Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Anthem Blue Cross Agrees to Delay Rate Increase
Feb 16 2010 // Anthem Blue Cross has agreed to a Feb. 8 request by California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner to delay its individual health insurance rate increase until May 1 to allow an independent actuary to review their rates,...
IRS, States Target Employers’ Use of Independent Contractors
Feb 16 2010 // The Internal Revenue Service and 37 states are cracking down on companies that try to trim payroll costs by illegally classifying workers as independent contractors, rather than as full employees, The Associated Press has...
Middleton Appointed to Calif. Workers’ Comp Fraud Assessment Commission
Feb 16 2010 // California State Compensation Insurance Fund has announced that Lisa Middleton, senior vice president of internal affairs, was elected chair of the Workers’ Compensation Fraud Assessment Commission. Middleton brings...
Democrats Seize on Wellpoint’s 39% Rate Hike to Renew Reform Effort
Feb 12 2010 // Health insurer WellPoint Inc. defended its rate hike of up to 39 percent for certain California customers as Democrats latched onto the increase to press their case for overhauling the U.S. healthcare system. The...
Iroquois of California Names Mullens Regional Manager
Feb 12 2010 // Iroquois of California based in Sacramento has added a former insurance consultant, marketing manager and agency owner to its staff. Mike Mullens will serve as regional manager in Northern California, bringing more than 17...
WKF&C Agency Names Weddle Senior VP in Southern California
Feb 11 2010 // New York-based WKF&C Agency Inc. has named Becky Weddle senior vice president in the company’s Southern California office in Woodland Hills. She will work closely with the Northern California office to bring the...
California Continues To Evaluate Insurers’ Iranian Investments
Feb 11 2010 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has released a list of 50 companies doing business in the Iranian oil and natural gas, nuclear and defense sectors, and announced that as of March 31, 2010, no investments...
Special Reuters Report: Inside Toyota’s Epic Breakdown
Feb 10 2010 // Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s most dominant and profitable automaker, was not accustomed to outsiders telling it what to do, let alone some obscure bureaucrat from the United States, whose own car industry was on...
California Regulator Wants Anthem Blue Cross To Postpone Rate Increase
Feb 10 2010 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, responding to a dramatic proposed rate hike by WellPoint’s California affiliate, Anthem Blue Cross, has called on WellPoint executives to postpone the rate increase,...
U.S. Shareholders Sue Toyota
Feb 9 2010 // Toyota faced its first U.S. class-action lawsuits stemming from complaints of faulty brakes in its top-selling Prius hybrid car and from investors claiming they were misled about problems with unintended acceleration in a...
Abram Interstate Offers HO-3 Program for Northern & Central California
Feb 9 2010 // Abram Interstate Insurance Services Inc. in Rocklin, Calif., is offering a market for difficult to place property risks with competitive pricing and flexibility. They will write: older homes with no age limit, seasonal/...
California Department of Insurance Recovers $112.1 Million for Consumers
Feb 8 2010 // The California Department of Insurance (CDI) announced it has has recovered $112.1 million for consumers through consumer complaint investigations and market conduct examinations of insurance companies. The $112 million is...
Business Moves
Feb 7 2010 // Fiesta Auto Huntington Beach, Calif.-based Fiesta Auto Insurance is combining its two business models — insurance and tax preparation — under one roof, quadrupling its presence to more than 80 locations....
2010 Will Challenge Calif. Insurance Agents, But Bright Spots Ahead
Feb 7 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. But 2010 may...
Business Moves
Feb 7 2010 // Swiss Re, Berkshire Hathaway Swiss Re concluded an agreement with Berkshire Hathaway Life Insurance Company of Nebraska to cede, a “closed block of yearly renewable term individual life reinsurance business, written...
Only 20% of Oregonians Insured for Earthquake Risks
Feb 7 2010 // Although Oregon is among the states at highest risk for a major earthquake, only about 20 percent of Oregonians have earthquake insurance, according to a Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS)...
It Figures
Feb 7 2010 // $1.5 Billion Projected budget deficit Colorado lawmakers are grappling with, as they evaluate proposals to slash spending for public education, higher education, Medicaid and other programs. Among the proposals being...
Northern Calif. Earthquake Damage Predicted to Be Less Than $10M
Feb 5 2010 // Damage and loss from yesterday’s magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck offshore Northern California are expected to be less than $10 million, with insured losses a fraction of that, a risk modeling firm has reported....
Western Security Surplus Insurance Promotes 3 in Brokerage Unit
Feb 4 2010 // California-based Western Security Surplus Insurance Brokers (WSS) has announced changes in the personnel for the WSS Brokerage Division. In the Pasadena, Calif., office, Philip Tiomico, who has been with WSS since 2008,...
Magnitude 5.9 Earthquake Strikes Northern California
Feb 4 2010 // A magnitude 5.9 earthquake has struck offshore Northern California at 12:20 p.m. PST, about 35 miles from Petolia and 50 miles from Eureka, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. This is the second earthquake in the area in...
