Latest California Headlines

All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Jury Finds J&J Not Liable in Talcum Powder Cancer Case in California

Nov 14 2018 // A California jury on Wednesday cleared Johnson & Johnson of liability in a case involving a woman who alleged that the company’s talc-based products, including its baby powder, contain asbestos and caused her...

Solutions to Wildfires in Time of Climate Change Are Costly, Unpopular

Nov 14 2018 // California’s deadly wildfires have a straightforward solution, experts say: stop building homes in places that are likely to burn — and make homes that already exist in those areas a whole lot tougher. That...

How Insurance Industry Might React to ‘New Normal’ of California’s Historic Wildfires

Nov 13 2018 // The “new normal” for California has yielded another year of record wildfires and billions of dollars in insured losses. Homeowners insurance rates inch up in high risk areas, and carriers get more cautious...

Will California See More Laws and Regulations in Wake of Wildfires?

Nov 13 2018 // Powered by InsuranceJournal.tv Last year’s California wildfires destroyed thousands of homes and cost billions of dollars, but they also created numerous new laws and regulations in their wake as Legislators and...

Waymo’s First Driverless Car Service Seen Right Around the Corner

Nov 13 2018 // In just a few weeks, humanity may take its first paid ride into the age of driverless cars. Waymo, the secretive subsidiary of Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., is planning to launch the world’s first...

Alliant Names Aon’s Posey Vice President in California

Nov 13 2018 // Alliant Insurance Services Inc. has named Amanda Posey a vice president. Posey, who is based in Orange County, Calif., will provide risk management and insurance solutions to a regional client base. Posey was previously a...

California Utilities Face Potential of Billion Dollar Wildfires Year After Year

Nov 13 2018 // California utilities are facing the very real possibility that billion-dollar blazes could become an annual occurrence, and they don’t know how to pay for them. Shares of the state’s two largest utilities...

Insurers’ Firefighting Teams Move to Limit Damage from California Wildfires

Nov 13 2018 // California’s raging wildfires are so bad that American International Group Inc. and Chubb Ltd. are deploying teams of specialists and former firefighters to spray retardants on homes. The season may soon rank among...

California Wildfire Insured Losses at Billions of Dollars and Climbing

Nov 12 2018 // An analysis by catastrophe modeler RMS shows 15 wildfires are burning more than 280,000 acres in California have collectively destroyed nearly 7,000 homes and businesses and killed 31 people. Roughly 300,000 have been...

Deaths, Damages Continue to Rise in California’s Most Destructive Wildfires

Nov 12 2018 // The most destructive wildfires in California’s history have killed at least 31 people and forced tens of thousands more to evacuate as firefighters struggle to gain control amid swirling winds. The so-called Camp...

California Wildfire Update: Thousands Flee, More Than 50K Without Power

Nov 9 2018 // Fanned by hot, dry winds, wildfires north of San Francisco and near Los Angeles have forced the evacuation of more than 150,000 people in the state, including Malibu, the coastal enclave of the rich and famous. The fires...

California Beach City Evacuated as Fire Jumps Los Angeles Freeway

Nov 9 2018 // California officials ordered an evacuation of the city of Malibu, an enclave for the area’s rich and famous, and told drivers to avoid a major freeway as a wildfire spread north of Los Angeles. The so-called Woolsey...

California Wildfire Grows to More than 20K Acres, More Blazes Erupt

Nov 9 2018 // A wildfire raging in Northern California’s Sierra Nevada foothills quadrupled in size late Thursday and another day of dry winds threatens to make it spread even farther, faster. The blaze near the community of Chico...

California Lowers Workers’ Comp Advisory Rate Again

Nov 7 2018 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones on Wednesday issued a revised advisory workers’ compensation pure premium rate, lowering the benchmark to $1.63 per $100 of payroll effective Jan. 1, 2019. Jones has...

Democrat Lara Leads Poizner in California Insurance Commissioner Race

Nov 7 2018 // Democrat Ricardo Lara was leading Republican-turned-independent Steve Poizner in the race for California Insurance Commissioner. Lara had 50.8 percent of the vote, leading by 105,733 votes, with 95.7 percent of precincts...

Former California Insurance Agent Arraigned on 40 Felony Grand Theft Counts

Nov 6 2018 // Anna Gabriela Garcia, 46, of Capistrano Beach, Calif., was arraigned and charged with 40 felony counts of grand theft after allegedly collecting premium payments from customers and diverting the funds of over $195,000 for...

RIC Names Malkin Business Development Manager in California

Nov 6 2018 // RIC Insurance General Agency has named Brittany Malkin business development manager. She will work to expand their commercial and personal lines marketing efforts, and work primarily with California retail insurance agents...

California Jury Rules Disease Expert Must Pay $105M to Cancer Victim

Nov 5 2018 // A California man convicted of practicing medicine without a license must pay more than $105 million to a woman who said he falsely promised to cure her breast cancer. KNSD-TV says San Diego jurors decided Wednesday that...

Pressure’s on the Trucking Sector

Nov 5 2018 // The transportation industry is considered a barometer of the U.S. economy. If freight is trending up, so too is the U.S. economy. But capacity constraints for trucking – including a shortage of qualified drivers, low...

Pie Founder Talks About Entry into California Workers’ Comp Market

Nov 5 2018 // The launch in the state marks the ninth market entry for the Insurtech in six months. Pie Insurance seems to be slicing its way through workers’ compensation markets in state after state. The Washington, D.C.-based...