Latest California Headlines

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

People Moves: Aihara & Associates in California Names Kinoshita EVP

May 26 2023 // Aihara & Associates Insurance Services named Mike Kinoshita executive vice president. Kinoshita is a third-generation insurance agent and current senior client advisor at The J. Morey Company, an Ori-gen Family...

Walmart Paying California $500K in Settlement Over Sale of Brass Knuckles

May 25 2023 // Walmart will pay half a million dollars to settle allegations from California’s Department of Justice that it was selling brass knuckles on its website, state Attorney General Rob Bonta said. Brass knuckles are...

California Couple Sentenced Thanks to YouTube Videos of Intentional Collisions

May 25 2023 // Christopher Phelps, 40, of Yucaipa, and his wife, Kimberly Phelps, 40, were sentenced this week after pleading no contest to felony counts of insurance fraud, child abuse and assault with a deadly weapon. The sentencing...

Special Report: How U.S. Doctors Buy Their Way Out of Trouble

May 24 2023 // When federal enforcers alleged in 2015 that New York surgeon Feng Qin had performed scores of medically unnecessary cardiac procedures on elderly patients, they decided not to pursue a time-consuming criminal...

2 Killed When Plane Headed for Hawaii Crashes in Northern California

May 22 2023 // Two people were killed when a small plane headed for Hawaii crashed in the Pacific Ocean shortly after takeoff from Northern California, federal officials said Sunday. The Viking Air DHC-6-400 Twin Otter crashed around...

People Moves: Venbrook in California Names Aguilar CFO

May 22 2023 // Venbrook Group, LLC named Juan Aguilar chief financial officer. Aguilar has 20 years of industry experience, most recently serving 15 years at Aon PLC, where he held leadership roles across finance, operations and business...

Major New Mexico Transmission Line OK’d for Renewable Energy in West

May 19 2023 // The U.S. government is greenlighting a proposed multibillion-dollar transmission line that would send primarily wind-generated electricity from the rural plains of New Mexico to big cities in the West. The Interior...

People Moves: Velilla Joins Gordon & Rees in California in Insurance and Commercial Litigation Practice Groups

May 19 2023 // Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani hired Rachel T. Velilla as a partner in the firm’s Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego, California offices. She joins the firm’s insurance, trucking and transportation and...

Former California Insurance Agent Sentenced for Stealing $220K from Clients Including Late Art Dealer

May 19 2023 // John Philip Ryan, 64, of Yucca Valley, California, was sentenced and ordered to pay more than $220,000 in restitution to victims after pleading guilty to two felony counts of financial elder abuse and grand theft of...

Officials: 30 California Workers Getting $437K in from Food Company

May 17 2023 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and California Labor Commissioner Lilia Garcia-Brower on Monday announced the resolution of criminal charges filed against Golden Food Inc in a plea agreement in which the...

California Workers’ Comp Written Premium was 14% Above 2021

May 16 2023 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California issued its Quarterly Experience Report, an update on California statewide insurer experience valued as of Dec. 31, 2022. Highlights of the report...

Report Examines California Workers’ Comp Medical Dispute Resolution

May 15 2023 // A new report shows the number of independent medical reviews in California used to resolve medical disputes hit a record low in 2022 as prescription drug disputes continued to decline. The report from the California...

California Paying $24M for Man’s Death in Police Custody

May 12 2023 // California will pay a $24 million civil rights settlement to the family of a man who died in police custody after screaming “I can’t breathe” as multiple officers restrained him while trying to take a...

$3.4M Fine Proposed for 2021 California Oil Pipeline Leak

May 11 2023 // An energy company should be fined nearly $3.4 million for safety violations involving a 2021 oil pipeline spill that fouled Southern California beaches, a federal regulator said. Amplify Energy Corp. ignored 83 alarms...

Ex-Tesla Worker Seeks Third Trial in California Race Case After $3.2M Award

May 11 2023 // A Black former Tesla Inc TSLA.O factory worker has accused the electric automaker’s lawyers of “egregious misconduct” after a jury awarded him $3.2 million in a race bias case, and asked for a third trial...

California Insurance Wholesalers Association (CIWA) Prepares for Star-Studded Summer Forum Event in Lake Tahoe

May 11 2023 // VIP Speakers include Marcus Allen (NFL) and Annika Sorenstam (LPGA) FAIRFIELD, CA, May 3, 2023 – The California Insurance Wholesalers Association (CIWA), a professional trade association focused on California E&S...

Oakland 2nd California Diocese to Seek Bankruptcy Over Abuse

May 10 2023 // The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland filed for bankruptcy Monday due to hundreds of new child sex abuse claims, becoming the second diocese in California to do so. The San Francisco Bay Area diocese faces more than 330...

2 Children Died in California House Fire

May 10 2023 // Two children died in a house fire, authorities in Clovis said. The blaze was first reported shortly after 9:30 a.m. last week, Clovis police spokesperson Capt. Robbie Telles said. Responding officers found flames coming...

California Woman Who Sued Over Subway Tuna Seeks to Quit Case; Subway Demands Sanctions

May 8 2023 // The California woman suing Subway for claiming its tuna products contain ingredients other than tuna wants to end her lawsuit because she is pregnant, prompting Subway to demand her lawyers be sanctioned for bringing a...

$1.1M Paid to Resolve Ransomware Attack On California County

May 8 2023 // A $1.1 million payment was made to resolve a ransomware attack on a California county’s law enforcement computer network, Southern California News Group reported. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department...