Latest California Headlines

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

Biancardi Named President and CEO of Strongwood in California

Oct 26 2012 // George Biancardi, previously president of Strongwood Distribution, has been named president and chief executive officer of Monterey, Calif.-based Strongwood Insurance Holdings. Biancardi will be responsible for leading...

Former Southern California Auto Club Agent Sues Insurer for ‘Illegal Practice’

Oct 25 2012 // A former insurance agent has filed a class action lawsuit in Southern California against Auto Club over what she alleges is an “illegal commission scheme” that penalizes agents who sell policies to people who...

$450K For Fired Southern California Worker Who Tattled On Cocaine Use

Oct 25 2012 // A Hollywood visual effects specialist fired for reporting on-the-job cocaine use is getting at least $450,000 for wrongful termination. A Los Angeles jury deliberated much of the day Tuesday before returning the verdict in...

California Commissioner Considering ‘Force-placed’ Regulations

Oct 24 2012 // A meeting slated for Thursday called for by California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones to deal with “force-placed” insurance has cast the dye for debate on whether such insurance should be filed in the...

Story: Cruise Sues Magazine in California Court for $50M

Oct 24 2012 // Actor Tom Cruise has filed a lawsuit in a California court against the publisher of Life & Style magazine over a story that suggested he abandoned his daughter, Suri, according to an article on Wednesday in...

$42.7M Rate Reduction for California Policyholders of ‘Force-Placed’ Insurer

Oct 23 2012 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones announced a 30.5 percent rate reduction, for “lender-placed” homeowners’ insurance coverage offered by American Security Insurance Co., an Assurant Inc.-owned...

AIG Settles, Will Pay California Life Beneficiaries $25-$30M

Oct 22 2012 // AIG Insurance Co. will pay an estimated $25 to $30 million owed to California beneficiaries of life insurance policies, and an $11 million settlement payment. California Controller John Chiang began auditing AIG’s...

California Groups Sue EPA Over Vehicle Fees For Smog

Oct 22 2012 // California environmental groups have filed a lawsuit protesting a decision to combat San Joaquin Valley smog by increasing automobile registration fees instead of fining industrial polluters. The lawsuit filed Friday in...

Leavitt Group Names Milazzo in Northern California

Oct 22 2012 // The Leavitt Group’s Bay Area office named Trisha Milazzo as a consultant in the employee benefits division. Milazzo has more than 10 years’ experience in the employee benefits field, with expertise in human...

Calif. Rating Bureau Drops Workers’ Comp Advisory Rates

Oct 22 2012 // After a review of a workers’ compensation overhaul bill signed in September by Gov. Jerry Brown, the Workers’ Compensation Rating Bureau submitted a filing in early October to lower the pure premium advisory...

California Legislature not Hesitant to Act on Insurance Issues

Oct 22 2012 // Dysfunctional. Inefficient, Ineffective. Slow. Partisan. Irrelevant. These are terms that regularly appear on editorial pages and political blogs to describe the California Legislature. It is true that when the Legislature...

Report: Calif. Workers’ Comp Impacted by Recession, Reform, Medical

Oct 22 2012 // By Don Jergler A report out this month from the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute rates California’s workers’ comp system against 15 other states, and the report details several key improvements to...

Father and Daughter in Central Calif. Workers’ Comp Fraud Must Repay Over $600K

Oct 22 2012 // Jerry Buffington, 69, and Cynthia Russell, 47, pled guilty in Kern County Superior Court to one count each of workers’ compensation insurance premium fraud and eight counts each of tax evasion and were ordered to pay...

Calif. State Fund Board: Drop Rates 7%

Oct 22 2012 // California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund’s board has voted for a 7 percent decrease in its 2013 rates, a move that reflects State Fund’s anticipated savings from a workers’ compensation reform...

EPIC Names Dunn VP of Workers’ Comp Claims in Central California

Oct 19 2012 // Edgewood Partners Insurance Center named Joe Dunn vice president of workers’ compensation claims in its Fresno, Calif. office. Dunn will be responsible for workers’ comp claims advocacy, and he will work with...

California City Seeks to Cut Asthma Rate via ‘Social Impact’ Bond Issue

Oct 19 2012 // The city of Fresno, Calif., will be the first municipality in the United States to see whether “social impact bonds,” an innovative security that promotes a societal benefit, can be used to tackle a major...

‘Big One’ Looms in Minds of Experts Before California ShakeOut

Oct 18 2012 // A day before more than 9 million people in California took part in a massive nationwide earthquake drill on Thursday, U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones stood in a room full of risk professionals in the San...

Conservation Groups Sue California Agency Over Fracking

Oct 18 2012 // Conservation groups are suing California’s oil and gas drilling regulators over hydraulic fracturing, charging officials with failing to properly study the practice’s environmental impacts. The lawsuit filed...

California Regulators Probe CVS Drug Refills Policy

Oct 18 2012 // California regulators are investigating reports that CVS Caremark Corp. refilled prescriptions without patient consent, or insurance approval. The Los Angeles Times reported customers in California and other states...

SullivanCurtisMonroe Adds Warren in Southern California

Oct 18 2012 // SullivanCurtisMonroe named Christopher Warren as a property casualty consultant in its Irvine, Calif. office. Warren joins SCM from Georgetown Insurance Service Inc., where he was a business development associate. He has...