Latest California Headlines

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

California Insurance Wholesalers Association Honors Anderson

Feb 8 2011 // The California Insurance Wholesalers Association has honored David F. Anderson, chairman of Anderson & Murison, with its Wholesale Industry Award. Anderson was a founding president of CIWA from 1991 to 1993. He served...

Calif. Workers’ Comp Division Mourns Passing of Nevans

Feb 8 2011 // California’s Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC), a division within the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR), has sadly announced the passing of acting Administrative Director Carrie Nevans. She was...

Mercury Insurance Suffers $23.6M Net Loss

Feb 8 2011 // Due in part to claims from California rainstorms and Florida sinkholes, Los Angeles-based Mercury Insurance reported a fourth quarter net loss of $23.6 million, compared with net income of $34.2 million for the same period...

Calif. Recovers $63.8M in Insurance Investigations, Exams

Feb 7 2011 // The California Department of Insurance announced it has recovered $63.8 million for consumers through consumer complaint investigations and market conduct examinations of insurance companies in the past year. The...

Calif. Commissioner Seeks Insurance Rate Review Authority

Feb 7 2011 // Calif. Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has released draft guidance for Senate Bill 1163. The new law, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2011, requires health insurers to provide detailed information regarding proposed...

EPIC Launches National Public Entities Practice

Feb 3 2011 // California-based EPIC (Edgewood Partners Insurance Center), a retail property, casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage, has created a national Public Entites Practice and team to deliver property and casualty...

Calif. City May Give Red Light Camera Fines to Charity

Feb 2 2011 // A Southern California city may donate red light camera fines to local charities in an effort to convince skeptics that safety is the motive behind the cameras, not a money grab. A recent red light camera study by the...

George to Chair Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

Feb 1 2011 // AAA Northern California, Nevada and Utah announced that Steve George has been elected as the new chairman of the board of directors for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. George is the executive vice president of...

Liens Stress California Workers’ Comp System

Feb 1 2011 // Liens are “choking” California’s workers’ compensation system, with employers and insurers spending roughly $200 million per year on loss adjustment expense to handle medical liens claims, according...

California Insurers Oppose ‘Crash Tax’

Jan 25 2011 // An ordinance up for consideration at tonight’s Sacramento City Council meeting is bad news for local businesses and is unfair to consumers that shop, work or visit the City of Sacramento, according to the Association...

California To Enforce Health Insurer Spending Limits

Jan 25 2011 // California’s Office of Administrative Law (OAL) has approved state Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones’ request for an emergency regulation to give him the authority to enforce the 80 percent Medical Loss Ratio...

Association of California Insurance Companies Names Sektnan President

Jan 25 2011 // The Association of California Insurance Companies (ACIC) and Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCIAA) announced that Mark Sektnan has been promoted to ACIC president. Following a distinguished career in...

Calif. State Fund Appoints Chief Risk Officer, Chief Financial Officer

Jan 24 2011 // California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund as announced that Ken Van Laar was selected as the new chief risk officer, and Daniel J. Sevilla Jr., who has served in an interim role since October 2010, has been...

Allstate Phases Out Your Choice Auto Program in California

Jan 24 2011 // Allstate Insurance has agreed to stop selling its “Your Choice Auto” (YCA) insurance program in California, in response to a challenge brought by the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog. The insurer has stopped issuing...

Business Moves

Jan 24 2011 // Hub International Chicago-based Hub International Ltd. (Hub), an insurance brokerage firm, has announced several acquisitions. It has acquired the shares of Hall-Conway-Jackson Inc. and the assets of Cascade Insurance...

Calif. Workers’ Comp System Inadequate in Replacing Lost Earnings

Jan 24 2011 // Permanently disabled workers in California’s workers’ compensation system have historically faced poor return-to-work rates and high levels of lost earnings after a disabling injury, a new study has found. In...

Calif. Commissioner Jones to Enforce Medical Loss Ratio Rule

Jan 24 2011 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has signed an emergency order to enforce the medical loss ratio. The MLR rules require insurers to annually disclose the percentage of premium revenue spent on reimbursement for...

Declarations

Jan 24 2011 // 2011 Exposures “Exposures will continue the growth we saw in the second half of 2010 as the economy continues its recovery, implying increases in insurance premium volume. Still, the low interest rate climate, which...

Medicare Set Asides in Workers’ Compensation

Jan 24 2011 // What Agents & Brokers Need to Know One of the most important services a broker provides its customers is workers’ compensation claims review. Successful resolution and prompt closure of workers’...

Florida Competitive in Workers’ Compensation Market Arena

Jan 24 2011 // Florida’s workers’ compensation market remains competitive with more than 250 private insurers writing coverage and only a fraction of business being funneled to the residual market. Also, availability does not...