Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
News Currents
Jul 23 2007 // Tahoe Fire losses could reach $150 million, victims may be underinsured Insured loss estimates for the Angora Fire that burned south Lake Tahoe have been upped to $100 million to $150 million, according to Risk Management...
Calif. Earthquake Authority pushes for industry assessments
Jul 23 2007 // Southbound Highway 880 traffic was routed around a damaged section of Highway 580 in Oakland, Calif., Monday, April 30, 2007. Crews sifted Monday through the wreckage of a collapsed freeway overpass, and emergency response...
Study: Calif. workers’ comp reforms working
Jul 23 2007 // California experienced the largest decrease in average workers’ compensation costs per claim among 14 states, after years of double-digit cost growth and in the wake of reforms that took effect 2003 through 2006,...
Figures
Jul 23 2007 // $5 million Amount the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services is fining nine insurers in the American International Group for numerous violations of Oregon insurance and workers’ compensation laws, some...
Big California Wildfire Still a Potential Threat to Rural Homes
Jul 20 2007 // California firefighters have been working to stop a 28,346-acre wildfire from spreading in rugged Central Coast wilderness and posing a threat to rural homes, while rain aided the battle against an 8,250-acre forest fire...
Calif. State Fund Names Attorney-in-Charge
Jul 20 2007 // Katherine Harvey-Edwards has been promoted to attorney-in-charge for the California State Compensation Insurance Fund’s Glendale Legal Unit ‘B.’ Harvey-Edwards brings 16 years of legal experience to her...
Calif. Names Girion Deputy Commisson of Rate Regulation
Jul 20 2007 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced that Woody Girion will serve as the new deputy commissioner of rate regulation at the Department of Insurance effective August 1. Girion replaces former Rate...
Two Arrested for Vehicle Arson, Fraud
Jul 20 2007 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced that CDI Urban Auto Theft Task Force investigators arrested two suspects on charges of arson of property, falsely reporting a crime and filing fraudulent insurance...
Tahoe Fire Shows Need for Better Land Planning, Fire Chief Says
Jul 20 2007 // The wind-driven inferno that swept through a South Lake Tahoe subdivision last month and destroyed more than 250 homes is evidence that state fire officials must become more involved in local planning decisions,...
Court Rules Liability Waiver Invalid When There is Gross Negligence
Jul 19 2007 // The California Supreme Court has ruled that a signed liability waiver is useless in protecting a government entity from gross negligence and only good in protecting against ordinary negligence, which could have...
DeBernardi Named Attorney in Charge at Calif. State Fund
Jul 17 2007 // Jody DeBernardi has been promoted to attorney-in-charge for California State Compensation Insurance Fund’s Orange County Corporate Civil Litigation. DeBernardi began her State Fund career as a staff counsel in the...
Calif. State Fund Offers Policyholders Credit Extension
Jul 16 2007 // California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund announced that it will extend credit to policyholders who have suffered a financial loss or business disruption caused by recent wildfires that ravaged the Lake Tahoe...
Calif. Broker Charged, Arrested for Grand Theft
Jul 13 2007 // Merilyn Matsuko Burnside, an insurance broker from Commerce, Calif., has been arrested for allegedly swindling customers out of insurance payments on two separate occasions. Burnside was arrested Friday, July 6, 2007 in...
Study: Calif. Workers’ Comp Reforms Working
Jul 13 2007 // California experienced the largest decrease in average workers’ compensation costs per claim among 14 states, after years of double-digit cost growth and in the wake of reforms that took effect 2003 through 2006,...
Calif. Low Cost Auto Insurance Program Expanded to Nine Counties
Jul 11 2007 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced his determination to expand the state’s Low Cost Auto Insurance Program to Solano, Marin, Santa Cruz, Madera, Napa, Yolo, Mendocino, Kings and Lake counties....
Trial Set in Calif. for Latin American Banana Workers
Jul 11 2007 // The pesticide was designed to kill worms infesting the roots of banana trees on Latin American plantations. But at least 5,000 agricultural workers from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama have filed five...
Calif. Earthquake Authority Pushes for Industry Assessments
Jul 11 2007 // Negotiations are continuing in the California insurance industry, as the state’s Earthquake Authority (CEA) continues to seek a way to make up $2.183 billion first industry assessment layer. At its recent governing...
Weatherson Named Claims Processing Center Manager for Calif. SCIF
Jul 10 2007 // Michelle Weatherson has been promoted to program manager for California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund’s Claims Processing Center. Weatherson was hired as a sales representative for the...
Sloan Mason Offers Admitted Market for California Construction Accounts
Jul 9 2007 // Sloan Mason announced it has new admitted market for California construction contractors performing commercial operations with limited residential work. Coverage is available from a “A+” XV rated carrier for...
Calif. Man Mangles Hand in Alleged Insurance Scam
Jul 9 2007 // A man who allegedly tried to burn down his recently remodeled house now has a mangled hand and is facing arson and fraud charges. Sutter County prosecutors say 29-year-old Juan Jose Luna was trying to collect insurance...
