Latest California Headlines

All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Insurance Exec Slattery Joins Driveway Team in California

May 3 2016 // Mobile telematics company Driveway Software Inc. in California’s Silicon Valley has named Mike Slattery executive vice president of product and operations. Slattery has a background in developing and launching UBI...

People – West

May 2 2016 // Phoenix, Ariz.-based CopperPoint Mutual Insurance Co. named Marc E. Schmittlein president and chief executive officer. Schmittlein will replace President and CEO Donald A. Smith, Jr., who previously announced his plans to...

Business Moves

May 2 2016 // Alliant, Andre-Romberg Alliant Insurance Services Inc. has acquired Spokane, Wash.-based Andre-Romberg Insurance Agency. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Andre-Romberg will operate as part of Alliant Americas. Kurtz,...

The Feds, the States and Self-Driving Cars

May 2 2016 // A big question looming is whether the federal government or state governments will play the primary role in setting standards for self-driving cars. Historically, the federal National Highway and Transportation Safety...

Report: Healthy but Challenging Workers’ Compensation Market

May 2 2016 // The workers’ compensation market is healthy and robust. It’s both competitive and profitable. That’s good news for business owners, the insurance industry and injured workers. Beneath the positive news,...

EPIC’s McNeil Named to California Water JPA Risk Management Board

Apr 28 2016 // David McNeil, a principal in the EPIC Insurance Brokers and Consultants’ Inland Empire division, has been appointed to the advisory board of the California Association of Mutual Water Companies Joint Powers Risk and...

CDI: Trucking Company Owners Cheated Workers’ Comp Carrier out of Millions

Apr 28 2016 // A pair of California trucking company owners were arrested for cheating their worker’s compensation insurer out of millions of dollars. Alvin Shin Chen, 54, and Fiona Xilin Chen, 46, both of La Cañada Flintridge,...

Champion Risk Acquires Adams Clay Insurance in California

Apr 27 2016 // San Diego, Calif.-based Champion Risk & Insurance Services has acquired Clay Insurance Brokerage Co. in Rancho Santa Margarita. Terms of the deal weren’t released. The acquisition is effective May 1. Robert...

Plaintiff Seeks Future Revenues to Settle Led Zeppelin Copyright Spat

Apr 27 2016 // Lawyers suing members of rock supergroup Led Zeppelin say their client is willing to settle a lawsuit over the band’s most famous song–a claim potentially worth millions of dollars–for just $1. The catch...

Reuters Special Report: How Google Is Winning Acceptance of Driverless Vehicles

Apr 27 2016 // The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Plaza in Austin, Texas is a strip mall with a pet-accessories store, a Thai restaurant and a yogurt shop, an unlikely venue to display the high-tech future. But one Saturday morning in March,...

EPIC Adds McKinney and Neer in Northern California

Apr 26 2016 // EPIC Insurance Brokers and Consultants has added Victoria McKinney as a team leader and employee benefits consultant and Robin Neer as an account executive. Both will be based in EPIC’s Gold River office in the...

Paragon Names Bay-Weber President of Excess And Surplus in California

Apr 25 2016 // Paragon Insurance Holdings LLC in California has named Jill Bay-Weber president of its excess and surplus commercial business division. Bay-Weber has been responsible for the development and underwriting of many specialty...

Burnham Benefits Names Corp Senior Account Manager in California

Apr 25 2016 // Burnham Benefits Insurance Services Inc. has named Sara Corp a senior account manager. Corp will be located in the Sacramento, Calif. area. She has more than 15 years of experience working in employee benefits. Corp spent...

California Public Utilities Commission Oks New Ridesharing Regulations

Apr 25 2016 // The California Public Utilities Commission has approved new regulations for ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft, including where identifying logos should go and stricter vehicle inspections. The San Francisco Examiner...

California Uber and Lyft Car Rental Decision Delayed

Apr 25 2016 // The first major product of General Motors Co.’s $500 million investment in Lyft Inc. was a short-term car-rental program. Last month, the companies began leasing Chevrolets in Chicago for up to eight weeks as part of...

Groups: California Auto Repair Regs Will Increase Auto Insurance Rates

Apr 22 2016 // As the California Department of Insurance stages hearings on proposed regulations designed to give more money to auto body repair shops, a handful of property/casualty insurance trade associations are voicing their...

Cameras Trained on Mountains around Lake Tahoe Help Wildfire Battle

Apr 22 2016 // A growing network of cameras trained on the mountains around Lake Tahoe is changing the way crews fight Western wildfires by allowing early detection that triggers quicker, cheaper, more tactical suppression than...

Uber Settlement Doesn’t Settle Gig Economy’s Independent Contractor vs. Employee Dispute

Apr 22 2016 // Uber Technologies Inc. resolved the biggest threat to its business by settling with California drivers suing to be treated more like traditional employees, a move that could have broad-ranging implications for companies...

Fatal Occupational Injuries Fell in California in 2014, Latest Report Shows

Apr 21 2016 // The number of Californians who died on the job fell in 2014, according to the latest data available from the California Department of Industrial Relations. The DIR compiled the data from the Census of Fatal Occupational...

American Lung Association Says California Has Nation’s Dirtiest Air

Apr 21 2016 // Millions of Californians live in places with dirty air, according to an annual report card issued this week that ranks two major urban areas in the state as the nation’s most polluted. Bakersfield tops the list for...