Latest California Headlines

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

Southern California Fires Burn Structures, Stop Oil Field Operations

Aug 18 2015 // Crews working through the night stopped the spread of two Los Angeles County fires in Southern California that burned several structures, charred hundreds of acres of dry brush and led to the arson arrest of one person. A...

Former California School District Admin to Get $300K Settlement

Aug 18 2015 // A former deputy superintendent for the Twin Rivers Unified School District in Northern California will receive $300,000, settling a lawsuit she filed against district officials after she was fired in 2012. The Sacramento...

California Insurance Company Oversight Law Signed

Aug 18 2015 // California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed Assembly Bill 553, which establishes new oversight aimed at reducing the number of insurance company insolvencies. AB 553 was authored by Assemblyman Tom Daly, D-Anaheim, and was...

Small Earthquake Jolts Northern California

Aug 18 2015 // A short sharp earthquake rattled California’s San Francisco Bay Area, but there are no reports of injuries. The U.S. Geological Survey said the 4.0 magnitude quake struck Monday and was centered just north of...

California Earthquake Authority Prepares to Go into ‘Hyperspace’

Aug 18 2015 // The California Earthquake Authority – the state’s quasi-public earthquake insurance pool – long has had a problem with take-up. Only about 10 percent of homeowners in this most seismically active state actually...

States Developing IRA Plans for Small Business Employees

Aug 18 2015 // For people working for a small business that doesn’t have a retirement plan, help is on the way. Roughly half of the U.S. states are working to create government-sponsored automatic individual retirement account...

Alliant in California Names Bennetsen to Lead Middle Market Division

Aug 17 2015 // Newport Beach, Calif.-based Alliant Insurance Services has named Robert Bennetsen to lead its Alliant Americas division as executive vice President and senior managing director. Bennetsen will spearhead Alliant’s...

California Law Agencies Get $34.9M to Fight Workers’ Comp Fraud

Aug 17 2015 // Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has awarded $34.9 million in grants to 37 district attorney offices representing 42 counties in California to combat workers’ compensation insurance fraud. The grants are funded...

Report: California Workers’ Comp Premiums Growing at Double-Digit Rates

Aug 17 2015 // Workers’ compensation premiums in California continue to grow at double-digit rates, according to the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau. The WCIRB in July released its “State of the California...

Court Decision May Impact Workers’ Comp Side Agreements in California

Aug 17 2015 // A recent court decision may have the potential to change the practice of side agreements in workers’ compensation policies California, a practice that some say often goes on under the regulatory radar. Zurich...

California Court Hands Down $55M in Decision Against Three AIG Companies

Aug 17 2015 // An Alameda County, Calif., jury has awarded Pennsylvania-based Victaulic Co., $55.3 in damages against three AIG companies. The trial in Victaulic Co. v. American Home Assurance Co. et al., in Alameda County Superior Court...

6 Sentenced in Large Cellphone Insurance Scam in California

Aug 17 2015 // Six people involved in a mobile phone insurance scam in California have been sentenced on felony fraud charges after filing more than 1,300 claims for stolen and damaged phones totaling more than $500,000. The convicted...

California, Pacific Northwest Schools Get $4M for Earthquake Early Warning Systems

Aug 17 2015 // The U.S. Geological Survey has awarded $4 million to four universities in the Pacific Northwest and California to boost the development of earthquake early warning systems. The University of Washington, the University of...

Tuna Company’s Ex-Safety Manager Guilty in California Worker Oven Death

Aug 14 2015 // A former safety manager at a Bumble Bee Foods seafood plant in California has pleaded guilty in the death of a worker who was cooked with tons of tuna. Saul Florez was sentenced to probation and fined $5,000 after pleading...

DMV Agrees to California Brokers Group’s Revisions

Aug 14 2015 // The California Department of Motor Vehicles has agreed to make major revisions proposed by the Independent Agents & Brokers of California to its commercial requester agreement that will permit agents and brokers to...

U.S. Forecaster Sees El Nino Likely to Last into Spring in No. Hemisphere

Aug 14 2015 // A U.S. government weather forecaster on Thursday raised the likelihood that El Nino conditions would last into the Northern Hemisphere’s early spring to 85 percent, boosting the probability that drought-stricken...

Former Insurance Regulator Bottalico Joins Locke Lord in California

Aug 13 2015 // Alfred W. Bottalico, former deputy commissioner for the financial surveillance branch of the California Department of Insurance, has joined Locke Lord LLP’s global regulatory and transactional insurance practice...

California Mural’s Destruction Prompts Artist to Sue Business Owners

Aug 12 2015 // An Oakland, Calif. artist who painted a 98-foot-long mural depicting Lake Merritt on the side of an auto dealership nearly 30 years ago is suing the current and past operators of the building. The Oakland Tribune reported...

Evacuations Ordered in Southern California Wildfire

Aug 11 2015 // A wildfire in rural Riverside County, Calif. has surged to about 500 acres, forcing evacuations and leaving one person burned and three firefighters with minor injuries. The blaze off State Route 74 near Anza started as a...

California Wildfire That Erupted Near Massive Blaze Expands

Aug 11 2015 // A wildfire that erupted near a destructive blaze in Northern California’s rural, rocky hills expanded farther. The blaze had burned 9 square miles by Monday afternoon, the California Department of Forestry and Fire...