Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Calif. Court Reinstates Class Action Against Lead Paint Makers
Mar 14 2006 // A state appeals court in San Jose, Calif. has reinstated a class-action lawsuit alleging that several paint manufacturers knowingly sold harmful lead-based paint products for decades. The Sixth District Court of Appeal on...
Fresno, Calif., Qualifies for State’s Low-Cost Auto Insurance Program
Mar 14 2006 // Insurance Commissioner Garamendi has announced that the California Low Cost Automobile Insurance program will launch in Fresno County on April 1, bringing an opportunity for eligible low income good drivers to get...
California Bars Workers from Neverland Ranch Due to Insurance
Mar 14 2006 // Michael Jackson has been ordered to pay a $69,000 fine and remove 69 employees from his Neverland Ranch in Los Olivos, Calif., for allowing workers’ compensation insurance to lapse at the exotic estate that has been...
Calif. Regulator Reaches Settlement with Marsh to End Secret Commissions
Mar 13 2006 // California’s Department of Insurance (CDI) has reached an agreement with Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. requiring the giant broker to fully disclose commission agreements and put a halt to harmful practices...
Los Angeles Clerk Charged in Fraudulent Disability Claim Scam
Mar 10 2006 // California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi reported the arrest of Linda Carleen Moore, 42, of Palmdale, on felony charges of falsifying an accident disability claim. Moore, an employee of the Los Angeles County...
Union Bank of California Names Janes CEO of Insurance Subsidiary
Mar 10 2006 // Union Bank of California North America, based in San Francisco, has named Michael A. Janes CEO of its insurance subsidiary, UnionBanc Insurance Services Inc. Janes joins the agency from Hilb, Rogal & Hobbs Co. where...
Agents, Brokers Encourage Calif. Supreme Court to De-Publish Opinion
Mar 9 2006 // Insurance Agents and Brokers of the West (IBA West) has urged the California Supreme Court to “depublish” an unprecedented appellate court opinion suggesting that insurance broker-agents owe a legal duty of...
Calif. State Fund, Kern County, Host Heat Illness Prevention Seminar
Mar 8 2006 // The Kern County Builders’ Exchange, in association with California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund, is sponsoring a free heat illness prevention seminar for policyholders, Exchange members and employers at...
Insurers’ Photography Tells Story of ’06 San Francisco Quake
Mar 7 2006 // Finding old photographs to mark the centennial of California’s 1906 “Great Quake” and fire was the easy part of Corey Keller’s job as an assistant curator at the San Francisco Museum of Modern...
Four Riverside, Calif. Residents Arrested for Alleged Fradulent Auto Theft Claim
Mar 7 2006 // California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi has announced the arrests of three Riverside, Calif., residents on charges that they allegedly filed a fraudulent auto theft claim on a car that was later found in an orange...
New Markets
Mar 6 2006 // Miscellaneous Medical MalpracticeNuts & Bolts: NAS Insurance Services’ miscellaneous medical malpractice insurance program has several new features, including new deductibles that can be lower than $2,500. The...
Fraud Roundup
Mar 6 2006 // San Diego Roofing Contractor Sentenced San Diego County Superior Court Judge David Danielsen has sentenced a roofing contractor to a six month jail term, three years formal probation and ordered him to pay $272,000 in...
People and Places
Mar 6 2006 // Suhr Risk Services of California has named Patricia Coutermarsh chief operations officer. In that role, she will oversee operations from Suhr’s three Northern California branches, ensuring quality service delivery to...
Calif. commissioner issues new workers’ compensation regulations
Mar 6 2006 // California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi has announced new workers’ compensation regulations that will require all insurers in the state to submit certification forms that verify that claims adjusters and...
Study Says Californians Unmotivated to Prepare for Next Disaster
Mar 2 2006 // Californians believe that their state is prone to disasters, but see little motivation to prepare for nature’s crushing blows, a new poll has found. The poll, sponsored by the Insurance Information Network of...
Calif. Home Inspections for Flood Damage Begin
Mar 1 2006 // Damage inspectors from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have begun meeting with California homeowners and renters who registered for disaster assistance after the severe flooding of December and January. FEMA...
Pair Convicted in Calif. for Workers’ Comp Insurance Fraud
Mar 1 2006 // California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi announced the convictions of two suspects, Wade Peebles, 55, and Gigi Peebles, 41, for workers’ compensation insurance premium fraud, payroll tax fraud and conspiracy,...
HWAC Providing 10-Point Checklist for Calif. Residents on Home Warranties
Mar 1 2006 // Reportedly responding to a high level of interest in home warranty contracts, which are now included in more than 90 percent of home resales in California, and growing consumer inquiries about warranties, the Home Warranty...
Calif. Expands Low-Cost Auto Program to Three Counties
Mar 1 2006 // California Insurance Commissioner Garamendi has announced the expansion of the California Low Cost Automobile Insurance program to Sacramento, San Joaquin and Contra Costa counties. The announcement follows his final...
Proposed Car Insurance Rates Pit Urban vs. Rural Drivers
Feb 27 2006 // Urban and rural drivers in California faced off over a new way to calculate car insurance rates that would be based more on how people drive than where they park their cars. Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi proposed...
