Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Wildfires Likely to Boost California Surplus Lines Homeowners Share; FAIR Plan Expansion Questioned
Nov 22 2019 // Premium volume from homeowners polices written by California’s surplus lines industry, although still small, has doubled over the past four years, seemingly pushed by an increase in wildfires in the state. Some...
Video Shows Lyft Driver Dragging Woman from Car in California
Nov 22 2019 // Los Angeles police say they’ve cited a Lyft driver for misdemeanor battery after video showed him dragging a passenger out of a car. Alessandra Ward says she suffered a black eye, bruises and a possible concussion...
PG&E Cuts Power to 50K California Homes And Businesses During Wildfire Risk
Nov 21 2019 // About 50,000 homes and businesses across Northern California were without power on Wednesday during the latest planned outage instituted by utility Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to guard against risk of wildfire during...
Lawsuit Alleges Uber ‘Cheats’ Public by Avoiding Worker Insurance Payments, Taxes
Nov 21 2019 // Uber Technologies Inc. faces a new legal attack on its refusal to treat drivers as employees that depicts the company as mistreating not just them but the public at large. A lawyer who’s been fighting the...
The Doctors Co. in California Names Vanderlaan Chief Financial Officer
Nov 21 2019 // The Doctors Co. has promoted Marco Vanderlaan to chief financial officer and chief risk officer. Vanderlaan succeeds David Preimesberger, who assumes new roles as senior vice president for strategic planning and chief...
Report on California Workers’ Comp Shows Steady Independent Medical Review Activity
Nov 20 2019 // More than 15,400 independent medical reviews a month are issued in California’s worker’s compensation system, according to a new report from the Department of Industrial Relations. The DIR this week issued a...
California Commissioner Issues Emergency Notice to Expedite Wildfire Claims
Nov 20 2019 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Wednesday issued an emergency notice to all property/casualty insurers doing business in California requesting they expedite claims handling for wildfire survivors to help...
Insurtech Vouch Raises $45M, Announces Launch in California
Nov 20 2019 // Vouch Insurance this week announced a $45 million Series B investment round led by Y Combinator Continuity. Vouch also announced its launch in California, which the firm said represents 50 percent of the business insurance...
California Sues E-Cigarette Seller Juul for Targeting Teens with Nicotine Products
Nov 19 2019 // The state of California on Monday sued e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc., alleging the San Francisco company engaged in a “systematic” and “wildly successful” campaign to attract teenagers to its...
Insurer Market Conduct Troubles Often Traced to Claims Handling Errors
Nov 19 2019 // Mistakes by claims professionals were the most common reason for enforcement actions taken against U.S. property and casualty insurers in 2018, taking the No. 1 and No. 2 spot on a top 10 list issued by the Wolters Kluwer...
California’s Fair Plan Balks at State’s ‘Misguided’ Order to Expand Coverage
Nov 18 2019 // The insurers behind California’s Fair Plan, the insurance market of last resort for homeowners, think it’s a bad idea to broaden the coverages available from the Fair Plan beyond basic dwelling fire insurance,...
PG&E Warns of Possible Northern California Blackouts at Mid-Week
Nov 18 2019 // PG&E Corp. is warning a quarter-million homes and businesses could lose power in northern California starting Wednesday as high winds return to the region. A fire weather watch has been issued by the National Weather...
Boosting Resilience to U.S. Wildfires Should Be Insurance Industry Priority: I.I.I.
Nov 18 2019 // Nearly a year after the deadliest and costliest wildfire in U.S. history, insurers and the customers they cover are revisiting how to reduce their collective exposure to this risk, according to the Insurance Information...
Business Moves
Nov 18 2019 // East Brown & Brown of Massachusetts, Yozell Brown & Brown of Massachusetts LLC has acquired substantially all of the assets of Yozell. Founded in 1960 by Peter Yozell, Yozell Associates strives to provide its...
California Cannabis Group Asking for Tighter Vaping-Safety Rules
Nov 18 2019 // An alliance of major legal marijuana businesses in California urged the state in early November to adopt tougher safety rules for ingredients and devices used in vaping and get tougher with illegal shops, amid an outbreak...
California School District Paying $28M After Boy Hit by Car
Nov 18 2019 // A Southern California school district will pay $28.5 million in damages after a boy with special needs was hit by a car and severely injured while under the supervision of school personnel, attorneys said. A judge...
Beer Dissing California Utility PG&E Brewing Backlash
Nov 15 2019 // Anger over devastating California wildfires sparked by Pacific Gas & Electric power lines is coming to a head – in a beer. And an outcry is brewing. Steve Doty, owner of Shady Oak brewery in Santa Rosa, announced a...
Hartford InsurTech Hub Welcomes Top Startups for 2020
Nov 15 2019 // Hartford InsurTech Hub, powered by Startupbootcamp, has announced its 2020 cohort of startups. The past two cohorts have consisted of ten startups, and with the help of the Hub’s partners, the accelerator program...
Wall Street Taking Closer Look at Climate Change Risks
Nov 15 2019 // In the wake of two years of devastating wildfires in California, Wall Street is incorporating a new risk metric when evaluating companies: climate resiliency. Investors, analysts, research firms and companies are putting...
California Insurance Commissioner OKs Workers’ Comp Pure Premium Reduction
Nov 14 2019 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has adopted and issued a revised average advisory pure premium rate, lowering the benchmark to $1.52 per $100 of payroll for workers’ compensation insurance, effective...
