E&S/Specialty

The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a class-action lawsuit alleging sex discrimination against Wal-Mart, and lawyers say the ruling narrows the grounds on which class-action status can be sought, whatever the issue.

With summertime here, potential and existing policyholders may begin asking for advice on what types of boat insurance coverages they should have. Here are six types of boats and advice for coverage concerns.

The CEO of Fortegra Financial believes he has a distinct edge as he competes to acquire property and casualty wholesale brokerages and regional specialty agencies to add to his firm's suite of insurance-service operations: Being a New York Stock Exchange-listed public company.

For the CEO of Crum & Forster, Doug Libby, who voluntarily describes himself as "a contrarian," there is little not to like about the $294 million deal, closed in February, that adds First Mercury Financial Corp. to his group's specialty-insurance operations.

An overriding theme of the latest wave of mergers and acquisitions in the insurance industry: strategic buys of specialty-flavored books is specialization.

If you own an underwriting agency with a very specialized, quality book of business—and have no plans to sell it—then Stephen Way, CEO of Houston International Insurance Group, may want to talk about making a deal.