Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Facebook Sued For Privacy Violation in California
Aug 19 2009 // Five Facebook users have filed a civil lawsuit alleging that the social networking site is violating California’s privacy laws and misleading members about how their personal information is used. The lawsuit, filed...
Seeking to Boost Agency Business, Progressive Offers Web Site Help
Aug 14 2009 // Progressive Insurance wants to ramp up its agency business and plans to turn to a source of strength for its direct sales channel – the Internet – to help make that happen. As Glenn M. Renwick, president and...
California Orders Evacuations as Lockheed Wildfire Spreads
Aug 14 2009 // With strong onshore winds fanning the flames of the Lockheed wildfire in Santa Cruz County, officials have ordered mandatory evacuations for Bonny Doon and Swanton for from 2,200 to 2,400 people. Two structures have burned...
Calif. Workers’ Comp Rating Bureau to Recommend 22.8% Increase in Rates
Aug 13 2009 // The WCIRB will submit a filing to the California Department of Insurance (CDI) recommending an approximate 22.8 percent increase in pure premium rates (or “claims cost benchmark”) effective Jan. 1, 2010. The...
Flocks, Pearson Named to California Workers’ Compensation Bureau
Aug 12 2009 // California Insurance Commissioner Poizner has appointed Sara Flocks, of San Francisco and Lee Pearson, of Rancho Murieta to the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau Governing Committee. Pearson, currently...
New Earthquake Risk Models Likely To Reduce Insured Loss Estimates
Aug 6 2009 // Newark, Calif.-based Risk Management Solutions (RMS) has unveiled its next-generation models for North America earthquake risks, covering the United States and Alaska, Canada and Mexico. The new models are likely to lead...
Court: Assault and Battery in Self-Defense Not An Insurance ‘Accident’
Aug 5 2009 // Does a liability insurer have a duty to defend its insured if the insured deliberately commits assault and battery in self-defense? According to the Supreme Court of California, the answer is no, because the act of having...
California Releases New Draft of Pay-As-You-Drive Regulations
Aug 4 2009 // The California Department of Insurance has released a new draft of the Pay-As-You-Drive (PAYD) regulations, after receiving dozens of comments from consumer groups, the insurance industry and other invested parties, it...
Report: California Must Adapt to Changing Climate
Aug 4 2009 // California will see more heat waves, wildfires, droughts and floods due to rising temperatures over the next few decades, and the state needs to start preparing now to handle those effects of climate change, a new report...
USAA Auto Insurance Reduces Auto Rates 7% for Californians
Aug 4 2009 // USAA Auto Group announced it is reducing rates an average of 7 percent for auto policyholders in California. The 10th largest auto insurer in the state, USAA insures nearly 1 million vehicles in California, covering...
Initiative to Change Calif. Auto Insurance Rating Factor Proposed, Faces Criticism
Aug 3 2009 // Californians for Fair Auto Insurance Rates is working on gaining support for a voter initiative aimed at the 2010 ballot that reward drivers who have had insurance for some time to be eligible for a “persistency...
Cal/OSHA Moves to Strengthen Heat Illness Prevention Regulations
Aug 3 2009 // California’s Department of Industrial Relations’ (DIR) Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) has filed a proposal with the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board to amend the...
States Give a ‘Thumbs Up’ to Fingerprinting Insurance Producers
Aug 3 2009 // Regulators Say Fingerprinting Keeps Criminals Out of the Business Don’t be alarmed, but there are convicted criminals roaming around the country acting as insurance producers. They could be robbers, forgers, possibly...
California Makes 83 Recommendations to Improve Insurance Guarantee Fund
Aug 3 2009 // The California Department of Insurance has come up with dozens of suggestions for improving the insurance fund that steps in to pay claims when an insurance company goes bankrupt. A report issued by Insurance Commissioner...
New Homeowners Earthquake Rating Plan Available
Aug 3 2009 // Wheaton, Ill.-based American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS) has developed a new rating plan for adding earthquake coverage to policies based on standardized forms, manual rules, and rating information provided...
Business Moves
Aug 3 2009 // SureTec Houston, Texas-based SureTec Insurance Co. announced that Greg Faulx has joined the company as vice president and will head its new regional office in Denver. Faulx was a key member of the original management team...
21st Century Auto Insurance Reduces Rates 3.4% for Californians
Aug 3 2009 // 21st Century Auto Insurance Co. announced it will be implementing a $34 million rate reduction for policyholders in California, according to Shannon Kelly, senior vice president, West region. The reduction represents an...
California Passes Budget Revisions
Aug 3 2009 // State Compensation Insurance Fund Says Proposal to Sell Its Assets Have Failed in Past We are very concerned that the proposed sale appears to be driven by the need for cash. The California Legislature has passed the...
Court: California State Fund Legal Staff Entitled to Back-Pay
Jul 28 2009 // A San Francisco Superior Court judge has ordered that California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund pay approximately 500 employees back-pay for previously instated furloughs of union workers. The state implemented...
California Seeks Feedback on Insurance FAIR Plan
Jul 27 2009 // The California Department of Insurance is looking to improve the state’s property insurer of last resort, otherwise known as the California Fair Plan. Following urban disturbances in the late 1960s, the FAIR Plan was...
