Latest California Headlines

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

Toyota Has Issues with California’s Plans for Self-Driving Safety Check List

Oct 12 2016 // A Toyota Motor Corp. official is raising concerns about California’s plans to require compliance with a planned U.S. autonomous vehicle safety check list, calling it “preposterous.” Hilary Cain, director...

EPIC Adds Newton to Auto Dealer Specialty Program in California

Oct 11 2016 // EPIC Insurance Brokers and Consultants has named Gerrad Newton a producer within its auto dealer specialty program team in Sacramento, Calif. Newton will be focused on workers’ compensation and garage liability for...

Heffernan in California Names Taylor Assistant Vice President

Oct 11 2016 // Walnut Creek, Calif.-based Heffernan Insurance Brokers has named James Taylor assistant vice president in Heffernan’s benefits advisory services department. Taylor joined Heffernan in 2014 as an account executive...

Legalizing Recreational Marijuana Once Again in Front of California Voters

Oct 10 2016 // For the second time in six years, California voters will consider legalizing recreational use of marijuana. This time, supporters of the move have much more financial backing and professional campaign help than they did in...

Why Claims Under Americans with Disabilities Act Are Rising

Oct 7 2016 // Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title III lawsuits are up 63 percent over 2015, according to law firm Seyfarth Shaw. ADA Title III prohibits businesses open to the public from discriminating on the basis of...

California Comp Report Shows High IE and OC Medical and Indemnity Payments

Oct 6 2016 // Average medical and indemnity payments on claims were much higher in San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange and Imperial counties than the rest of the state, according to the latest Regional Score Card issued by the California...

CAL Insurance in California Names Jacobs Assistant Vice President

Oct 6 2016 // San Francisco, Calif.-based CAL Insurance & Associates Inc. has named Stafford Jacobs III assistant vice president, and property/casualty insurance advisor. Jacobs has nearly 20 years of experience. He previously was a...

Lien Consolidation Court, Fraud Part of Focus at California Comp Conference

Oct 5 2016 // The state’s top two labor officials were understandably high on the impact they expect two bills recently signed by Gov. Jerry Brown will have on California’s workers’ comp system and bad actors who have...

RIC in California Taps Clansen and Kaneko for Senior Vice President Roles

Oct 4 2016 // Santa Rosa, Calif.-based RIC Insurance General Agency has named Tom Clansen senior vice president the firm’s commercial lines brokerage and underwriting division, and Garett Kaneko senior vice president of the sales...

Hub Acquires California-Based Sweet & Baker Insurance Brokers

Oct 4 2016 // Hub International Ltd. has acquired San Francisco, Calif.-based Sweet & Baker Insurance Brokers Inc. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Bruce Callander, president of Sweet & Baker, will join Hub California and...

California Workers’ Comp Board Submits Amended Rate Filing to Department of Insurance

Oct 4 2016 // The WCIRB has submitted a pure premium rate filing to the California Department of Insurance proposing Jan. 1, 2017 advisory pure premium rates lower than the corresponding industry average and less than the average...

Former Women’s Coach at California University Awarded $3.35M

Oct 4 2016 // A jury has awarded $3.35 million to Beth Burns, the former women’s basketball coach for San Diego State who claimed she was fired for being a whistleblower. Burns prevailed in a suit that claimed she was wrongfully...

Berkshire’s Applied Underwriters Defends Workers’ Comp Products, Says Brokers Should Not Be at Risk

Oct 3 2016 // Legal and regulatory squabbles in New York, California and other states involving Berkshire Hathaway and its Applied Underwriter affiliates over particular workers’ compensation products should not have any negative...

Temblor Alert on for Southern California through Tuesday

Oct 3 2016 // Southern California residents should remain on heightened alert until Tuesday for the increased possibility of a major earthquake, officials said. The warning by the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services follows a...

California Governor Approves Early Earthquake Warning System

Oct 3 2016 // Californians will begin getting warnings of impending earthquakes through their cellphones, radios and other devices within the next year or two as the state ramps up a lifesaving early warning system, emergency management...

Report Details Drug Dispensing in California Workers’ Comp

Oct 3 2016 // California’s Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau has issued a report that shows the share of drug payments made directly to dispensing physicians compared with pharmacies fell by 20 percent over three...

California School Creates Degree for Self-Driving Car Engineers

Oct 3 2016 // Auto and tech companies are in a race to get self-driving cars to the public, but as with many cutting-edge technologies, there aren’t enough trained engineers to meet the demand for talent. So Mountain View,...

California Governor Approves Public Adjuster Reform Bill

Sep 30 2016 // California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill that establishes fair practices standards for public insurance adjusters and enhances consumer protections. Senate Bill 488, authored by state Sen. Marty Block, D-San Diego,...

Insurer Groups’ Supported Bills Signed into law by California Governor

Sep 29 2016 // Two insurance groups praised California Gov. Jerry Brown over his signing on various insurance-related legislation. Brown recently approved legislation co-sponsored by the Association of California Insurance Companies to...

Topa Names Provencher Senior Vice President in Claims in California

Sep 28 2016 // Topa Insurance Group has named Judith Provencher senior vice president in claims in its Calabasas, Calif. office. Provencher Oversees all claims operations within the Topa group, including Topa Insurance Co., a California...