Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
‘Crouching Tiger’ Actress Settles Website Claim in Southern California Court
Dec 18 2013 // “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” star Zhang Ziyi settled a lawsuit for libel against a U.S.-based Chinese news website, which today apologized for false reports that she had sex with Chinese officials including...
California Tops ‘Judicial Hellhole’ List
Dec 17 2013 // California isn’t just a warm place to live, which is often the case even in winter, but it turns out the state is considered a “judicial hellhole.” The American Tort Reform Foundation issued its annual...
California School District Faces $17 Million In Claims
Dec 17 2013 // The San Juan Unified School District in California faces $17 million in claims over harassment allegations, with ten lawsuits alleging that Superintendent Glynn Thompson created a hostile workplace. The Sacramento Bee...
PG&E Worker In California Wins $1 Million In Lawsuit
Dec 17 2013 // A former power line worker for Pacific Gas & Electric has been awarded more than $1 million in a wrongful termination suit that claimed he was fired after making safety complaints. The Santa Cruz Sentinel reported...
Autopsy: BART Workers in California Didn’t Follow Safety Rules
Dec 16 2013 // Autopsies conducted on two workers who were struck and killed by a Bay Area Rapid Transit train during a labor strike have revealed that the men did not follow the agency’s safety protocols. The Contra Costa Times...
Toyota to Begin Talks to Settle Acceleration Claims
Dec 16 2013 // Toyota Motor Corp. will begin talks to potentially settle hundreds of lawsuits alleging that defects caused some of its vehicles to unexpectedly accelerate, according to a court filing. Last Thursday’s order from...
Business Moves
Dec 16 2013 // AmWINS Acquires Bliss & Glennon, eReinsure AmWINS Group Inc. has reached a definitive agreement with Fortegra Financial Corp. to acquire Bliss & Glennon, an excess and surplus lines wholesale insurance broker and...
Northern California Agent Nabbed For Bogus Insurance Certificates
Dec 12 2013 // Property/casualty agent Rodger Edward Winkler, 64, a was arrested by Shasta County District Attorney investigators in Northern California and charged with numerous felonies, including grand theft, insurance fraud and petty...
Deep Freeze Damages California Citrus Crop
Dec 12 2013 // A weeklong blast of sub-freezing temperatures across California has damaged the state’s $2 billion citrus crop, but it will take several weeks before the extent of the loss is quantified, agricultural industry...
Hub Names Perez-Reyes Vice President in California
Dec 12 2013 // Hub International Insurance Services Inc. named Arturo Perez-Reyes vice president and privacy and errors and omissions lead in its San Francisco, Calif. commercial division. In addition to his production role and client...
Heffernan Hires Prout in Northern California
Dec 11 2013 // Heffernan Insurance Brokers named Jeff Prout assistant vice president North Bay office in California. Prout will focus on new business development for all Commercial Lines for Heffernan. Prout’s background includes...
Big Brains at Big ‘I’, Insurance Information Institute Give Their Take on 2014
Dec 11 2013 // Most economists are upbeat about next year, but just what does that mean for insurance agents in 2014? For independent agents 2013 was a year in which one entity forecasted their eventual demise, and for the rest of the...
Ehrlich Named CAMICO VP, Chief Claims Officer in California
Dec 11 2013 // San Mateo, Calif.-based CAMICO, a CPA-focused program of insurance and risk management for the accounting profession, named Rachel Ehrlich vice president and chief claims officer. Ehrlich has served in various legal, claim...
California Business Owner To Pay Millions For Workers’ Comp Fraud
Dec 9 2013 // Richard Lopez Escamilla Jr., 47, was sentenced in Kings County Superior Court in California on Dec.4 to one felony count of insurance fraud and was ordered to pay restitution of nearly $4.2 million to State Compensation...
Equity Risk Partners Names Four Executives in California
Dec 9 2013 // Equity Risk Partners named four insurance industry executives to its team in California, while also establishing the firm’s physical presence in Southern California. Equity’s new executive hires are Doug...
Ascension Names Merrill Senior Vice President in California
Dec 6 2013 // Walnut Creek, Calif.-based Ascension Insurance Inc. named Greg Merrill senior vice president of operations for the Fresno office of the Pan American and Walter L. Clark organizations. Pan American and Walter L. Clark are...
California Woman Ticketed For Driving With Google Glasses
Dec 5 2013 // A California woman has pleaded not guilty to what is believed to be the first traffic citation alleging a motorist was using Google’s computer-in-an-eyeglass. The device known as Google Glass, not yet widely...
Elliott Tapped as Fireman’s Fund CIO in California
Dec 4 2013 // Novato, Calif.-based Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. named John Elliott as chief information officer. Elliott will be responsible for developing and implementing the technology strategy to achieve the company’s...
AmWINS to Acquire Bliss & Glennon in California from Fortegra
Dec 3 2013 // AmWINS Group Inc. has reached a definitive agreement with Fortegra Financial Corp. to acquire Bliss & Glennon, an excess and surplus lines wholesale insurance broker and managing general agency in California, and...
Obamacare and Agency Value
Dec 2 2013 // Where is the Affordable Care Act headed? Are we prepared? Who will be covered and who won’t? Are we robbing from Peter to pay Paul? The list of questions is endless. The answers are few and far between. In a speech...
