Latest California Headlines

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

CAL Insurance in California Names Jacobs Assistant Vice President

Oct 6 2016 // San Francisco, Calif.-based CAL Insurance & Associates Inc. has named Stafford Jacobs III assistant vice president, and property/casualty insurance advisor. Jacobs has nearly 20 years of experience. He previously was a...

Lien Consolidation Court, Fraud Part of Focus at California Comp Conference

Oct 5 2016 // The state’s top two labor officials were understandably high on the impact they expect two bills recently signed by Gov. Jerry Brown will have on California’s workers’ comp system and bad actors who have...

RIC in California Taps Clansen and Kaneko for Senior Vice President Roles

Oct 4 2016 // Santa Rosa, Calif.-based RIC Insurance General Agency has named Tom Clansen senior vice president the firm’s commercial lines brokerage and underwriting division, and Garett Kaneko senior vice president of the sales...

Hub Acquires California-Based Sweet & Baker Insurance Brokers

Oct 4 2016 // Hub International Ltd. has acquired San Francisco, Calif.-based Sweet & Baker Insurance Brokers Inc. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Bruce Callander, president of Sweet & Baker, will join Hub California and...

California Workers’ Comp Board Submits Amended Rate Filing to Department of Insurance

Oct 4 2016 // The WCIRB has submitted a pure premium rate filing to the California Department of Insurance proposing Jan. 1, 2017 advisory pure premium rates lower than the corresponding industry average and less than the average...

Former Women’s Coach at California University Awarded $3.35M

Oct 4 2016 // A jury has awarded $3.35 million to Beth Burns, the former women’s basketball coach for San Diego State who claimed she was fired for being a whistleblower. Burns prevailed in a suit that claimed she was wrongfully...

Berkshire’s Applied Underwriters Defends Workers’ Comp Products, Says Brokers Should Not Be at Risk

Oct 3 2016 // Legal and regulatory squabbles in New York, California and other states involving Berkshire Hathaway and its Applied Underwriter affiliates over particular workers’ compensation products should not have any negative...

Temblor Alert on for Southern California through Tuesday

Oct 3 2016 // Southern California residents should remain on heightened alert until Tuesday for the increased possibility of a major earthquake, officials said. The warning by the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services follows a...

California Governor Approves Early Earthquake Warning System

Oct 3 2016 // Californians will begin getting warnings of impending earthquakes through their cellphones, radios and other devices within the next year or two as the state ramps up a lifesaving early warning system, emergency management...

Report Details Drug Dispensing in California Workers’ Comp

Oct 3 2016 // California’s Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau has issued a report that shows the share of drug payments made directly to dispensing physicians compared with pharmacies fell by 20 percent over three...

California School Creates Degree for Self-Driving Car Engineers

Oct 3 2016 // Auto and tech companies are in a race to get self-driving cars to the public, but as with many cutting-edge technologies, there aren’t enough trained engineers to meet the demand for talent. So Mountain View,...

California Governor Approves Public Adjuster Reform Bill

Sep 30 2016 // California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill that establishes fair practices standards for public insurance adjusters and enhances consumer protections. Senate Bill 488, authored by state Sen. Marty Block, D-San Diego,...

Insurer Groups’ Supported Bills Signed into law by California Governor

Sep 29 2016 // Two insurance groups praised California Gov. Jerry Brown over his signing on various insurance-related legislation. Brown recently approved legislation co-sponsored by the Association of California Insurance Companies to...

Topa Names Provencher Senior Vice President in Claims in California

Sep 28 2016 // Topa Insurance Group has named Judith Provencher senior vice president in claims in its Calabasas, Calif. office. Provencher Oversees all claims operations within the Topa group, including Topa Insurance Co., a California...

USGS: Quake Swarm Jostled Part of Southern California

Sep 28 2016 // A series of minor earthquakes rattled a rural area of Southern California near the U.S.-Mexico border this week, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. No injuries or damage were reported after more than 35 temblors struck...

California Earthquake Authority Sees Surge in New Policies

Sep 27 2016 // The California Earthquake Authority has seen a significant increase in the purchase of CEA policies so far in 2016, according to its top executive. CEA now has more than 908,000 policies in force, an increase of roughly...

Stone Creek Names Brooks Assistant Commercial Account Manager in California

Sep 27 2016 // Stone Creek Insurance Agency has named Sinead Brooks an assistant commercial account manager in its Lafayette, Calif. headquarters. Brooks has three years of experience and specializes in the niche of construction, but...

California Rural Communities Evacuated in Wake of Heat-driven Wildfire

Sep 27 2016 // More evacuations were ordered Tuesday as a growing wildfire threatened remote communities in California’s Santa Cruz Mountains. The blaze in a rugged area 30 miles south of San Jose destroyed one home and charred...

USGS: Moderate Quakes Off Oregon, California Coasts

Sep 27 2016 // Scientists say two moderate earthquakes occurred off the Oregon and California coasts late Saturday and early Sunday but neither triggered a tsunami warning. The U.S. Geological Survey says a 5.0 earthquake occurred in the...

Could Trouble with Comp Products from Berkshire Affiliates Land in Brokers’ Laps?

Sep 26 2016 // Insurance brokers who sold allegedly illegal workers’ compensation products from Berkshire Hathaway affiliates involved in legal and regulatory troubles in New York and California could end up being strapped with...