Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California Toughens PG&E Wildfire Safety Oversight
Apr 16 2021 // California officials on Thursday voted to toughen oversight of Pacific Gas & Electric, saying the utility had largely failed to perform required tree-trimming work near power lines in areas with the highest risk of...
California Targets Urgent Projects as Wildfire Season Looms
Apr 15 2021 // California is in such an urgent race with another devastating wildfire season that officials began soliciting local project ideas even before they had money to pay for them. It faces such a threat of drought that the...
People Moves: Sierra Specialty Adds Dith in California; McHugh Joins Lockton in Seattle; Mathis to CWCI
Apr 15 2021 // Sierra Specialty Sierra Specialty, program specialist, managing general agency and wholesale insurance brokerage, has appointed Vicky Dith as a broker and underwriter specializing in construction insurance. Dith is located...
California Fire Victim Trust Has Received 250K Claims So Far
Apr 14 2021 // The Fire Victim Trust, established to pay California wildfire victims on July 1, 2020, has received 40,000 claims questionnaires representing more than 70,000 claimants and roughly 250,000 individual claims, according to...
California Business Owner Arraigned in $1M Workers’ Comp Fraud Scheme
Apr 14 2021 // Marion Piggee, Jr., 68, of Los Angeles, Calif., was arraigned on seven counts of insurance fraud after an investigation by the California Department of Insurance revealed he was allegedly underreporting employee payroll by...
Commissioner Makes Appointments to California Workers’ Governing Committee
Apr 14 2021 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara today announced two reappointments to the California Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau’s Governing Committee. Lara appointed Mitch Steiger and Diana...
California Plans $536M for Wildfire Mitigation Before Fire Season
Apr 14 2021 // California will authorize $536 million for wildfire mitigation and forest management projects before the worst of the fire season strikes later this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders said. That more than...
La Niña Is Fading But California, Gulf Coast Still Face Risks
Apr 12 2021 // La Niña, the cooling of the equatorial Pacific that shifts weather patterns the world over, is fading away. But California may still be prone to dryness, and the U.S. Gulf Coast faces the risk of another busy hurricane...
Unlicensed California Agent Sentenced After Stealing $450K in Premiums
Apr 12 2021 // Ai Ling Lee, 61, an unlicensed insurance agent living Hacienda Heights, was convicted of nine felony counts of grand theft after reportedly stealing nearly half-a-million dollars of her small business clients’...
California County Agrees to Pay $3.5M in 2018 Jail Death Case
Apr 12 2021 // San Diego County will pay $3.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a mentally ill man who died after deputies tried to forcefully remove him from a jail holding cell, a newspaper reported. The...
Industry Watchers Weigh-in on ‘Concerning’ California Workers’ Comp Bills
Apr 8 2021 // A handful of workers’ compensation bills make their way through state Legislature every year that catch the attention of those watching the space – for better or worse. A few bills this year have a pair of industry...
California FAIR Plan Endorses Bill Expanding Coverage to Farms
Apr 8 2021 // The California FAIR Plan Association is publicly supporting a bill to amend the California Insurance Code to allow the FAIR Plan to write commercial coverage for permanent structures on farms. The California Fair Access to...
California’s PG&E Sees Criminal Charges in 2019 Wildfire
Apr 8 2021 // A California prosecutor has filed 33 criminal charges accusing troubled Pacific Gas & Electric of inadvertently injuring six firefighters and endangering public health with smoke and ash in a 2019 fire blamed on its...
California Court Rules That Sports Organizations Must Protect Athletes
Apr 8 2021 // Sports governing organizations such as those for swimming and gymnastics have a duty to protect young athletes from sexual and other abuse and can be legally liable if they don’t, the California Supreme Court has...
Correction: Brokerslink Enters into Service Partnership with B. Riley Advisory Services Group in California
Apr 7 2021 // Brokerslink has entered into a service partnership with B. Riley Advisory Services Group in Los Angeles, Calif. B. Riley’s compliance, risk and resilience practice specializes in business continuity, cybersecurity...
Family Sues After California Man Dies in Taco Eating Contest
Apr 7 2021 // The son of a California man who choked to death during an amateur taco eating contest at a minor league baseball game is suing the event’s organizers for negligence. Eighteen-year-old Marshall Hutchings’...
Three Dozen California Bills Focus on Wildfire, Others Are Concerning for Insurance Industry
Apr 6 2021 // Roughly three dozen pieces of California legislation are directly related to wildfire, and while those bills should hold much interest for the insurance community, there are other bills making their rounds that should draw...
Palomar Holdings in California Closes $400M Cat Bond with Torrey Pines Re
Apr 5 2021 // La Jolla, Calif.-based Palomar Holdings Inc. announced that through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Palomar Specialty Insurance Co. and Palomar Excess and Surplus Insurance Co., the company has successfully closed a $400...
Federal Court Won’t Intervene in Applied Underwriters Case Against California Regulator
Apr 5 2021 // A California federal court has declined to get involved with a lawsuit that Applied Underwriters and the California Insurance Co. filed against the California Department of Insurance. The case against the CDI is based upon...
Groups Opposing Bill to Create California Medical Provider Network Option for Workers
Apr 5 2021 // A California bill to establish a statewide medical provider network for employees is raising a few eyebrows. Assembly Bill 1465 would require the administrative director of the state’s workers’ compensation...
