The top stories for Insurance Journal’s Western region in 2020 were patently obvious to anyone who reads the news, namely coverage of COVID-19, and stories on the massive Western U.S. wildfires.
However, other subjects made their way onto the list of the most read stories in the West, including the tragic helicopter crash that took the lives of several people, including former LA Lakers star Kobe Bryant and his daughter, and stories involving the intersection of cannabis and insurance.
COVID
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara in April ordered insurance companies to return insurance premiums to consumers and businesses and provide financial relief during the COVID-19 emergency. The bulletin covered premiums paid for at least the months of March and April in at least six different insurance lines: private passenger automobile, commercial automobile; workers’ compensation; commercial multi-peril; commercial liability; medical malpractice; and any other insurance line where the risk of loss has fallen substantially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Other top COVID stories included:
California Governor Announces Workers’ Comp Presumption for COVID-19
Workers’ Comp May Need Backstop as Presumptions Push Claim Costs into Billions
California Workers’ Comp Bureau Chief Addresses COVID’s Impact on System
Washington State Issues Workplace Mask Guidance
Another Specialty Broker Begins Selling Pandemic Insurance Coverage
Wildfires
Wildfires were a big part of Insurance Journal’s coverage in 2020, with record numbers fires and acerage burned across the region.
California’s insurance commissioner in October pledged to step up efforts to protect the state’s residents from wildfires and address a pullback of private insurers from the state’s riskiest areas. Lara convened a “virtual investigatory hearing” to initiate a series of regulatory actions that will protect residents from the increasing risk of wildfires.
Other big wildfire stories included:
Explained: How California’s Wildfires Could Spark a Financial Crisis
Western Wildfires Taint Vineyards With Taste Of Smoke
California Issues Moratorium on Insurers Non-renewing or Cancelling Following Wildfires
Many Californians Being Left Without Homeowners Insurance Due to Wildfire Risk
Kobe
Family members of four passengers killed in the helicopter crash with Bryant and his daughter joined the NBA star’s widow in filing wrongful death lawsuits against the companies that owned and operated the aircraft. The suits on behalf of three members of one family, and a woman who helped coach Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter in basketball, were filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Other important stories related to the Bryant tragedy included:
Kobe Bryant Copter Company Had 2 Other Fatal Crashes in 35 Years
Kobe Bryant Helicopter Had Nearly Cleared Blinding Clouds in California Crash
New California Law Comes From Crash That Killed Kobe Bryant
National Safety Board Urges Helicopter Manufacturers to Add Crash-Data Recorders
Cannabis
Cannabis was big in the West.
A big and long-awaited boost for cannabis – and those who offer financial products to cannabis businesses – in Congress would help usher the industry through the pandemic-ridden economic slump, and could have possibly had an impact akin to putting the sector on steroids.
The leadership of the U.S. House included wording from the SAFE Banking Act in the latest proposed coronavirus economic relief package. Alas, the act didn’t pass, but there’s hope in the coming year for other legislation that could boost the industry.
Other top cannabis stories included:
California Residents Sue Nearby Cannabis Growers Over Smell
Cannabis Deemed an ‘Essential’ Business. Will Insurance Landscape Change?
The Perilous Cannabis, Cyber, COVID-19 Connection
Cannabis Cultivation Market Expanding, But Insurance Might be a Headwind
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