Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
People & Places
Dec 2 2019 // National W. R. Berkley Corp. announced the appointment of Daniel R. Westcott as president of Berkley Re America (BRAM). Westcott has 20 years of experience in the property and casualty reinsurance market. He joins Berkley...
California Faces Decade of Unique Wildfire Blackouts
Dec 2 2019 // California utility PG&E Corp. has imposed 10 intentional blackouts this year to reduce risks its power infrastructure could spark wildfires and said they will continue for a decade. PG&E initially said outages...
McDonald’s Will Pay $26 Million to Settle California Wage, Overtime, Break Claims
Dec 2 2019 // McDonald’s Corp. agreed to pay $26 million to settle a nearly seven-year-old lawsuit accusing the fast food chain of underpaying U.S. staff at its corporate-owned restaurants in California. The preliminary settlement...
Video Shows Lyft Driver Dragging Woman from Car in California
Dec 2 2019 // Los Angeles police say they’ve cited a Lyft driver for misdemeanor battery after video showed him dragging a passenger out of a car. Alessandra Ward says she suffered a black eye, bruises and a possible concussion...
Dive Boat on Which 34 Died in Southern California Exempt From Safety Rules
Nov 27 2019 // The diving boat that caught fire on Labor Day off Southern California, killing 34 people, was among hundreds of small vessels exempted by the U.S. Coast Guard from stricter safety rules designed to make it easier for...
Wildfire Crisis is Roiling California’s Insurance Market
Nov 27 2019 // Lauris Bye, a homebuilding industry veteran who moved to Southern California’s wildfire-prone hills decades ago, felt confident about the newly built house he was buying about 30 miles north of downtown Los...
McDonald’s Will Pay $26 Million to Settle California Wage, Overtime, Break Claims
Nov 26 2019 // McDonald’s Corp. agreed to pay $26 million to settle a nearly seven-year-old lawsuit accusing the fast food chain of underpaying U.S. staff at its corporate-owned restaurants in California. The preliminary settlement...
AssuredPartners Acquires Surety Solutions Insurance Services in California
Nov 25 2019 // AssuredPartners Inc. has acquired Surety Solutions Insurance Services Inc. of Rancho Cordova, Calif. The team of 15 will remain under the leadership of John Page and Ryan Tash. Surety Solutions is licensed in all 50...
California Faces Decade of Unique Wildfire Blackouts
Nov 25 2019 // California utility PG&E Corp. has imposed 10 intentional blackouts this year to reduce risks its power infrastructure could spark wildfires and said they will continue for a decade. PG&E initially said outages...
Housing Crunch in California’s Pushing Developers Deeper into Wildfire Zones
Nov 25 2019 // The Santa Ana winds were blowing as Greg Medeiros ducked behind his Chevy Tahoe on a remote hillside 25 miles from the edge of Los Angeles’s sprawl. He gestured to the valley below, describing his vision of...
Wildfires Likely to Boost California Surplus Lines Homeowners Share; FAIR Plan Expansion Questioned
Nov 22 2019 // Premium volume from homeowners polices written by California’s surplus lines industry, although still small, has doubled over the past four years, seemingly pushed by an increase in wildfires in the state. Some...
Video Shows Lyft Driver Dragging Woman from Car in California
Nov 22 2019 // Los Angeles police say they’ve cited a Lyft driver for misdemeanor battery after video showed him dragging a passenger out of a car. Alessandra Ward says she suffered a black eye, bruises and a possible concussion...
PG&E Cuts Power to 50K California Homes And Businesses During Wildfire Risk
Nov 21 2019 // About 50,000 homes and businesses across Northern California were without power on Wednesday during the latest planned outage instituted by utility Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to guard against risk of wildfire during...
Lawsuit Alleges Uber ‘Cheats’ Public by Avoiding Worker Insurance Payments, Taxes
Nov 21 2019 // Uber Technologies Inc. faces a new legal attack on its refusal to treat drivers as employees that depicts the company as mistreating not just them but the public at large. A lawyer who’s been fighting the...
The Doctors Co. in California Names Vanderlaan Chief Financial Officer
Nov 21 2019 // The Doctors Co. has promoted Marco Vanderlaan to chief financial officer and chief risk officer. Vanderlaan succeeds David Preimesberger, who assumes new roles as senior vice president for strategic planning and chief...
Report on California Workers’ Comp Shows Steady Independent Medical Review Activity
Nov 20 2019 // More than 15,400 independent medical reviews a month are issued in California’s worker’s compensation system, according to a new report from the Department of Industrial Relations. The DIR this week issued a...
California Commissioner Issues Emergency Notice to Expedite Wildfire Claims
Nov 20 2019 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Wednesday issued an emergency notice to all property/casualty insurers doing business in California requesting they expedite claims handling for wildfire survivors to help...
Insurtech Vouch Raises $45M, Announces Launch in California
Nov 20 2019 // Vouch Insurance this week announced a $45 million Series B investment round led by Y Combinator Continuity. Vouch also announced its launch in California, which the firm said represents 50 percent of the business insurance...
California Sues E-Cigarette Seller Juul for Targeting Teens with Nicotine Products
Nov 19 2019 // The state of California on Monday sued e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc., alleging the San Francisco company engaged in a “systematic” and “wildly successful” campaign to attract teenagers to its...
Insurer Market Conduct Troubles Often Traced to Claims Handling Errors
Nov 19 2019 // Mistakes by claims professionals were the most common reason for enforcement actions taken against U.S. property and casualty insurers in 2018, taking the No. 1 and No. 2 spot on a top 10 list issued by the Wolters Kluwer...
