Articles by Amy Taxin and Elliot Spagat

Associated Press

California Immigrants May Flag Status to Get Driver’s License

To get the driver’s licenses they’ve long sought, immigrants living in California illegally will have to do something many have long resisted: publicly identify themselves. The driver’s license bill that the Legislature passed on its final day requires a distinction …

San Diego Utility Pays City $27 Million For Fires

An electric utility said Tuesday that it agreed to pay the city of San Diego, Calif. $27 million to settle claims over 2007 wildfires that devastated wide sections of the city. San Diego Gas & Electric Co.’s payment will reimburse …

Judge in California Oks Honda Mileage Settlement

A judge approved a settlement Friday to give owners of Honda Civic hybrids up to $200 each over claims that the fuel economy of the cars was inflated, casting aside arguments that a motorist’s victory in small claims court entitled …

5 States May Intervene in California Honda Small Claims Case

A judge last week granted California and four other states more time to consider objecting to a class-action settlement between Honda Motor Co. and car owners over inflated fuel-efficiency claims about the automaker’s hybrid vehicles. The states’ sudden interest in …

5 States May Intervene In Honda Hybrid Settlement

A judge on Tuesday granted California and four other states more time to consider objecting to a class-action settlement between Honda Motor Co. and car owners over inflated fuel-efficiency claims about the automaker’s hybrid vehicles. The states’ sudden interest in …

San Diego Voters Reject Fire Tax

Wildfires claimed more lives and homes in San Diego than any other county in California’s devastating firestorms of 2003 and 2007, yet voters in that county rejected a proposition that would have established a parcel tax to help fund a …

San Diego Voters Reject Fire Tax

Wildfires claimed more lives and homes in San Diego than any other county in California’s devastating firestorms of 2003 and 2007, yet voters in that county rejected a proposition that would have established a parcel tax to help fund a …

Marshall & Swift/Boeckh Urges Agents to Halt Use of Quick Quote

A software maker is urging insurance agencies to stop using a cost-calculator that critics say resulted in inadequate coverage for many people who lost their homes in the Southern California wildfires last fall. Marshall & Swift/Boeckh LLC said its Quick …

Wildfire Victims Question Industry’s Cost Calculator

Don Robinson says his Residence Mutual insurance policy pegged the cost of replacing his San Diego home at $233,000. After Southern California’s wildfires destroyed the 40-year-old biologist’s four-bedroom house last year, a contractor told him it would cost $460,000. Hundreds …