Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Broker Fee Regulations to Dominate 2005 Legislative Session in California
Feb 21 2005 // Three issues will dominate California’s 2005 legislative session–broker fee regulations and fiduciary duties; homeowners insurance, and workers’ compensation, according to IBA West lobbyist John...
Surplus Lines Experiencing Softening Market with Rest of Industry
Feb 21 2005 // Insurance Journal recently surveyed several surplus line associations regarding their thoughts on the current atmosphere of the surplus lines marketplace, and their expectations into 2005. Executive director Ted Pierce of...
California Voters Act to Stop Shakedown Lawsuits
Feb 21 2005 // For the third year in a row, the American Tort Reform Association has declared Los Angeles County, California one of the nation’s nine “judicial hellholes.” Los Angeles is famous for many things, but this...
Some California Doctors Leaving Workers’ Comp System
Feb 21 2005 // Francis Pecoraro is trading a San Francisco Bay area medical practice that mainly serves injured workers for one in Wilmington, N.C., that he believes will be friendlier to doctors and doctors’ families. Pecoraro,...
Calif. DWC Updates Program for Injured Workers
Feb 18 2005 // The California Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) has reportedly reinvigorated a state program, which provides information and assistance to injured workers through monthly workshops at local DWC...
Tudor Appointed Acting President of Calif. State Fund
Feb 18 2005 // California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund’s Board of Directors have appointed James Tudor as acting president. Tudor has served as executive vice president since Jan. 1, 2003. When Dianne Oki announced her...
ChoicePoint: ‘Insurance Industry Databases Were Not Compromised’
Feb 17 2005 // ChoicePoint’s Clue Auto, Clue Property and Current Carrier insurance industry databases were not in any way involved or compromised by the fraud ring that obtained data from other ChoicePoint databases of public...
$525 Million Partial Executive Life Settlement
Feb 16 2005 // Attorneys for the policyholders of Executive Life have reached a settlement with French bank Credit Lyonnais (CL) and the Consortium de Réalisation (CDR), a government sponsored group, which took over CL’s debts in...
Guaranty Insurance Services Acquires Calif. Agency
Feb 16 2005 // Austin, Texas-based Guaranty Insurance Services Inc. announced the acquisition of Walter Mortensen Insurance of Bakersfield, Calif. This move doubles the agency’s size in California. With eight offices in...
New RRG to Offer GL to Calif. Contractors and Artisans
Feb 16 2005 // United Contractors Insurance Company Inc.—a new risk retention group domiciled in the District of Columbia—will offer general liability coverage to California contractors and artisans in commercial and residential...
Calif. Man Indicted on Federal Charges in International Insurance Fraud Scam
Feb 16 2005 // Matthew Wallace Schachter, aka Robert Lewis Brown, aka Matthew C. Rollins (Brown), 58, was indicted on federal charges relating to an insurance fraud scheme that allegedly netted more than $20 million over the last four...
ELAN Calls for State Senate Investigation Into Executive Life Settlement
Feb 16 2005 // The Executive Life Action Network, an activist group of former Executive Life Insurance Co. policyholders, called on California State Senator Jackie Speier, Chairperson of the Senate Insurance Committee, to investigate the...
CAAA: Workers’ Comp Carriers’ Profits up 25%-36%
Feb 15 2005 // Fourth quarter and 2004 annual earnings statements from leading California workers’ compensation insurance carriers are coming in, and profits are reportedly up by 25% to 36% over 2003 – and 2003 was already...
Man with Multiple Identities Indicted on Federal Charges in International Scam
Feb 14 2005 // Matthew Wallace Schachter, aka Robert Lewis Brown, aka Matthew C. Rollins (Brown), 58, was indicted last week on federal charges relating to an insurance fraud scheme that allegedly netted more than $20 million over the...
IICF Hosts First Annual Club100 Private Party Feb. 26
Feb 10 2005 // The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation Inc. will be hosting it’s very first annual Southern California Club100 Private Party on Saturday, Feb. 26, at the Napa Rose inside Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel...
“Operation Scorpion” Nets Nine in Fraud Scheme
Feb 9 2005 // Authorities arrested nine auto body shop owners and employees, charging them with various felony counts of insurance fraud following “Operation Scorpion,” a joint investigation by the California Department of...
Some California Doctors Leaving Workers’ Comp System
Feb 8 2005 // Francis Pecoraro is trading a San Francisco Bay area medical practice that mainly serves injured workers for one in Wilmington, N.C., that he believes will be friendlier to doctors and doctors’ families. Pecoraro,...
Mercury General Announces 4Q Results
Feb 7 2005 // Los Angeles-based Mercury General Corporation reported net income of $74.1 million ($1.36 per share- diluted), in the fourth quarter 2004 compared with $49.2 million ($0.90 per share-diluted), in the same period for...
People & Places
Feb 7 2005 // Michael Miller Scottsdale Insurance Company named Michael D. Miller as president and chief operating officer. Miller replaces retiring SIC President R. Max Williamson. Miller has more than 27 years of experience in the...
Calif. Chiropractor, Associates Nabbed in $10M Workers’ Comp Scam
Feb 7 2005 // A Modesto, Calif. chiropractor and two employees were arrested on charges that they repeatedly billed for services that were unnecessary or never rendered from 1996 through 2004, potentially costing insurers more than $10...
