Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California Eyes Climate Bond to Prepare For Disasters
Jan 6 2020 // In a state burdened by billions of dollars in wildfire damage, California lawmakers are hoping for an advance loan before the next climate-fueled catastrophe hits. Lawmakers in the Democratic-dominated state Legislature...
Women Win $13M in Lawsuit Against Porn Site in California
Jan 6 2020 // The owners and operators of a San Diego, Calif.-based porn website must pay $12.7 million after a judge found them liable for fraud and breach of contract for lying to women about how their explicit videos would be...
California State Fund Declares 15% Dividend for 2019 Policy Year
Jan 6 2020 // California State Compensation Insurance Fund announced plans to distribute a roughly $55 million dividend to its qualifying policyholders with policies that took effect between Aug. 20 and Dec. 31, 2019. The dividend...
Digital MGA Clearcover Raises $50M; Plans on Entering More States, Becoming Carrier
Jan 6 2020 // Clearcover, a digital managing general agent focused on auto insurance, said it has raised $50 million in new financing. The company said the money will be used to accelerate further national growth as well as further its...
M.J. Hall & Company in California Taps Former TOPA Chief Donahue as President
Jan 3 2020 // M.J. Hall & Company Inc. has named former TOPA chief John Donahue president of the Stockton, Calif.-based company. Donahue recently retired from his post as president and CEO at Calabasas, Calif.-based TOPA Insurance...
Feds to Investigate Deadly Tesla Crash in California
Jan 3 2020 // The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating the crash of a speeding Tesla that killed two people in a Los Angeles suburb, the agency announced Tuesday. Agency spokesman Sean Rushton wouldn’t...
Small Undersea Quake Struck Off Southern California
Jan 3 2020 // An earthquake under the ocean gave an early wake-up jolt to some Southern California residents Thursday morning, U.S. Geological Survey confirmed. The magnitude 4 temblor occurred at 2:13 a.m. near the Channel Islands,...
W.R. Berkley Names Levesque President of Preferred Employers; Gallacher Now Chairman
Jan 3 2020 // W. R. Berkley Corp. has appointed Dennis J. Levesque as president of its Preferred Employers Insurance subsidiary, a California specialty workers’ compensation writer. He succeeds Steven A. Gallacher, who has been...
Top Workers’ Comp Story of 2019: Berkshire Hathaway’s Sale of Applied Underwriters
Jan 2 2020 // The news that Berkshire Hathaway was in talks to sell its workers’ compensation unit, Applied Underwriters, caught readers’ attention in February and was easily Insurance Journal’s biggest workers’...
Southern California Insurance Agent Arrested for Allegedly Pocketing Premiums
Jan 2 2020 // California Department of Insurance detectives on Thursday arrested insurance agent Gelinda Phann Keo, 43, on one felony count of grand theft after she allegedly pocketed a client’s insurance payment. The CDI found...
Financial Tug-Of-War Emerges Over California Fire Victims’ Settlement
Jan 2 2020 // A financial tug-of-war is emerging over the $13.5 billion that the nation’s largest utility has agreed to pay to victims of recent California wildfires, as government agencies jockey for more than half the money to...
Insurance Journal’s Top 10 West Region Stories of 2019
Jan 2 2020 // California wildfires dominated the news in Insurance Journal’s Western region in 2019, despite it being a quiet year relative to two consecutive years of deadly blazes that came before. Three of the year’s top...
Judge Temporarily Blocks California Gig Worker Law for Truckers
Jan 2 2020 // A federal judge has temporarily blocked a California labor law meant to take effect Jan. 1 from impacting over 70,000 independent truckers by granting a ‘temporary restraining order.’ U.S. District Judge Roger...
Will People Use California’s Vastly Expanded Digital Privacy Law?
Dec 31 2019 // Forty million Californians will soon obtain sweeping digital privacy rights stronger than any seen before in the U.S. – rights that could pose a significant challenge to Big Tech and the data economy it created. So long...
Most Common Workers’ Compensation Medical Provider Fraud Schemes
Dec 31 2019 // While most insurance claims are legitimate, studies indicate that 10% or more of all property/casualty insurance claims are fraudulent. In the workers’ compensation industry, combatting fraud can seem like a game of...
Uber, Postmates Sue to Overturn California Gig Worker Law as Unconstitutional
Dec 31 2019 // Uber Technologies Inc. and Postmates Inc. sued the state of California, alleging that a labor rights law set to go into effect this week is unconstitutional. The lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles federal court is a...
Eight Escape California Warehouse Fire Similar to Ghost Ship Fire
Dec 30 2019 // Oakland authorities have confirmed a fire chased eight people out of an evacuated and condemned building injuring one person before fire crews could extinguish the blaze. Assistant Fire Marshal Emmanuel Watson compared the...
California ‘Gig’ Worker Law Affects Employers Inside and Outside the State
Dec 30 2019 // A California law that makes it harder for companies to treat workers as independent contractors takes effect next week, forcing small businesses in and outside the state to rethink their staffing. The law puts tough...
Employers Warned of Potential Wage-and-Hour Claims Under New Overtime Rule
Dec 29 2019 // Time is running out for employers to familiarize themselves with new federal rules on overtime pay. Starting January 1, the threshold for who is entitled to overtime pay — and who is not — changes. It’s the first...
California Man Choked Unconscious Can Sue Police, Court Rules
Dec 27 2019 // A California man can proceed to trial with a lawsuit against a police officer who choked him unconscious at a Las Vegas nightclub, a federal appeals court ruled this week. “It has long been clear that a police...
