Latest California Headlines

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

Three California Men File Suits After E-Cigarette Batteries Explode

Dec 7 2015 // Three California men have filed lawsuits against manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers of electronic cigarettes, claiming the products’ batteries exploded, causing severe injuries. The three men, one of whom is a...

California Worker Injury Rate Lowest in 13 Years

Dec 7 2015 // The California Department of Industrial Relation’s 2014 occupational injury and illness data shows that the incidence of occupational injuries remained at its lowest level in 13 years. The Survey of Occupational...

Report: Workers’ Comp Reform Saving California’s System $770M Annually

Dec 7 2015 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau in mid-November released this year’s evaluation of California’s workers’ comp reform law. The WCIRB Cost Monitoring Report — 2015...

Kuckenbaker Joins Brokerage Team at SierraSpecialty in California

Dec 3 2015 // Patricia Kuckenbaker has been named a surplus lines broker with SierraSpecialty’s team in Clovis, Calif. Kuckenbaker will be operating throughout the Western U.S. Her specialty is brokering contractors and...

Smooth Sailing for Most California Workers’ Comp Cases, Drugs a Problem

Dec 2 2015 // More than eight-in-10 workers’ compensation cases in California were taken care of without a hitch, and an overwhelming majority of those cases sent to review were ultimately upheld, according to a new study...

California Improves by not Getting Worse

Dec 2 2015 // Sometimes, small victories are worthy of celebration. A qualified celebration of just that variety is in order at the California Department of Insurance headquarters in Sacramento to mark the relative improvement in the...

TLB in California Affiliates with Leavitt Group

Dec 2 2015 // Walnut Creek, Calif.-based TLB Insurance has affiliated with Leavitt United Insurance Services, of which TLB will now be a subsidiary. As a subsidiary of Leavitt United, TLB will continue to operate locally. TLB is a...

California Farm Recalls Produce Used in Costco’s E. Coli-linked Salad

Dec 1 2015 // A California farm is recalling a vegetable mix believed to be the source of E.coli in Costco chicken salad that has been linked to an outbreak that has sickened 19 people in seven states, the Food and Drug Administration...

Best, Worst States for Insurance Regulation

Dec 1 2015 // Vermont, Utah, Iowa, Virginia and Kentucky get an “A” and North Carolina an “F” in one think tank’s annual grading of states on how they regulate the property/casualty insurance industry. The...

Paul Walker’s Father Sues Porsche for Negligence in Fatal California Crash

Nov 30 2015 // Paul Walker’s father has sued Porsche for negligence and wrongful death over the 2013 accident that killed the “Fast & Furious” star. Walker’s father, who is the executor of his son’s...

5 Charged in $580M Southern California Scheme Involving Workers’ Comp

Nov 30 2015 // Five people, including a former hospital executive and two surgeons, are charged with a massive kickback scheme that resulted in billing $580 million to the government and insurance companies, authorities announced. Two...

Major Fault Near California Reactors Links to Second Crack

Nov 30 2015 // The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant and earthquake faults have been uneasy neighbors for decades. Even before the twin reactors produced a single watt of electricity, the plant had to be retrofitted after a submerged...

Marijuana Processing Draws Seasonal Workers to California

Nov 25 2015 // The annual march of migrant marijuana workers throughout California’s pot-rich North Coast is in full swing but, like the pot industry itself, reaction to the workers’ presence is mixed. Some residents say the...

Federal Transportation Officials Want Self-Driving Cars Sooner

Nov 25 2015 // Federal transportation officials are rethinking their position on self-driving cars with an eye toward getting the emerging technology into the public’s hands, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of...

Uber Drivers’ Class Action Raises Worker Classification, Arbitration, Liability Issues

Nov 24 2015 // Fifty seven and a half cents for every mile logged. That’s the latest demand from Uber Technologies Inc. drivers in California suing to be treated like employees. Whether the drivers can pursue pay for mileage on...

Google Compare for Mortgages Launched in California, Other States to Follow

Nov 23 2015 // Google has officially launched the newest addition to its suite of Google Compare products: mortgages. Google Compare for Mortgages was announced​ earlier this year, and is now being made available in California with...

Three California Men File Suits After E-Cigarette Batteries Explode

Nov 23 2015 // Three California men have filed lawsuits against manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers of electronic cigarettes, claiming the products’ batteries exploded, causing severe injuries. The Los Angeles Daily News...

California Worker Injury Rate Lowest in 13 Years

Nov 20 2015 // The California Department of Industrial Relations has posted the state’s 2014 occupational injury and illness data, which offers a look at employer-reported injuries involving days away from work. The data shows that...

Court Denies Uber’s Appeal of Class Action Filed by Aspiring Employees

Nov 20 2015 // A U.S. appeals court this week denied ride service Uber’s request to immediately appeal an order approving class certification in a lawsuit filed by drivers who wish to be deemed employees. The ruling, from the 9th...

States Graded ‘A’ to ‘F’ for Extreme Weather Preparedness

Nov 20 2015 // Many states across the country are unprepared to face the risks posed extreme heat, drought, wildfires, inland flooding, coastal flooding and other extreme weather events, according to a new report card. Only a small...