Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
One-on-One with Arizona State Fund President Don Smith
Jan 26 2004 // In recent months, we’ve heard nothing but praise for Arizona’s workers’ compensation system, especially when compared to the trouble California system. Wondering what all the hoopla was all about, I...
Status of Agent vs. Brokers in California
Jan 26 2004 // The distinction between an agent and broker has had increased significance in California following Proposition 103 as brokers may charge broker fees and agents may not. Producers rely heavily on broker fee income due to...
Natural Disasters More Severe and More Costly
Jan 26 2004 // According to a recently released report from Munich Re, fatalities caused by natural catastrophes were up 450 percent in 2003, while insured losses reached $15 billion. More ominous was the reinsurer’s conclusion...
E&S Foresight and Good Management Ease Hard Market Pains
Jan 26 2004 // As you have no doubt heard by now, this hard market is not just longer; it is fundamentally different. It is by all reports the most moderate in memory, characterized by fewer and less dramatic disruptions of normal market...
Court Invalidates Auto Insurance Discount Law
Jan 26 2004 // A judge invalidated a California state law that would have allowed discounts for longtime auto insurance customers who switch insurers, according to the Associated Press. Superior Court Judge Dzintra Janavs sided with...
Five Monterey County Shop Owners Arrested in Auto Fraud Ring
Jan 23 2004 // Monterey County Sheriff’s Department arrested five business in sting concluding what has turned out to be one of the largest undercover insurance fraud sting operation in the history of Monterey County. Arrested...
CWCI Study Examines Evidence-Based Medicine in California Workers’ Comp
Jan 22 2004 // The California Workers’ Compensation Institute has issued a new study examining the development and history of evidence-based medicine (EBM) as a tool for assuring appropriate, quality medical care, and its potential...
CWCI Schedules Workers’ Comp Treatment Utilization Guideline Seminars
Jan 22 2004 // The California Workers’ Compensation Institute will hold a one-day seminar in March in San Francisco and in Long Beach to educate industry professionals on practical issues surrounding implementation of the new...
Calif. Workers’ Comp Costs Per Claim Continue Rapid Growth
Jan 21 2004 // California workers’ compensation costs per claim in California continue to grow rapidly, increasing 15 percent from 2000 through 2001 (as of 2002) and are accelerating, according to a new study from the Cambridge,...
Acordia Acquires Feeney Durler West Insurance Services
Jan 21 2004 // Acordia,Inc., the fifth largest insurance brokerage in the U.S., and a subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Company, acquired Feeney Durler West Insurance Services, LLC. The agency’s professional staff will continue...
ICAC Donates $10,000 in Reward Money to Capture California Arsonist
Jan 19 2004 // The Insurance Committee for Arson Control (ICAC) has donated $10,000 and joined other private and public agencies to offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people who...
10th Anniversary of Northridge Earthquake Remembered
Jan 15 2004 // As the tenth anniversary of the Northridge earthquake approaches, Californians are constantly reminded that the ground in this state shakes 24-7, 365 days a year. The Northridge earthquake struck on Jan. 17, 1994. In less...
DM&A to Handle Claims for New Calif. Auto Program
Jan 13 2004 // Los Angeles-based claims administrator David Morse & Associates will be handling all claims for a new non-standard auto insurance program being sold in California by Sun Coast General Insurance Agency. As part of the...
Allstate Seeks $3.5M in Medical Fraud Lawsuit Against Calif. Chiropractor
Jan 13 2004 // Allstate Insurance Company and Allstate Indemnity Company began serving summons and complaints upon an Los Angeles County chiropractor and his wife, accusing them of taking part in schemes designed to defraud the...
CALIF. STAMPING OFFICE TURNS 65
Jan 12 2004 // Ted Pierce, executive director of the Surplus Line Association of California (SLA) announced that Dec. 1, 2003 marks the 65th anniversary of the organization’s stamping office. On this date in 1938, California...
CALIF. FUND SEEKS RATE DECREASE
Jan 12 2004 // State Compensation Insurance Fund—California’s largest workers’ compensation insurance carrier—has filed for an average 2.9 percent rate decrease effective Jan. 1, 2004. The decrease is within the range...
CALIF. SEES REDUCTIONS IN WC RATE FILINGS
Jan 12 2004 // Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi announced that workers’ compensation pure premium rates filed by insurers to date are below current rates by an average 3.6 percent, a “clear sign” that the historic...
Midwest Comp Market: Proceed With Caution
Jan 12 2004 // The workers’ compensation segment in Midwestern states is not immune to the broad trends in the line nationally — including poor combined ratios, escalating medical costs and severe underreserving — but no...
FLA. OUTPACES NATION IN FRAUD CONVICTIONS:
Jan 12 2004 // Florida once again leads the nation in the number of insurance fraud convictions and cases presented for prosecution, according to a study released recently by the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, a national alliance of...
Schwarzenegger Governs One-Eighth of the U.S. Population
Jan 12 2004 // The U.S. Census Bureau’s Census 2000 estimated the population of the California at 33,871,648. Approximately 76 percent of the adult residents had graduated from high school and about 16 percent had earned a college...
