Latest California Headlines

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

Liberty Company Acquires Rubicon M&A Insurance Services in California

Oct 11 2021 // The Liberty Company Insurance Brokers has acquired Rubicon M&A Insurance Services LLC in California. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Rubicon M&A, led by its founder Patrick Stroth, specializes in executive...

California Encourages Prescribed Burns to Counter Wildfires

Oct 8 2021 // California is encouraging more use of fire to fight fire, such as when deliberately set burns were recently used to protect giant sequoias from a raging wildfire. But sometimes what are known as prescribed fires themselves...

Investigators Board Ship That Was Anchored Near California Oil Pipeline

Oct 8 2021 // U.S. Coast Guard investigators have boarded a massive cargo ship as they probe what caused the rupture of an offshore oil pipeline that sent crude washing up on Southern California beaches. The Coast Guard is investigating...

Hub Acquires Assets of Verity and Bellehaven in California

Oct 8 2021 // Hub International Ltd. acquired the assets of Verity Insurance Services Inc. and Bellehaven Management Inc. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Located in Covina, Calif., Verity Insurance is an independent...

California Governor Signs Hemp Bill Setting up Regulatory Framework

Oct 7 2021 // California Gov. Gavin Newsom this week signed a bill into law establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework for the manufacture and sale of hemp products in California. Newsom signed Assembly Bill 45. The bill alters...

California City Paying Black Worker Who Claimed Discrimination

Oct 7 2021 // San Diego will pay nearly $100,000 to a former city Streets Division worker who filed a lawsuit claiming he faced discrimination because he is Black and was retaliated against for complaining about unsafe work...

California Pharmacy Owner Gets 5 Years for $13M Scheme Involving Insurance Fraud

Oct 7 2021 // A man who owned a Southern California pharmacy was sentenced to over five years in prison after he admitted submitting more than $13 million in fraudulent insurance claims for expensive medication. Thu Van Le, 42, pleaded...

California FAIR Plan Files to Offer Property Coverage to Farms

Oct 6 2021 // The California FAIR Plan Association announced on Wednesday it has submitted a farm product rate filing to the California Department of Insurance ahead of a 90-day deadline. The deadline to make the filing was imposed in...

California Orders 3 Insurers to Give Refunds for Those Who Drove Less During Pandemic

Oct 6 2021 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Wednesday directed three auto insurance companies to reimburse California drivers the excess premiums they were charged from the start of the pandemic, or face legal...

Slow Response to Report of California Oil Spill, Records Show

Oct 6 2021 // The U.S. Coast Guard received the first report of a possible oil spill off the Southern California coast more than 12 hours before a company reported the major leak in its pipeline and a cleanup effort was launched,...

California Jury Awards $6.3M to Actress in State Farm Fire Suit

Oct 6 2021 // A federal jury in Los Angeles awarded $6.3 million to actor Shannen Doherty on Monday in a lawsuit alleging that State Farm failed to pay sufficiently for damage to her house in a 2018 California wildfire. The jury found...

DOXA Insurance Holdings Acquires AGIA in California

Oct 5 2021 // AGIA Inc. in Carpinteria, Calif., and its sister company Worldwide Rescue and Security, Inc. have been acquired by DOXA Insurance Holdings LLC. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. AGIA will continue operations under the...

People Moves: IMA Adds MacConnell; Lockton Names Wong Vice President in California

Oct 5 2021 // IMA Financial Group named Donna MacConnell senior vice president, managing director of claims. MacConnell has more than 30 years in the industry, having led claims and coverage departments, and served as an individual...

Officials Probe If Ship Anchor Caused California Oil Spill as Cleanup Continues

Oct 4 2021 // More oil from a massive offshore spill landed on the southern California shore on Monday, with beaches closed and dead fish and birds washing up on shore as officials investigated whether a ship anchor striking a pipeline...

California Oil Spill Called ‘Environmental Catastrophe’

Oct 4 2021 // HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.— A large oil spill off the southern California coast left fish dead, birds mired in petroleum and wetlands contaminated, in what local officials called an environmental catastrophe. The U.S....

California Enacts Nation’s First Law Regulating Warehouse Labor Quotas

Oct 4 2021 // California Governor Gavin Newsom last month signed a bill that limits warehouse employers like Amazon.com Inc. from setting productivity quotas, the first legislation of its kind in the United States. The new provisions...

Bill Would Change Maritime Liability Rules After California Boat Fire

Oct 4 2021 // Federal lawmakers introduced legislation in late September that would change 19th century maritime liability rules in response to the 2019 boat fire off the coast of Southern California that killed 34 people. The bill...

People Moves: Risk Strategies Names Schmidt West Commercial Lines Leader; Lockton Names McGrath VP in California

Oct 1 2021 // Risk Strategies named Jim Schmidt as commercial lines leader for the West region. Schmidt will be responsible for building a regional strategy for the commercial property/ casualty business unit. Schmidt has more than 25...

Judge Questions California Counties’ Opioid Case Against Drugmakers

Oct 1 2021 // A California judge on Thursday said several large counties accusing four drugmakers of fueling an opioid epidemic had presented a “dearth of evidence” during a multi-billion dollar trial to support finding the...

GM, Alphabet Win California’s First Autonomous Permits for Passenger Rides

Sep 30 2021 // General Motors Co.’s Cruise and Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo self-driving car subsidiaries on Thursday became the first companies to receive autonomous vehicle permits to offer rides to passengers in...