Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California Workers’ Comp Department Suspends 9 Medical Providers for Fraud
Nov 22 2017 // The Division of Workers’ Compensation has suspended nine more medical providers from participating in California’s workers’ compensation system, bringing the total number of providers suspended this year...
California-based Insurance Law Firm Sedgwick Closing Offices
Nov 21 2017 // Sedgwick LLP, a San Francisco, Calif.-based law firm that represented numerous insurance clients, is closing. The news of the closure came in the form of a letter sent out to employees this week making it known that...
California Lawmakers May Limit Liability of Autonomous Carmakers
Nov 21 2017 // California regulators are embracing a General Motors recommendation that would help makers of self-driving cars avoid paying for accidents and other trouble, raising concerns that the proposal will put an unfair burden on...
Father And Son in California Sentenced in $400K Workers’ Comp Scheme
Nov 20 2017 // Jaime Rosario Del Real, 61, and son Israel Del Real, 37, have both pleaded guilty to four felony counts for their role in a $400,000 insurance fraud scheme denying workers’ compensation insurance and medical care for...
Bickmore Adds Portello in Northern California
Nov 20 2017 // Bickmore has added William Portello to its Sacramento, Calif. office. He will serve as the director of litigation management and will oversee the litigation management team and assist pool members throughout California...
California District Settles Suit over Boy Killed While Walking to School in Fog
Nov 20 2017 // A California school district has settled a lawsuit from the family of a 9-year-old boy who was killed by a vehicle while walking to school in fog in 2015. The Fresno Bee reported the Parlier Unified School District will...
California Fires Will Add to 2017 Insurer Catastrophe Losses, Fitch Says
Nov 20 2017 // No U.S. reinsurance companies in Fitch Rating’s rated universe are expected to be downgraded as a result of losses from the California wildfires alone, but for a number of companies the impact of wildfire losses adds...
Business Moves
Nov 20 2017 // AmWINS, Willis Towers Watson Specialty insurance broker AmWINS Group reported that it has completed the previously-announced acquisition of 15 insurance programs from Willis Towers Watson. Terms were not disclosed. The...
Litigation Finance Investors Expanding Their Reach
Nov 20 2017 // Investor funded litigation is not new, but its use is expanding, according to experts in the field. Panelists at the 2017 Risk Management Summit in Las Vegas, Nev., addressed the growing trend of investor funded...
Disaster Planning for Agencies: Minding Your Business
Nov 20 2017 // Northern California and specifically Sonoma and Napa Counties have experienced the worst wildfires in the history of California. Most of these fires began around Oct. 8, 2017, during night with extremely high winds, that...
Chuck Norris Suing in California over MRI Chemical He Says Poisoned Wife
Nov 20 2017 // Action star Chuck Norris took on medical device manufacturers in a lawsuit filed in California alleging a chemical used in MRI imaging scans poisoned his wife. Gadolinium that doctors injected into Gena Norris to improve...
Grapes of Wrath: Insurance Fallout from the Wine Country Wildfires
Nov 20 2017 // Now that this October’s wine country fires have been contained, the ravaged San Francisco Bay area countryside can begin the rebuilding process. The effects of the wildfires, however, will be further reaching than...
Someone Else’s Wires May Have Started California Wildfires, PG&E Says
Nov 20 2017 // The deadliest of last month’s wildfires in California’s wine country may have been started by electrical equipment not owned or installed by Pacific Gas and Electric Co., the utility said in a court filing...
Filing Approved for First Admitted Insurer in California to Sell Cannabis Insurance
Nov 20 2017 // The California insurance commissioner has approved the first filing by an admitted commercial insurance company to sell cannabis business insurance. Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones in early November announced the...
Southern California Auto Shop Owner Sentenced to Prison in $180K Fraud Case
Nov 20 2017 // Hani Abujudeh, 55, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., the reputed leader of an auto insurance fraud scheme, was sentenced to six years in state prison. Abujudeh was sentenced earlier this month for his involvement with a scheme...
United Valley Insurance Services in California Adds De La Torre in Marketing
Nov 17 2017 // Fresno, Calif.-based United Valley Insurance Services Inc. has named Maggie De La Torre a marketing team assistant. De La Torre holds a will provide support to the United Valley marketing team and will market high net...
California Jury Sides with J&J Against Talcum Powder Cancer Claims
Nov 17 2017 // A California jury on Thursday ruled in favor of Johnson & Johnson in a lawsuit by a woman who said she developed the cancer mesothelioma after being exposed to asbestos in the company’s talc-based products...
Modeler: Insured Losses for California Wildfires Could Reach $10.5B
Nov 16 2017 // Loss estimates for the October California wildfire siege could reach up to $10.5 billion, according to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide. Boston, Mass.-based AIR on Thursday updated its loss estimates for the recent...
California’s Nonfatal Worker Injuries Remained Steady in 2016
Nov 16 2017 // The California Department of Industrial Relations has released the 2016 occupational injury and illness data on employer-reported injuries that shows nonfatal worker injured remained steady in the state. Estimates provided...
California Utility Blamed in 3 Suits for Deadly Wildfires
Nov 16 2017 // Pacific Gas and Electric Co. was blamed in three lawsuits filed this week for negligence in the wildfires that killed more than 40 people and destroyed over 8,000 homes in Northern California last month. The lawsuits...
