Latest California Headlines

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

Calif. State Fund Board: Drop Rates 7%

Oct 5 2012 // California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund’s board voted on Friday for a 7 percent decrease in its 2013 rates, a move that reflects State Fund’s anticipated savings from a workers’ compensation...

Troubled Calif. Nuke Plant Aims To Restart Reactor

Oct 5 2012 // The operator of California’s troubled San Onofre nuclear power plant on Thursday proposed to restart one of the facility’s twin reactors after concluding it could be run safely despite damage to scores of tubes...

Father and Daughter in Central Calif. Workers’ Comp. Fraud Must Repay Over $600K

Oct 5 2012 // Jerry Buffington, 69, and Cynthia Russell, 47, have pled guilty in Kern County Superior Court to one count each of workers’ compensation insurance premium fraud and eight counts each of tax evasion and were ordered...

Calif. State Fund May Recommend Workers’ Comp Rate Drop in Days

Oct 4 2012 // Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of articles to look at California’s workers’ compensation reform law in detail and what must be done to implement that law by Jan. 1, 2013. California’s...

Calif. Jury Awards $10.2M To Dirt Bike Rider For Knee Injury

Oct 4 2012 // A superior court jury in central California has awarded a man $10.2 million in damages that resulted from dirt bike collision in 2007 with another vehicle. Attorneys for Stockton resident Daniel Nixon, 50, say he received...

Best Agency to Work For: West

Oct 4 2012 // This year six agencies in all received top honors as a Best Agency to Work For. The Best Agencies to Work For in 2012 include: Bryan Insurance Agency, Graham, Texas; Meyer & Cook Insurance, Walnut Grove, California;...

SullivanCurtisMonroe Adds Crouch as Vice President In Southern California

Oct 3 2012 // Irvine, Calif.-based SullivanCurtisMonroe Insurance Services LLC named Canaan Crouch as a vice president in its Irvine office. Crouch comes from ACE Environmental, where he was an assistant vice president and northwestern...

Agriculture Pest Targeted In Southern California

Oct 3 2012 // Agriculture officials are targeting crop-destroying Oriental fruit flies in Southern California’s Santa Clarita Valley. Mature Oriental fruit flies were discovered on Sept. 18 and Sept. 19 in various valley locations...

Calif. Rating Bureau Drops Workers’ Comp Advisory Rates

Oct 1 2012 // After a review of a workers’ compensation overhaul bill signed two weeks ago by Gov. Jerry Brown, the Workers’ Compensation Rating Bureau submitted a filing on Monday to lower the pure premium advisory rate for...

Lawsuit Accuses Calif. Company of Sex Harassment

Oct 1 2012 // Federal officials have filed a lawsuit against a California electric company alleging it allowed discrimination and sexual harassment of female employees. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit against...

BART Installs Quake Early-Warning System in Northern California

Oct 1 2012 // A new earthquake early-warning system installed by Bay Area Rapid Transit will detect earthquakes precious seconds before the ground starts shaking, allowing trains to be slowed down in an effort to prevent...

Calif.’s Brown Record ‘Solid’ on Insurance Legislation

Sep 28 2012 // Gov. Jerry Brown saw over a dozen bills related in some way to insurance come across his desk, with a bill to approve driverless cars, a bill to overhaul California’s workers’ compensation system among...

Heffernan Taps Peckinpaugh For VP in Southern California

Sep 28 2012 // Heffernan Insurance Brokers named Terri Peckinpaugh to its Santa Ana, Calif. office as vice president of Heffernan Professional Practice Insurance Brokers. Peckinpaugh specializes in lawyer’s professional liability...

Yates Adds Whitehouse and Lopes in Southern California

Sep 27 2012 // Tustin, Calif.-based managing general agent Yates and Associates has added two new producers and has opened a new office in Westlake Village. Caleb Whitehouse is a senior underwriter/broker and Esteban Lopes is an...

Foster Joins Barney & Barney in Northern California

Sep 27 2012 // Barney & Barney LLC named Scott Foster to its San Francisco, Calif. office. Foster will work with a team of Barney & Barney professionals in the San Francisco Bay area, offering commercial property and casualty...

Calif. Governor Green Lights Driverless Cars

Sep 26 2012 // California took the fast lane to the future on Tuesday when Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law that lets self-driving cars onto public roads. Brown rode to the signing ceremony at Google Inc. headquarters in the passenger seat...

SoCal Fire is Reminder Worst Could be Ahead

Sep 25 2012 // A 4-square-mile wildfire in a rural San Diego County community has destroyed roughly a dozen homes and has left one man dead, a sober reminder the state has a large number of high risk homes and that Southern...

BB&T Taps Robinson as Agency Operations Manager in Calif.

Sep 25 2012 // BB&T Insurance named Andrea Robinson agency operations manager for its Pleasanton, Calif. office. Robinson brings 20 years of experience in the insurance industry to her new role. She has experience at both carrier and...

Poms & Associates Names Boore VP in Northern California

Sep 24 2012 // Woodland Hills, Calif.-based Poms & Associates Insurance Brokers Inc. named Scott Boore vice president in the employee benefits and risk services groups in its Northern California office. Boore has more than 20...

N.Y. Court Grants Injunction in Aon, Alliant Employee Poaching Case

Sep 24 2012 // A New York court last week granted a new injunction in the ongoing legal fight between Aon and Alliant Insurance Services over alleged poaching of senior executives. The Supreme Court of the State of New York enjoined...