Homeowners’ insurance policy premiums, on average, rose 19% between January and December 2011, according to the 2011 HomeInsurance.com RateReport.

The New York Department of Financial Services is requiring the largest force-placed insurers in the state to give details on their expenses, claims payments and profits to determine the validity of their homeowners insurance rates.

A proposed bill before the Maryland General Assembly would prevent insurance companies from practicing “forced bundling” was unanimously passed in the House last week and had its first hearing in the Senate March 29.

A White Plains, N.Y.-based in property-casualty insurer said it is expanding its coverage to owners of “well-built, high value homes” in Louisiana.

Homeowners Choice, a Florida-based insurance holding company, said its wholly owned insurance subsidiary, Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Co., acquired the Florida policies of HomeWise Insurance Co.

Ryan Erdman, an insurance agent at TAMRAC Insurance Group in Hunt Valley, Md., has never sold coverage for an earthquake – yet.

Insurance companies have begun changing how they handle payment for sinkholes in response to widespread defrauding through misuse of funds, according to an Internet insurance rate service.

Florham Park, N.J.-based ADP Statewide Insurance has launched a new website at www.adpinsurance.com.

Alfa Insurance, a Montgomery, Ala.-based insurer, is dropping about 73,000 property insurance policies, mostly rental properties, across Alabama in response to the losses it suffered in the April 27 tornadoes.

A Rhode Island radio personality and a a former town council president are expected to admit this week to their roles in an insurance fraud scheme involving damage to a home and pool, according to media reports.