A decision this week by the California Supreme Court gave policyholders with long-tail environmental claims a potentially big win, finding that polices within each policy period can be vertically stacked. The decision was handed down on April. 6 in Montrose Chemical Corporation of California v. The Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Montrose Chemical Corp. was sued for causing continuous environmental damage in the Los Angeles area between 1947 and 1982. The company subsequently entered...

It’s not just toilet paper and hand sanitizer people have been stocking up on during the COVID-19 crisis. Inventory levels at adult use cannabis stores in the U.S. showed a quick decline after the COVID-19 crisis began, as what was once an illicit drug seems to have not only become mainstream, it is now being declared an “essential business” by a number of state governments. In California, for example, the pre-COVID crisis average inventory carry levels were roughly 4.7 weeks (meaning the...

A Connecticut lawmaker has plans for a bill that not only calls for the state to look at which insurers have fossil fuel investments – a growing trend among government entities as of late – but also which ones are underwriting such projects. The bill, being introduced by state Sen. Matt Lesser, a Democrat from Middletown and chair of the Senate Insurance Committee, would require the insurance commissioner to at least annually conduct a study to determine whether each insurer licensed or...

AssuredPartners Inc. has acquired Wateridge Insurance Services Inc. of San Diego, Calif. The team of 67 will remain under the operational leadership of Jeff Byroads, John Clanton and John Dorris. Lake Mary, Fla.-based AssuredPartners acquires and invests in insurance brokerage businesses across the U.S. and in London. Wateridge provides protection for home, auto, life, health and business. The agency reports $12 million in annualized revenues.

“We have front row seats,” said Elise Jones, a Boulder County commissioner. Jones along with two other commissioners oversees government affairs in the Colorado county of 330,000 or so at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Her statement wasn’t to brag about a night out at the opera or great tickets to a Nuggets game. Jones isn’t one to hold back when expressing her fears over climate change and what she believes it’s doing to her county. She and fellow commissioners Matt Jones...