Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Malasig Joins Suhr Risk Services of California Sales Force
May 18 2010 // Albert Malasig has joined the property/casualty arm of Suhr Risk Services of California. With more than 20 years of experience in the insurance industry, and an emphasis in risk management for middle market businesses,...
S&P Lowers Mercury’s Ratings
May 17 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has lowered its counterparty credit and senior unsecured debt ratings on Los Angeles-based Mercury General Corp. to ‘BBB+’ from ‘A-‘. S&P also...
Two Calif. Workers’ Comp Defense Firms Merge
May 17 2010 // Heggeness, Sweet, Simington & Patrico, a San Diego-based workers’ compensation defense firm and Mentz, Finn & McDowell, a San Francisco-based workers’ comp defense firm, have announced an agreement to...
Calif. Agent, Insurer Groups Discuss Homeowners Replacement Cost Regs
May 17 2010 // To alleviate concerns about homeowner under-insurance, the California Department of Insurance has proposed regulations governing standards and training for estimating replacement value on homeowners’ insurance. CDI...
People
May 17 2010 // Irvine, Calif.-based Superior Access Insurance Services Inc. named Tom Crawford chairman of the board of directors. Before joining Superior Access, Crawford served as chairman, president and CEO of Crawford & Co. With...
CRC Loses 100 Employees; Possible Legal Action to Follow
May 17 2010 // When 10 percent of an organization’s entire workforce resigns in one day, the fallout can be devastating. That’s exactly what happened to CRC Insurance Services Inc. (CRC) – one of the largest wholesale...
Calif. Insurers Agree to Voluntary Sanctions Against Iranian Government
May 14 2010 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced that 1,010 insurance companies — more than 75 percent of insurers licensed to do business in California — have agreed to forgo future investments in 50...
Lawmakers See Expanded Role for Calif. Insurance Commissioner
May 14 2010 // Two state lawmakers are the leading candidates for the Democratic nomination for California insurance commissioner, the statewide office responsible for regulating insurers at a time of great change and heightened scrutiny...
Calif. Commissioner Poizner Gains Ground in Race for Governor
May 13 2010 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner is gaining ground on his Republican opponent Meg Whitman in the primary race for state governor. With one month until votes are counted, SurveyUSA’s latest tracking...
Study: Calif. Workers’ Comp Claimants Getting Care They Want
May 12 2010 // Division of Workers’ Compensation releases latest study on access to medical care in California’s workers’ compensation system Injured workers are getting the care they need, according to a recent study...
Network Physician Use Increases in California Workers’ Comp Claims
May 11 2010 // Tthe percentage of medical services to injured workers delivered by network physicians jumped sharply immediately after Medical Provider Networks (MPNs) were introduced into the workers’ compensation system in 2005,...
Calif. Insurance Guarantee Association Could Issue Bonds to 2013
May 10 2010 // The California Senate has passed a bill to extend extend from Jan. 1, 2011, to Jan. 1, 2013, the sunset date on the authority of the California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA) to issue revenue bonds to pay...
Calif. To Examine Validity of Anthem’s Claims-Related Data
May 7 2010 // The California Department of Insurance (CDI) had begun an effort to assess the validity of the claims data used by Anthem Blue Cross to justify future rate filings. “As Anthem readies its new rate filing, I have...
CRC Employees in California, Illinois, Pennsylvania Resign
May 6 2010 // CRC Insurance Services Inc. (CRC) – the largest wholesale insurance broker in the United States – released a memo to its customers stating that a number of CRC employees in Illinois, California and Pennsylvania...
Louisiana Lawmakers Shelve Bill on Saints’ Workers’ Comp Issue
May 5 2010 // The Louisiana Legislature won’t be meddling any further this session in a workers’ compensation dispute between NFL players and the New Orleans Saints. The Saints had been pushing a bill to lessen its...
Court Says CalPERS May Pursue Lawsuit Against Rating Agencies
May 5 2010 // The largest U.S. public pension fund has won a court ruling allowing it to proceed with its lawsuit accusing the three biggest credit rating agencies of assigning “wildly inaccurate and unreasonably high”...
Calif. State Fund Revises Rate Plan; Better-Performing Accounts to Benefit
May 5 2010 // California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund announced it will not be filing a mid-year rate increase. Instead, the workers’ compensation insurance provider said it will revise its rating plan to provide...
Foremost Insurance Updates Dwelling Fire Program in California
May 4 2010 // Foremost Insurance Group has updated its dwelling fire program in California. Foremost is targeting standard and preferred landlord customers with new, larger discounts. It also lowered rates on vacant homes by an average...
Conservator Appointed to Manage Contractor’s Access Program of Calif.
May 4 2010 // California’s Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) has appointed Bickmore Risk Services and Consulting as conservator for the Contractor’s Access Program of California (CAP), which is a self-insured group...
California Earthquake Fault Activity Map Shows 50 Additional Fault Lines
May 3 2010 // California geology officials have released an updated state seismic activity map that they hope will improve earthquake preparedness and construction decisions.The map, which had not been updated since 1994, includes more...
