Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Downgrade of Calif. Auto Company Results from Reinsurance Broker Error
Apr 1 2005 // Effective immediately, AM Best has downgraded Workmen’s Auto Insurance Company from a B++ to a B(u), citing the company’s drop in surplus as the main reason for the downgrade. The company has filed a lawsuit...
Calif. Commissioner Announces Legislation Requiring Insurers to Invest in Underserved Communities
Mar 31 2005 // California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi and Assembly member Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) introduced AB 925, a new piece of legislation that would require insurers to make investments in low- and...
Calif. Consumer Advocate Rosenfield Urges Mass. to Repeal No-Fault, Make Other Auto Changes
Mar 29 2005 // Massachusetts should repeal its no-fault law, end its reliance on uniform state-set rates, and remove the state antitrust exemption for auto insurers if it wants to improve its auto insurance system for consumers. That...
Calif. Insurance Critic to Take On Mass. Auto
Mar 28 2005 // Nationally recognized insurance reformer and Massachusetts native Harvey Rosenfield will return to his home state Tuesday, March 29 to unveil a report he says shows how much more Massachusetts drivers pay for auto...
WCIRB Proposes 10.4 Percent Decrease in Pure Premium Rates
Mar 28 2005 // On March 25, 2005, the WCIRB submitted a filing to the California Insurance Commissioner recommending a 10.4 percent decrease in advisory pure premium rates effective July 1, 2005 on new and renewal policies. The proposed...
Calif. Man Sentenced for Workers’ Comp Fraud
Mar 22 2005 // Gregg Leo Curwick, of Rancho Cucamonga, California, has been sentenced by the Kern County Superior Court for workers’ compensation insurance fraud after a joint investigation by the California Department of Insurance...
Conn. Finds Aggressive Drivers U-Turn into Trouble After Retraining
Mar 21 2005 // Connecticut officials are alarmed at the high recidivism rate of aggressive drivers forced to attend traffic offender school. Nearly 42 percent of the 77,000 motorists who attended driver retraining between 2001 and 2003...
People & Places
Mar 21 2005 // William Sousa The board of directors of Foster City, Calif.-based National Automobile Club has announced the appointment of William P. Sousa Jr. to the office of president and CEO. In his new position, Sousa will be...
CALIF. JUDGE TOSSES OUT LAWSUIT INVOLVING ACE COMPANIES:
Mar 21 2005 // The ACE Group of Companies announced that California Superior Court Judge James Warren has entered judgment in favor of several ACE companies in a lawsuit brought against Insurance Company of North America, INA Financial...
Man with Multiple Identities Indicted in International Scam
Mar 21 2005 // Matthew Wallace Schachter, aka Robert Lewis Brown, aka Matthew C. Rollins, was indicted in February on federal charges relating to an insurance fraud scheme that allegedly netted more than $20 million over the last four...
Calif. Small Business Owners Optimistic About Growth, UBOC Survey Says
Mar 21 2005 // Almost 71 percent of California small business owners polled are expecting 2005 to be an overall better year than 2004, according to the fifth annual statewide survey released by Union Bank of California, N.A. The...
CIGA Executive Director Announces Retirement
Mar 21 2005 // The California Insurance Guarantee Association, an organization that pays the claims of insolvent insurance carriers, recently announced that Executive Director Lawrence Mulryan will retire after 13 years of...
Calif. Trio Arrested for Auto Insurance Fraud
Mar 18 2005 // On March 16, investigators from the Fresno County Urban Organized Auto Insurance Fraud Task Force and officers from the Stockton Police Department arrested Amberjeet Kaur Gill (aka Amber Gill, Amber Jeet Kaur Gill,...
Insurance Group Staying out of California Workers’ Comp Confirmation Fight
Mar 17 2005 // A major insurance industry group is staying out of the Senate confirmation fight over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s workers’ compensation director, another possible indication the appointment could be in...
Calif. Man Arrested While Standing in Front of Judge on Separate Charges
Mar 14 2005 // Sometimes people can’t seem to get enough of a good, or in this case, bad thing. While appearing last Wednesday in a Sacramento County courtroom for a preliminary hearing, James Chester Taylor, Jr., 72, of Quartz...
Superior Access Offers “Direct Access”
Mar 11 2005 // Richard Swoy, chairman of Irvine, Calif.-based Superior Access Insurance Services, announced the newest offering from SAIS, “Direct Access.” SAIS is now considering new premium subscriber agencies for...
Calif. Authorities Warn of Getting Soaked by Fraudulent Contractors Following Storms
Mar 10 2005 // As the damage from the recent California storms is tallied, a new peril threatens homeowners — con artists posing as contractors and public adjusters. These criminals come out of the woodwork after disasters, preying...
CWCI Presents Workers’ Comp Seminar
Mar 10 2005 // The California Workers’ Compensation Institute has announced that it will conduct a one-day case law seminar in May in San Francisco and in Long Beach. The program will examine trends in workers’ compensation...
CWCI Study Examines Utilization Review in California Workers’ Comp
Mar 8 2005 // The California Workers’ Compensation Institute has issued a new report that looks at utilization review and the use of medical treatment guidelines in California workers’ compensation and compares the low back...
Calif. Superior Court Judge Tosses Out Lawsuit Involving ACE Companies
Mar 8 2005 // The ACE Group of Companies announced Tuesday that California Superior Court Judge James Warren has entered judgment in favor of several ACE companies in a lawsuit brought against Insurance Company of North America (INA),...
