Latest California Headlines

IBA West Relocates Southern California Office

Jul 6 2006 // The IBA West Southern California office has been moved from Glendale to 21731 Ventura Blvd., Ste. 165, Woodland Hills, California 91364. Phone: 818-226-0900. Fax: 818-888-1757.

California earthquake insurance rates decreasing

Jul 3 2006 // California earthquake insurance policies issued by the California Earthquake Authority will see rate decreases by an average of 22.1 percent. Approximately 85 percent of CEA policyholders will see their rates reduced...

California’s mandatory investment reporting unnecessary, insurers say

Jul 3 2006 // California is considering legislation that would require insurers to report California community-related investments to the insurance commissioner every two years. AB 925, authored by Assemblyman Mark Ridley-Thomas, D, and...

News Currents

Jul 3 2006 // California earthquake insurance rates decreasing California earthquake insurance policies issued by the California Earthquake Authority will see rate decreases by an average of 22.1 percent. Approximately 85 percent of CEA...

New Markets

Jul 3 2006 // Equipment Policies Nuts & Bolts: Britt Paulk Insurance Agency Inc. is offering an equipment policy program that includes agriculture, forestry, construction and lawn and garden. The coverage is first party physical...

8 Washington policyholders to share in Aon settlement

Jul 3 2006 // 8 Federal insurance antitrust exemption: friend or foe? 9 California’s mandatory investment reporting unnecessary 10 Three insurers sue to recover claims paid in 2002 wildfire 10 Washington’s Ethel Adams...

Jul 3 2006 // People Trindl Reeves joined Barney & Barney, San Diego, as a principal, responsible for the ongoing growth of Barney & Barney in San Diego and Orange County. She will be based in San Diego. Reeves, formerly...

California construct defect litigation creating perfect storm

Jul 3 2006 // In The Perfect Storm, the book that inspired the movie of the same name, author Sebastian Junger defined “the perfect storm” as a tempest that may happen only once in a century, a storm created by so rare a...

Golden State adopts new regulations to reduce worker injuries and death from high heat

Jul 3 2006 // California workers may soon be able to file for workers’ compensation if they become injured due to high heat. The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board has adopted a permanent heat stress...

Lawyers Overseeing Layers

Jul 3 2006 // No country has as many lawyers as the United States — more than 152,000 in California alone — three times as many as in all of France. Nor does any other country rely as heavily on the legal profession to order...

California State Fund Receives $64,000 in Restitution for Workers’ Comp Fraud

Jun 30 2006 // Caifornia’s State Compensation Insurance Fund recently received $64,000 in restitution from the owner of a San Luis Obispo county moving company. Mark John Frey, 38, of Oceano, Calif., pleaded no contest on May 15 to...

Twenty-five Suspects Indicted on Fraud by California Department of Insurance

Jun 30 2006 // Twenty-five suspects in connection with a major insurance fraud investigation dubbed “Operation Cashout” have been indicted, according to the California Department of Insurance. Twenty suspects were arrested...

California Commissioner Questions Homeowners’ Insurance Rates

Jun 30 2006 // California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi has announced he will approve an 18 percent decrease in homeowner and renter premium rates by The Hartford Insurance Co. The Hartford’s filing for a decrease contrasts...

Farms Increasingly Rely on Subcontracted Farmworkers

Jun 29 2006 // After 33 years of planting, pruning and harvesting grapes that make world-renowned wine, Jorge de Haro is about to lose the only job he’s ever had. De Haro and his co-workers at Charles Krug’s Napa Valley,...

1,000 Firefighters Stretched to Limit Battling burning acres in Nevada

Jun 29 2006 // More than 1,000 firefighters were battling a series of lightning-sparked fires that had burned more than 79,000 acres across northern Nevada by Tuesday, putting just about every available piece of equipment and firefighter...

Swett & Crawford Adds Staff Nationwide

Jun 28 2006 // Swett & Crawford has added four new brokers to offices in California, New York, Arizona and Idaho. Tae Yoon joins the Woodland Hills office as a property and casualty broker. He has been with American Excess &...

Pending Bills Undermine Calif. Workers Comp Reforms, Insurers Say

Jun 28 2006 // Three measures awaiting approval by a key state Senate committee would undermine recent reforms that have improved California’s workers compensation system, according to Sam Sorich, president of the Association of...

Twenty Arrested in Los Angeles for Alleged Insurance Fraud

Jun 23 2006 // California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi announced the early morning arrests of 20 suspects involved in a staged auto collision ring dubbed “Operation Freeway Squat.” The bust targeted a major auto...

Michelman & Robinson Opens San Francisco Office

Jun 23 2006 // Michelman & Robinson LLP will be opening a San Francisco office on July 1 to complement its Los Angeles and Orange County offices. “The overwhelming demand for our services in Northern California has compelled...

California’s Mandatory Investment Reporting Unnecessary, Insurers Say

Jun 22 2006 // Legislation, sponsored by California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi is unnecessary, will increase costs and will further complicate data collection, said the American Insurance Association (AIA). AB 925, authored by...