Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Transgender Man Can Sue Catholic Hospital Over Hysterectomy
Sep 20 2019 // A California transgender man can go ahead with a discrimination lawsuit against a Catholic hospital that canceled his hysterectomy, an appeals court ruled Tuesday. The decision by the 1st District Court of Appeal in San...
California Now Looking for Ways to Preserve Environmental Clout
Sep 20 2019 // The Trump administration’s decision to stop California from setting its own emission standards for cars and trucks would undermine the state’s ability to convince the world’s largest automakers that they...
Re/insurers Rethink Climate Change Risks as Losses Grow from Wildfires, Floods, Hail
Sep 20 2019 // By the time David Kaisel got back from selling his flour at a farmers’ market, a wildfire in California’s Capay Valley had burnt both his tractor and the shipping container where he kept some tools. His insurer...
Consumer Watchdog: California Commissioner’s Calendar Suggests He Made Contact in ‘Pay to Play’
Sep 19 2019 // Calendar entries and documents show that California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, not his fundraiser, made first contact with an agent of a workers’ compensation insurance company offering political support in...
California Retailer to Pay $1.2M to Settle Sex-Assault Claims
Sep 19 2019 // A Northern California store as agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle claims that a supervisor sexually assaulted employees in a walk-in freezer. The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing announced a...
California Spending $20M on Campaign to Warn Public of Vaping Dangers
Sep 18 2019 // California will spend $20 million on a public awareness campaign about the dangers of vaping nicotine and cannabis products and step up efforts to halt the sale of illicit products amid a rise in vaping-related...
Cover in California Names Mercury’s Houlihan Chief Insurance Officer
Sep 18 2019 // Cover in San Francisco, Calif., has named Robert Houlihan chief insurance officer. He becomes part of the management team in the company’s U.S. headquarters. Houlihan has more than 20 years of industry experience. He...
PG&E Tells Fire Safety Critics Utility is Going Beyond Call of Duty
Sep 18 2019 // PG&E Corp. sought to assure a judge it’s making progress on fire prevention, saying it’s exceeding regulatory requirements to clear vegetation from power lines. Kevin Orsini, a lawyer for the utility, on...
California Workers’ Comp 2020 Temporary Total Disability Rates to Rise
Sep 17 2019 // The California Division of Workers’ Compensation has announced that the 2020 minimum and maximum temporary total disability rates will increase on Jan. 1, 2020. The minimum TTD rate will increase from $187.71 to...
Liberty Company Insurance Brokers in California Names Lalsa Chief Financial Officer
Sep 17 2019 // The Liberty Company Insurance Brokers in Woodland Hills, Calif., has named Megvarran Lalsa chief financial officer. Megvarran has 20 years of experience in accounting and finance. Megvarran previously worked at Venbrook...
Gall Named CEO of Texas’ Tricolor Insurance
Sep 17 2019 // Archie Gall has been named CEO of Tricolor Insurance, an affiliate company of Dallas-based Tricolor, a used vehicle retailer focused on the Hispanic consumer market. Tricolor Insurance, a provider of insurance for subprime...
California Workers’ Comp Written Premium Falling, Report Shows
Sep 16 2019 // The Workers’ Compensation Bureau of California on Monday its latest quarterly report on insurer experience as of June 30. The WCIRB report shows written premium for 2018 is 4% below that for 2017 and 6% below that...
XPT Group Acquires Sierra Specialty in California
Sep 16 2019 // XPT Group LLC has acquired Sierra Specialty in Clovis, Calif. The deal closed on Sept. 13. Sierra Specialty will continue to operate under its brand name. Sierra Specialty is a managing general agency and wholesale...
Santa Ana Winds Return to California Bringing Wildfire Danger
Sep 16 2019 // The Santa Ana winds have returned to California, a signal to the state’s residents that the wildfire season has begun in earnest. The winds are created by high pressure over Nevada’s Great Basin as cool weather...
California Governor Says He’ll Veto So-Called Trump Insurance Bill
Sep 16 2019 // California Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to veto a bill approved by the Democrat-controlled legislature that sought to preserve federal environmental and worker safety standards in the face of any Trump administration...
Dive Boat Owners Seek to Head off Lawsuits After 34 Die in Fire off California Coast
Sep 16 2019 // The owners of the dive boat where 34 people perished in a fire off Southern California filed a lawsuit in early September to head off potentially costly litigation, a move condemned by some observers as disrespectful to...
Conference: California Workers’ Comp Should Embrace Innovation
Sep 16 2019 // The workers’ compensation market apparently needs to do some catching up where it concerns technology. “Historically we’ve been really slow to adapt to technology and innovation,” said Shaun...
People & Places
Sep 16 2019 // National Ralph Blust Insurance broker Aon has appointed Jay Demeusy as U.S. vice chairman of its Reinsurance Solutions business. Alongside his new role, Demeusy will continue to chair the newly formed Global Construction...
Arch Nemesis of Uber over Driver Pay Sues Before New California Law Inked
Sep 13 2019 // It didn’t take long for attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan to deploy a new weapon in her six-year war with Uber Technologies Inc. over driver pay. Within hours of Uber thumbing its nose at a pending California labor law...
Coast Guard Issues Safety Recommendations After California Dive Boat Fire
Sep 13 2019 // The Coast Guard announced it has issued new safety recommendations in the wake of a fatal boat fire off the Southern California coast that killed 34 people. The agency recommended limiting the unsupervised charging of...
