Latest California Headlines

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

$5.75M Settlement in California Over Marine Veteran’s Death

Jan 24 2020 // The city of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $5.75 million to the parents of a Marine veteran who died after police jolted him six times with a stun gun during a 2014 confrontation. The City Council unanimously approved a...

California Governor Wants to Block PG&E’s Bankruptcy Plan

Jan 24 2020 // California Gov. Gavin Newsom is urging a federal judge to reject Pacific Gas and Electric’s blueprint for getting out of bankruptcy and renewing his threat to lead a bid to turn the beleaguered utility into a...

Roundup Plaintiffs, Bayer in Talks to Settle Claims For $10 Billion

Jan 23 2020 // In an effort to settle tens of thousands of claims that Bayer AG’s Roundup weedkiller causes cancer, lawyers for some plaintiffs are discussing with the company deals that could lead to a total payout of about $10...

California Man Arrested for Insurance Fraud on Top of an Apparently Legit $1M Claim

Jan 22 2020 // A California man is being charged with attempting to defraud his insurer of $43,000 while his $1 million property claim from one of the massive wildfires that struck the state in 2018 appears to be legitimate. Stephen...

California Considers Declaring Common Pain Killer Carcinogen

Jan 22 2020 // A fight is coming to California over whether to list one of the world’s most common over-the-counter drugs as a carcinogen, echoing recent high-profile battles over things like alcohol and coffee. The drug is...

Cannasure Names Jenkins Senior Product Development Manager in California

Jan 21 2020 // Cannasure Insurance Services has named Summer Jenkins a senior product development manager. Jenkins is based in Sacramento, Calif., and reports to Kieran O’Rourke, director of underwriting. Jenkins has more than 20...

Topa Insurance in California Names Pavlov Chief Operating Officer

Jan 21 2020 // Calabasas, Calif.-based Topa Insurance Group has named Denise Pavlov the group’s senior vice president and chief operating officer. Pavlov joined the company in April 2018 as senior vice president and chief...

Tort Reformers Proclaim Top 10 ‘Judicial Hellholes’ for 2020

Jan 21 2020 // It’s out: the annual report by tort reform advocates of what they say are the nation’s worst local courts and states that are abusing the civil justice system. The report also warns of state courts that did not...

Sonoma County Looking to Sue PG&E for Damages From Wildfire

Jan 21 2020 // A county in Northern California wine country is exploring plans to sue a utility over a massive wildfire last fall that combined with rolling power shutoffs caused losses of $725 million. The Sonoma County Board of...

Apple Lawsuit in California Tests if Employees Can Plan Startup While on Payroll

Jan 21 2020 // Attorneys for a former Apple Inc executive on Tuesday will try to convince a skeptical judge of a core tenet of tech startup culture – that employees can plan a competing venture while still in a job. Apple’s...

California Woman Sues American Airlines, Claims Employee Stalked Her

Jan 21 2020 // A San Diego, Calif. woman is suing American Airlines, saying that a former employee stalked her by sending more than 100 unwanted texts, some of them sexually suggestive. In her Jan. 6 lawsuit, Ashley Barno contends that...

California Lawmaker Wants Probe of PG&E’s Chief Regulator

Jan 17 2020 // A state lawmaker is demanding an extensive review of the California Public Utilities Commission to determine whether regulators’ lax oversight enabled neglect at Pacific Gas & Electric that triggered catastrophic...

California Sleep Apnea Company Pays $37.5M to Settle Kickback Lawsuits

Jan 17 2020 // ResMed, a San Diego, Calif.-based company that sells sleep apnea machines, will pay $37.5 million to settle allegations that it provided kickbacks to obtain customer referrals, federal prosecutors announced this week. The...

Judge Presses PG&E on How It Will Protect Wildfire Victims’ Funds Given FEMA Demand

Jan 17 2020 // PG&E Corp. needs to explain how it will keep a promise to pay fire victims $13.5 billion in the face of a demand from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a cut of that money, a bankruptcy judge said...

Global Cannabis Revenue Pushed by Sales Doubling in Some U.S. States

Jan 16 2020 // The green rush in the global cannabis market continued in 2019, with sales doubling in seven U.S. states as well as Canada, and you can expect that trend to continue this year, a report out on Thursday shows. The report...

California Refinery Hit With $125K in Safety Violations

Jan 16 2020 // Federal officials have fined a Southern California refinery $125,000 for chemical safety and risk-management violations, according to a newspaper report. The violations stem from a 2016 investigation into Torrance...

Aspen Risk Management Group in California Acquired by TRISTAR

Jan 15 2020 // TRISTAR Insurance Group Inc. has agreed to acquire San Diego, Calif.-based Aspen Risk Management Group. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. All Aspen employees will continue operating out of the existing locations under...

Gig Economy Law Talk of California Insurance Wholesalers Conference

Jan 15 2020 // A sweeping California gig economy law was the focus of a lot of the talk this year during an annual insurance wholesalers conference. Assembly Bill 5, California’s gig worker law was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in...

Dead Crew Member’s Family Suing California Dive Boat Operator

Jan 15 2020 // The family of the lone crew member to die in a fiery scuba boat disaster that killed all 33 passengers off the California coast last year sued the vessel’s owner Monday in federal court. The lawsuit by the family of...

Southern California Uber Driver Accused of Raping Passenger

Jan 15 2020 // An Uber driver was arrested on suspicion of raping a woman who said she fell asleep in his car after a night of drinking and woke up to him assaulting her, authorities said. The suspect, Alonso Calle, had contacted police...