Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Bill to Create ‘Framework for Damages’ Passes Calif. Senate
May 31 2012 // A bill its author says will provide a framework to measure damages when a plaintiff suffers injuries that passed the California Senate floor is being called by its detractors a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”...
Bill Addressing Spinal Surgery Devices Passes California Senate
May 30 2012 // A bill aimed at ending double payments for spinal surgery devices passed state Senate resoundingly on Wednesday and is now on its way to Assembly. Senate Bill 959 will save taxpayers tens of millions of dollars per year,...
Ex-Calif. Cop Gets $450K To Settle Reprisal Suit
May 30 2012 // A former Los Angeles County police officer will receive $450,000 to settle a lawsuit he filed against the Glendale Police Department, alleging he suffered retaliation after raising concerns over giving helicopter rides to...
How States Rank in Injury Prevention
May 24 2012 // On a set of 10 steps states can take to prevent injuries , 24 states scored a five or lower. Two states, California and New York, received the highest score of nine out of a possible 10, while two states scored the lowest,...
Study: Drug Testing Driving Calif. Workers’ Comp Costs
May 23 2012 // It’s no surprise that pharmaceuticals are one of the leading drivers of workers’ compensation costs in California, but a study issued on Wednesday shows the skyrocketing cost of drug testing is taking a spot as...
‘Key Figure’ in Organized Auto Insurance Fraud Ring Nabbed
May 22 2012 // Teddy Marks, 41, of Morgan Hill, Calif., who the California Department of Insurance is calling a “key figure” in an organized auto insurance fraud ring, has been arrested on two felony counts of insurance fraud...
Southern California Industrial Fire Causes $2.5 Million Damage
May 22 2012 // A fire at a 10-acre industrial area in San Bernardino County has caused an estimated $2.5 million in damage. Authorities say the fire erupted Saturday evening in a Fontana yard stacked with thousands of wooden pallets....
California Woman Gets Life For Murder Of Millionaire Lover
May 21 2012 // A Southern California woman has been sentenced to life in prison without parole in the shooting death of her millionaire live-in boyfriend. Nanette Ann Packard was sentenced Friday in Orange County Superior Court for the...
Medical Messing up the Mix in California Workers’ Comp
May 21 2012 // If you hunt for answers among California’s myriad experts and those with informed opinions on workers’ compensation and ask them to name the biggest problem with the system, a majority will cite the rising...
$20M-Plus Crop Damage When Storm Shreds Central California Orchards
May 21 2012 // A fierce spring storm that shredded Central California orchards last month caused more than $20 million damage in Kings County. Other San Joaquin Valley counties are still tallying the damage to crops when quarter-sized...
The Health Workers’ Compensation
May 21 2012 // Injured But Still Standing Like the economy, the workers’ compensation market has suffered in recent years. Results for 2011 were no better than 2010. The good news: results for the market were not worse either. The...
Family Sues California Mortuary Over Switched Bodies
May 18 2012 // A family is suing a mortuary over a body switch that resulted in a grandmother being buried in another woman’s clothes in a California cemetery instead of an above-ground crypt in Nicaragua. The lawsuit filed...
Crop Damage in Central California From Storm Tops $79M
May 18 2012 // San Joaquin Valley’s crop damage estimate from a hail storm last month has reached more than $79 million. The Fresno Bee reports that Kings County, among the hardest hit areas of the region, recently increased its...
SullivanCurtisMonroe Adds Kraatz as EVP in Southern California
May 18 2012 // Irvine, Calif.-based SullivanCurtisMonroe named Shawn Kraatz as executive vice president in its Irvine office. His primary responsibilities at SCM will include commercial sales management and marketplace leadership. Kraatz...
Safety Inspections Don’t Hurt Businesses; Do Lower Workers’ Comp Costs: Study
May 17 2012 // Random inspections of U.S. industrial workplaces lower the risk of workers being injured on the job and have no measurable negative effect on the companies inspected, according to a study in the journal Science. Companies...
California Legislator Calls for Hearing on Intervenor Fees
May 17 2012 // State Sen. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, has become the latest person to question intervenor fees, calling on the California Department of Insurance to review a state program that allows consumer groups to intervene in...
Woof! California Top Dog In Bites
May 16 2012 // California is the top dog in State Farm’s annual list of dog bite claims, and the state’s reported 527 dog bite claims and more than $20 million paid out in 2011 by the Bloomington, Ill.-based carrier...
Jones: Low Cost Auto Insurance Decrease Up To 9% Across California
May 16 2012 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones announced that beginning May 15 the cost of an annual premium for the California Low Cost Automobile Insurance Program has decreased up to 9 percent across California’s 58...
Activists’ Study Doubts Safety at California Nuke Plant
May 16 2012 // A report commissioned by an environmental group warned Tuesday that running California’s San Onofre nuclear plant at reduced power would not resolve problems with badly worn tubing that have kept its twin reactors...
Golden Eagle Names Wallick Regional Vice President for Mid-California
May 15 2012 // San Diego, Calif.-based Golden Eagle Insurance, a Liberty Mutual Agency Corp. regional company, named Peter F. Wallick to Regional Vice President for the company’s mid-California region. Wallick will be responsible...
