Nov. 20 when the House voted
352 to 67 in favor of a bill approved by the House . . .
SENATE BLOCKS ENERGY BILL OVER MTBE MAKER'S LIABILITY
PROTECTION.
By two votes, Senate Republicans failed Nov. 21 to close off debate
on the massive energy bill. The six Republicans who voted with Democrats
were particularly incensed by the addition of a . . .
PRESIDENT WINS ON MEDICARE IN HOUSE BY VOTE OF 220 TO
215.
President Bush succeeded shortly before 6 a.m. Nov. 22 to persuade
two conservative Republicans - Reps. C.L. "Butch" Otter (R-ID)
and Trent Franks (R-AZ) - to change their votes from no to yes on . . .
WATCH ON THE MEDIA.
The New York Times reported Nov. 11 - Veterans Day - that the Bush
administration is seeking to block a group of American troops who were
tortured in Iraqi prisons during the Persian Gulf war in . . .
WEST VIRGINIA PHYSICIANS FAIL TO SIGN UP FOR INSURANCE.
Some 3,400 West Virginia physicians haven't paid their $1,000
one-time fee to help fund a new doctor-run insurance company, the state
Board of Medicine said, although about 2,000 doctors have done . . .
TEXAS ADOPTS RULES ON SCORING, TERRITORIAL RATING.
The Texas Department of Insurance has adopted rules on credit-based
insurance scoring and territorial rating, allowing insurers to use
credit information for underwriting or rating but requiring . . .
NEW JERSEY: WAL-MART SUED OVER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.
Plaintiffs' lawyers filed a proposed class action against
Wal-Mart in U.S. District Court in Newark, NJ, Nov. 10, charging the
department store chain violated the Racketeer Influenced and . . .
HOSPITAL COSTS PREDICTED TO RISE SHARPLY IN COMING YEARS.
Future spending for hospital services will increase substantially,
an economist predicted last week.
Stuart Altman of Brandeis University told a symposium sponsored by
the journal Health Affairs . . .
SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS $21 MILLION PUNITIVE DAMAGES
VERDICT.
The Supreme Court has upheld a $21 million punitive damages verdict
against the operator of an Arkansas nursing home in a lawsuit brought by
the family of a woman who died there.
Without comment, . . .
SUIT OF THE WEEK: AWARD OVER PARKING TICKETS IS
REINSTATED.
The Eight U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has reinstated an award of
$25,000 to a Missouri shopkeeper who filed a civil rights suit against
the mayor after she got parking tickets when others . . .
BUSH SEEKS TO END MEDICARE IMPASSE.
President Bush urged Congress yet again last week to reach
agreement on a Medicare bill as members of his own party were among
those blocking a compromise brokered by Republican leaders of the . . .
GOP'S REVERSE FILIBUSTER ON JUDGESHIPS FUELS PARTISAN
RANCOR.
Any vestige of the Senate's vaunted "comity"
vanished last week as the Republican majority staged a marathon reverse
filibuster to protest the Democratic minority's pattern of refusing
to close . . .
NAII PRESIDENT SEES INCREASED CLOUT AFTER MERGER.
The proposed merger of the National Association of Independent
Insurers and the Alliance of American Insurers would bring increased
influence to the property/casualty industry at a time of . . .
TEXAS COURT AGREES INSURERS' ATTORNEYS DON'T VIOLATE
RULES.
Reversing a lower court, a Texas Court of Appeals has ruled that
using attorneys who are insurance company employees to defend liability
claims does not constitute the unauthorized practice of law . . .
OHIO SUPREME COURT REVERSES RULING ON AUTO INSURANCE.
Reversing a series of its own rulings to the contrary, the Ohio
Supreme Court ruled Nov. 5 that unless a policy contains language to the
contrary, uninsured/underinsured coverage for a corporation . . .
CHAMBER SEES MISSISSIPPI, KENTUCKY AS VICTORIES IN TORT
WARS.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce welcomed last week's victories by
Republican gubernatorial candidates in Kentucky and Mississippi as
victories in the tort wars.
"We are marching closer to the day . . .
NAMIC NAMES FUSHELBERGER VICE PRESIDENT OF PUBLIC
AFFAIRS.
The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies has named
Steve Fushelberger its new vice president of public affairs.
Chuck Chamness was head of public affairs until he was named
NAMIC's . . .
CFA's HUNTER SEES END OF HARD MARKET IN COMMERCIAL
LINES.
Rate increases in commercial property insurance have slowed to a
standstill and in some cases are starting to drop, signaling the end of
the hard market of sharp rate increases, J. Robert Hunter, . . .
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