Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California Reducing Licensing Fees 6%
Mar 8 2010 // The California Department of Insurance announced it will be implementing a 6 percent licensing fee rate reduction on July 1, 2010. This is the second year CDI has reduced licensing fees. The first 6 percent rate reduction...
Fairfax Financial to Buy Remaining Shares of Zenith National Insurance in $1.4 Billion Deal
Mar 8 2010 // Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. and Woodland Hills, Calif.-based Zenith National Insurance Corp. have entered into a merger agreement in which Fairfax will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Zenith...
IRS, States Target Employer Abuse of Classification of Independent Contractors
Mar 8 2010 // The Internal Revenue Service and 37 states are cracking down on companies that try to trim payroll costs by illegally classifying workers as independent contractors, rather than as full employees, The Associated Press has...
California Proposal To Withhold Independent Contractor Fees on Hold
Mar 8 2010 // In February, California legislators considered a proposal that would have mandated a 3 percent withholding of fees paid to independent contractors. But the proposal has since been placed on hold, much to the delight of...
IRS, States Target Employer Abuse of Classification of Independent Contractors
Mar 7 2010 // The Internal Revenue Service and 37 states are cracking down on companies that try to trim payroll costs by illegally classifying workers as independent contractors, rather than as full employees, the Associated Press has...
IRS, States Target Employer Abuse of Classification of Independent Contractors
Mar 7 2010 // The Internal Revenue Service and 37 states are cracking down on companies that try to trim payroll costs by illegally classifying workers as independent contractors, rather than as full employees, The Associated Press has...
I.I.I.’s Hartwig Contrasts Impact of Chilean, Haitian Earthquakes
Mar 3 2010 // Why was he death toll over 200,000 when an earthquake struck Haiti, while so far less than 1000 people have died from the one that struck Chile, which was approximately 500 times more powerful? One of the answers lies in...
Calif. Construction Company Sued for Misclassifying, Underpaying Workers
Mar 3 2010 // California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. has filed a lawsuit against Livermore-based Country Builders Inc. after he said the company “cheated workers out of wages,” falsified the company’s payroll...
Union General Offers California Market for Adult Day Care Centers
Mar 2 2010 // Available to California agents, Union General has an “A+” rated carrier offering coverage for all types of basic daily care facilities for the elderly. The company provides physical/sexual abuse coverage, as...
Restaurant Work Injury Claims Account for 4% of Calif. Workers’ Comp Benefit Payments
Mar 2 2010 // Restaurant workers accounted for 6.1 percent of all California job injury claims, but only 4.1 percent of the state’s workers’ compensation benefit payments from 2000 to 2008, the California Workers’...
Ratings: Western, Hanover (debt), Public Service/Magna Carta, First Hawaii
Mar 2 2010 // A.M. Best Co. has downgraded the financial strength ratings to ‘B++’ (Good) from ‘A-‘ (Excellent) and issuer credit ratings to “bbb” from “a-” of Western Insurance Company...
California AG Subpoenas Health Plans Over Claims Denials and Rate Hikes
Feb 26 2010 // Los Angeles-Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr., who has an ongoing investigation into possibly illegal practices by some California health insurers, has subpoenaed financial records and other documents from...
Calif. Department of Insurance Reducing Licensing Fees 6%
Feb 26 2010 // The California Department of Insurance announced it will be implementing a 6 percent licensing fee rate reduction on July 1, 2010, including the fees paid by more than 300,000 liensed insurance agents, brokers and...
Golden State Mutual Policies To Be Transferred to IA American Life Insurance
Feb 26 2010 // To protect policyholders, Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Co. has entered into a letter of intent with IA American Life Insurance Co. to negotiate a reinsurance agreement to transfer all in-force insurance policies of...
California’s Anthem Blue Cross Charged with 700 State Violations
Feb 23 2010 // A review of 3,000 consumer complaints against Anthem Blue Cross, California’s largest for-profit health insurer, has found over 700 violations of state law during the past four years, state regulators said on...
California Regulator Considering Regs to Alleviate Underinsurance
Feb 22 2010 // The California Department of Insurance is considering proposing new regulations governing standards and training for estimating replacement value on homeowners’ insurance. Among the ideas that was floated at a recent...
Idaho Home Insurance Costs Lowest in Nation
Feb 21 2010 // Idaho homeowner insurance is the least costly in the nation, averaging $422 per year, according to a nationwide survey. This compares to an average $822 countrywide. The Gem State also had among the lowest average rates...
California Evaluates Continuous Coverage Discount
Feb 21 2010 // A California voter initiative that will appear on the June 8, 2010, ballot aimed at rewarding drivers who have had insurance for some time to be eligible for a “persistency discount,” even if they change...
Schinnerer Reduces Real Estate E&O Rates, Expands Coverage in California
Feb 19 2010 // Victor O. Schinnerer & Co., Inc. will decrease rates and expand coverage in the state of California for its real estate errors and omissions program. Beginning April 1, 2010, the following rating changes take effect:...
Zenith Merger Will Make Fairfax 7th Largest Workers’ Comp Writer in Calif.
Feb 19 2010 // Following Zenith National Insurance Corp.’s sell the company to Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., Toronto-based Fairfax will be the seventh-largest workers’ compensation insurer in the state, on a pro forma...
