Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
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...
Calif. Agents Alliance Hires D’Arelli as Executive VP
Jul 6 2007 // California’s Alliance of Insurance Agents and Brokers has hired Mike D’Arelli as executive vice president. D’Arelli is spearheading the Alliance’s grassroots advocacy program, and he is managing...
Five Uninsured, Unlicensed Contractors Arrested in South Lake Tahoe
Jul 6 2007 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced the results of the first undercover operation stemming from the Angora Fire in South Lake Tahoe. The operation took place at a residence in the disaster area that...
Cocovatz Appointed Attorney-in-Charge of Calif. State Fund
Jul 6 2007 // Larry Cucovatz has been promoted to attorney-in-charge for the California State Compensation Insurance Fund’s Special Litigation Unit (SLU). SLU is devoted to the recovery of damages involved in fraud-related...
Quintanilla Named Broker Manager for Calif. State Fund
Jul 5 2007 // Richard Quintanilla has been promoted to broker relations manager for California State Compensation Insurance Fund’s Marketing Department. Quintanilla started his State Fund career in 1989 when he was hired as a...
Forsyth To Head Beecher Carlson Northern California Operations
Jul 2 2007 // Beecher Carlson, an insurance brokerage and risk management consulting firm, has appointed David Forsyth to lead the company’s Northern California operations. Forsyth will be based in San Francisco, which expands...
Tahoe Fire Losses Could Reach $150 Million, Victims May Be Underinsured
Jul 2 2007 // Insured loss estimates for the Angora Fire burning in Lake Tahoe have been upped to $100 million to $150 million, according to Risk Management Solutions, a Newark, Calif.-based risk modeling company. However, the...
Calif. workers’ comp written premiums down 17%
Jul 2 2007 // The Workers Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California has released the results of its report summarizing insurer loss and premium experience through March 31, 2007. According to the report: “California...
