Latest California Headlines

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

Fleet of Self-Driving Uber Cars Gets Warm Welcome from Arizona Governor

Dec 27 2016 // Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is happy about the arrival of a fleet of Uber self-driving cars delivered via a self-driving truck that transported them from California. Ducey’s office says the governor welcomed the truck...

Young Victim’s Family Brings First Suit in Deadly California Fire

Dec 27 2016 // The parents of a 20-year-old college student who died in the arms of her boyfriend in Oakland’s deadly warehouse fire filed the first lawsuit Friday in the disaster, blaming the building’s owner, chief tenant...

South Central Regulation Report Card: Texas’ Grade Rises, Arkansas’ Drops

Dec 22 2016 // No South Central state had the best score and none had the worst in a report recently released by a conservative-leaning research organization that annually assesses the effectiveness states’ insurance regulatory...

Midwest Regulation Report Card: States’ Grades Range from A to D

Dec 22 2016 // Grades assigned to the insurance regulatory systems in the Midwest states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin range from A to D in a...

West Regulation Report Card: California Most Politicized State

Dec 22 2016 // A report gives California’s insurance regulatory environment low marks for auto body repair rules, the insurance commissioner’s call for insurers to divest from coal, its prior approval law and being the...

Uber Capitulates, Takes Self-driving Cars off Streets of San Francisco

Dec 22 2016 // Uber Technologies Inc has removed its self-driving cars from San Francisco streets after California regulators cracked down on the week-old program because the company had not obtained a permit to test the vehicles. The...

Google Confidentiality Agreement Is Unlawful, Claims Employee in Lawsuit

Dec 22 2016 // A Google Inc. product manager has sued the company, accusing it of unlawfully prohibiting employees from sharing concerns with coworkers, shareholders or the press, and maintaining a “spying program” to prevent...

USI Names Lang Commercial Insurance Leader in Southern California

Dec 21 2016 // USI has named Jeff Lang practice leader for the Southern California commercial insurance division. Lang is based in USI’s Woodland Hills regional office. He will focus on growth strategies, client service and...

California Attorney General Sues Feds in Offshore Fracking Challenge

Dec 21 2016 // Attorney General Kamala Harris and the California Coastal Commission has filed a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s recent finding that fracking off the state’s coast has no significant environmental...

VW Claims Costs in U.S. for Emissions Scam Top $17 Billion with More to Come

Dec 21 2016 // Volkswagen AG has agreed to a $1 billion settlement to fix or buy back another 80,000 polluting diesel vehicles sold in the United States as the German automaker on Tuesday took new steps to put its emissions cheating...

Arthur J. Gallagher Acquires National Ethics Bureau in California

Dec 20 2016 // Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired National Ethics Bureau Inc. in Carlsbad, Calif. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Japheth Smellie and his team will continue to operate from their Southern California location...

Guidewire to Acquire Insurance Cloud Software Firm ISCS for $160 Million

Dec 19 2016 // Guidewire Software, which serves property/casualty insurers, has agreed to acquire another insurance software firm, San Jose, California-based ISCS, for $160 million in cash. The deal gives Guidewire entry into the small...

Study: Cumulative Trauma Claims in California Comp Affected by Attorneys

Dec 19 2016 // A new study on California’s workers’ compensation system finds a “strong association” between attorney involvement and the high cost of cumulative trauma claims. The California Workers’...

California Attorney General Warns Uber over Self-Driving Cars

Dec 19 2016 // California Attorney General Kamala Harris has told Uber Technologies Inc. to pull its self-driving cars from San Francisco’s streets or it will seek a court order forcing it do so, saying the ride-hailing company...

Florida Ruling Against Insurer in Concurrent Loss Case ‘Not a Surprise’

Dec 19 2016 // The Florida Supreme Court has ruled in favor of policyholders seeking coverage on claims where there is the possibility of multiple concurrent losses but at least one of the losses is covered under their policy. Though the...

California Commissioner Issues Auto Collision Repair Regulations

Dec 19 2016 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones issued new Auto Collision Repair Labor Rate Survey Regulations in early December that he said will increase consumer protections when a damaged vehicle is repaired. The...

The California Earthquake Authority 20 Years Later

Dec 19 2016 // It was 20 years ago this month that insurers began selling California Earthquake Authority policies — two years off of a hard lesson learned by the state’s residents and its insurance market. But 20 years later...

California High Court Rules Firms Must Protect Households From Asbestos

Dec 19 2016 // The California Supreme Court says companies can be held liable for exposing members of a worker’s household to asbestos. The court ruled unanimously earlier this month that companies have a responsibility to prevent...

California Worker Fatalities up in 2015, Report Shows

Dec 16 2016 // There were more workplace fatalities in California in 2015 compared with the prior year, but worker deaths are below the average rate of fatalities prior to the recession, according to a California Department of Industrial...

California Workers’ Comp Division Files Medical Fee Schedule Amendment

Dec 16 2016 // California’s Division of Workers’ Compensation has adopted and filed an amendment to the official medical fee schedule hospital outpatient departments and ambulatory surgical centers section with the Secretary...