Author: completebodyneeds

An Atlanta-area woman alleges that she was wrongly diagnosed with cancer and underwent an unneeded hysterectomy because of a labeling error. Cassandra Barksdale and her attorneys filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Kaiser Permanente alleging the mix-up led to the surgery and months of physical and emotional pain. According to the lawsuit, another patient’s tissue sample was mistakenly labeled as belonging to Barksdale, who at age 43 then underwent a full hysterectomy on May 15, 2025, and was told she would get instructions about chemotherapy. It’s unclear how the mix-up occurred. In September, Barksdale was informed that a DNA analysis found…

Oakbridge Insurance, ranked as one of the 50 largest independent U.S. brokerages, has signed an agreement with Valentine Insurance in Memphis, the firms announced. The deal is a strategic partnership/joint venture, not a true acquisition. The Memphis agency will be known as “Valentine Insurance, an Oakbridge Partner,” an Oakbridge official said. The move will expand the firms’ integrated advisory and risk management approach. Valentine, which also has an office in Nashville, provides property-casualty and employee benefits solutions across the Mid-South, specializing in habitational, hospitality, and dealer open-lot insurance. Henry Lindeman is CEO. It’s the latest partnership or acquisition move by…

Brown & Brown’s executive vice president and grandson of the brokerage’s founder has resigned, marking another turning point in what may prove to be one of the most turbulent periods in the 87-year-old company’s history. P. Barrett Brown, younger brother to CEO J. Powell Brown and head of retail operations since 2020, stepped down Aug. 10. But he will continue some work with the Daytona Beach firm through July 2027, according to a Brown & Brown filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this week. Brown will receive a severance package of $2.5 million, along with his current base…

Commercial property insurer FM said it has acquired FortressFire, a provider of wildfire intelligence solutions for homes, businesses and communities. FortressFire will operate as an independent, wholly owned division of Johnston, Rhode Island-based FM and will continue its work to quantify ignition risk through fire physics, leading to verifiable mitigation recommendations and monitoring. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. San Mateo, California-based FortressFire enables insurers and property owners to better understand and manage wildfire risk down to an individual property level. Its wildfire intelligence solutions include aerial wildfire reports, monitoring, analytics, ground inspections and mitigation assessments to provide actionable,…

Root Inc. and The Zebra said they have partnered to make auto insurance easier for consumers and agents. Quotes from Columbus, Ohio-based insurtech Root can be received via TheZebra.com, an insurance marketplace and agent network. The consumers will go directly to Root’s digital platform to customize coverage and purchase a policy. By combining Root’s mobile technology, data science, and automation with The Zebra’s comparison experience and broad reach among high-intent shoppers, the companies look to create a seamless path from quote to coverage. The Zebra’s agents can also generate instant Root quotes from their existing agency management system and bridge…

NOTE: This is the first part of a two-part guest post from Friend of the Academy, Michael Gay. Why Saying “No” May Be the Best Decision an Insurance Agent Can Make The account looked promising. The prospect was successful, the premium was substantial, and the referral came from a valued client. The only problem was that the agent had never insured that type of operation. Still, the application looked manageable, the carrier was willing to quote it, and the commission was difficult to ignore. So the agent said “yes.” Months later, a major loss exposed what no one had recognized:…

World Insurance Associates Names Casey CFO Ann Casey World Insurance Associates LLC, headquartered in Iselin, New Jersey, named Ann Casey as World Retail chief financial officer effective September 1. Casey will lead the retail controllership and retail M&A accounting integration functions and will partner with World’s retail division and practice leaders on strategy, process improvement, and financial performance across the organization. Casey joined World in 2024 as head of retail premium accounting. Prior to joining World, she spent 14 years at Aon where she started as an analyst, led a regional finance team, was promoted to North American finance leader,…

A federal investigation into the release of a deadly gas at a Baileyville-based wood pulp mill found that the employer exposed workers to safety and health hazards that resulted in the death of two workers. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found that on Jan. 27, 2026, workers at Woodland Pulp were performing a cold weather shutdown that caused exposure to high concentrations of deadly, uncontrolled, hydrogen sulfide gas. Two employees died from the exposure. OSHA said it also investigated a March 7, 2026, chemical fire at Woodland Pulp that started after the employer released 4,400 gallons of 50…

Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to retaliate against any European Union moves to seize his country’s commercial ships, calling such actions “piracy.” As part of a new sanctions package last month, the bloc approved a mechanism allowing member states to sell oil and other goods seized from sanctioned vessels detained at sea. European countries and the UK have boarded, detained or seized several Russia-linked or so-called shadow-fleet vessels since late 2024. “We see that the authorities of some countries, in violation of international maritime law, are trying to restrict the movement of ships,” Putin said Wednesday during Pacific Fleet exercises…

This article is part of a sponsored series by EZLynx. Key Takeaways AI for a small agency does not require a tech team. Most of what is useful today is either already built into your software or coming soon to the system you may already use. There are seven specific places AI can do real work in an independent agency – five available today through EVA, two more on the horizon. For EZLynx users, EVA is the easiest place to start because the five tactics in Section 2 are already there. For non-users, the seven tactics are a concrete picture…