Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Year-End Storms Cloud P/C Insurers’ Profit Picture
Jan 5 2011 // U.S. property insurers like Travelers Cos. Inc. and Chubb Corp. were expecting a relatively mild fourth quarter for catastrophe losses, but a series of punishing storms across the country in December may have blown away...
Fortegra Financial Acquires California Motor Club
Jan 4 2011 // Insurance services company Fortegra Financial Corp. has acquired Auto Knight Motor Club Inc., a Palm Springs, Calif., company that provides motor club membership, vehicle service plans and tire and wheel...
Hub International Acquires Four Western Companies
Jan 4 2011 // Chicago-based Hub International Ltd. (Hub), an insurance brokerage firm, has announced several acquisitions. It has acquired the shares of Hall-Conway-Jackson Inc. and the assets of Cascade Insurance Group Inc., Bothell,...
Mulryan to Replace Cain as Chair of California State Fund Board
Jan 2 2011 // Gov. Arnold Schwarzengger has appointed Larry Mulryan chairman of the California State Compensation Insurance Fund board. Mulryan replaces Jeanne Cain, whose term expired. The governor also appointed Scott Reid to the...
California Approves Homeowners Underinsurance Regulations
Dec 31 2010 // California’s Office of Administrative Law (OAL) has approved regulations designed to combat underinsurance and may require insurance agents and brokers to complete additional training. The regulations will take...
Calif. Regulator Urges Gov.-Elect Brown to Preserve Workers’ Comp Reforms
Dec 31 2010 // Calif. Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced he has sent a letter to Gov.-Elect Jerry Brown to urge him to preserve the workers’ compensation insurance reforms that have reduced the Workers’...
Test Your 2010 Insurance News IQ: 25 Questions
Dec 31 2010 // Are you an insurance news hound? Test your insurance news IQ and find out. The following questions and answers (at bottom of the page– don’t cheat!) were developed based on news stories published by...
Calif. Commissioner-Elect Jones Makes Executive Appointments
Dec 30 2010 // California Insurance Commissioner-Elect has appointed his executive team at the Department of Insurance. The team includes: Chief Deputy Commissioner Nettie Hoge; Deputy Commissioner, Health Policy Janice Rocco; Special...
Calif. Commissioner Poizner: Insurance Agent Advice Critical
Dec 30 2010 // As California’s third elected insurance commissioner, Steve Poizner has had a wealth of accomplishments. Among other things, he: reduced the Department of Insurance’s operating budget by 13 percent, which...
2010’s Top Insurance Stories in the West
Dec 23 2010 // In 2009, independent insurance agents and brokers faced a “perfect storm” with the economic downturn, premiums at a fraction of what they used to be, and unemployment and home foreclosure rates up, said Kevin...
Hundreds Victim to California Rainstorms
Dec 22 2010 // Following a series of powerful storms that brought heavy, record-setting rain, snow and high winds to California, insurers report their employees are on-hand to help victims. Meanwhile, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has...
California Rain Shatters Records; More Coming
Dec 21 2010 // A storm walloped parts of California with up to 7 inchesof rain and spawned minor flooding, mudslides and road closures Dec. 20, but forecasters warn the bad weather’s real impact may be yet to come. More than 3...
State Inaction Risks Loss of Surplus Lines Premium Tax Revenue
Dec 21 2010 // The States appear poised, through inaction, to leave untold millions of dollars in premium tax revenue “on the table” when the Nonadmitted Insurance and Reinsurance Reform Act (NRRA) becomes the law of the land...
Washington Hearing Possible on Calif. Gas Pipe Explosion
Dec 21 2010 // Federal investigators may subpoena witnesses to testify in Washington about the deadly Pacific Gas & Electric Co. natural gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, Calif. National Transportation Safety Board member Mark...
Fact or Fiction? Insurance Tidbits of Known and Little-Known Information
Dec 20 2010 // Have you ever wondered what big events helped shape regulation of the current U.S. insurance industry? Or if drivers of certain cars have more risk? What about the most attractive insurance job in the industry? These are...
Study: Texting Bans Don’t Reduce Crashes
Dec 17 2010 // It’s illegal to text while driving in most U.S. states yet a new study finds such bans do not reduce car accidents and may actually increase insurance claims. Researchers at the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI)...
California and Feds Sign Earthquake Plan
Dec 16 2010 // California and federal emergency responders have signed a plan designed to respond to a disastrous earthquake in Southern California. A similar state-federal pact was developed two years ago for dealing with a quake in...
Calif. Commissioner Removes 4 From Barred Iran Investments List
Dec 15 2010 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced that the California Department of Insurance (CDI) has removed Royal Dutch Shell (Netherlands), Shell International Finance (Netherlands), Total SA (France), and...
Dec. 15 Most Dangerous Day for California Drivers
Dec 14 2010 // More Californians crash their cars on December 15 than any other day of the year, according to an Allstate Insurance Co. review of its California auto insurance claims over the past four years. The number of accident...
Calif. Workers’ Comp Indemnity Claim Costs Significantly Higher
Dec 14 2010 // California’s workers’ comp insurers wrote approximately 10 percent more premium the first nine months of 2010 compared to 2009, according to the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of...
