Latest California Headlines

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

Actions and Proceedings

Nov 20 2005 // Eaton v. Continental Casualty Co. (California Court of Appeals, 2nd District, Sept. 15, 2005) Ruling: The court held that the insured’s suit against an excess insurer was not barred by the four-year statute of...

Calif. Fraud Ring Lands Three in Jail

Nov 20 2005 // Three suspects have been arrested following an 11-month investigation by the California Department of Insurance of an auto insurance fraud ring that targeted car rental and insurance companies for fraudulent automobile...

Western States Pay Average Auto Premiums, NAIC Reports

Nov 20 2005 // Drivers in most of the 13 states that comprise the Western region enjoy about average auto insurance premiums, according to the most recent study produced by the National Association of Insurance Commis-sioners (NAIC). In...

California Commissioner Drops Broker Regulations

Nov 20 2005 // California Insurance Commis-sioner John Garamendi has announced that he will halt efforts to adopt new regulations imposing fiduciary duties and mandatory disclosure regulations on insurance agents and brokers. “We...

Business Moves

Nov 20 2005 // Indemnity Excess & Surplus Agency Expands Online Services Indemnity Excess & Surplus Agency has expanded its online quoting offerings to include six popular lines of business. Now IES-appointed producers have...

News Briefs

Nov 20 2005 // California Governor’s Measures Defeated in Special Election California’s special election battle, the costliest campaign in the state’s history, roared to a close in November, much to the chagrin of Gov....

Calif. Commissioner Calls for 15.3 Percent Workers’ Comp Rate Decrease

Nov 20 2005 // California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi has recommended a 15.3 percent decrease in the state’s workers’ compensation pure premium rates by winter. In announcing the move, the Commis-sioner also...

New Markets

Nov 20 2005 // Dwelling Fire-California Nuts & Bolts: The Foremost Insurance Co., Grand Rapids, Mich., has introduced a dwelling fire program in California. The program is designed for individuals with lower-valued homes,...

Calif. Commissioner Announces Team in Bid for Lieutenant Governor

Nov 18 2005 // California Insurance Commissioner and Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi has announced his 2006 campaign team, which includes key participants in the successful campaign to defeat Gov. Arnold...

California Producer School to Give New Producers a Head Start in the New Year

Nov 17 2005 // Austin, TX – The National Alliance School for Producer Development, also known as the “Producer School,” will kick off 2006 with a three-week, total immersion commercial producer training program January...

Insurance Commissioners Announce Framework for National Cat Program

Nov 17 2005 // Concluding the two-day National Catastrophe Insurance Summit held in Burlingame, Calif., insurance commissioners from California, Florida, Illinois and New York on Wednesday agreed that they had a basic framework for a...

U.S. Needs National Catastrophe Insurance Program, Insurance Commissioners Say

Nov 16 2005 // Insurance Commissioners from California, Florida, Illinois and New York began laying the groundwork Tuesday for what they hope will turn into a national catastrophe insurance program that would cover all Americans. Hosting...

Oxnard, Calif. State Fund Office Offers Employer Safety Seminar

Nov 15 2005 // As part of State Fund’s ongoing educational program to create safe workplaces and update employers on new workers’ compensation insurance rules, its Oxnard District Office will hold a free safety seminar on...

Insurance Regulators Hosting National Catastrophe Insurance Program Summit

Nov 14 2005 // State insurance regulators, industry representatives, catastrophe experts and consumer representatives are convening in San Francisco on Tuesday for a two-day summit in to help devise a national catastrophe insurance...

PAULA Financial Unveils Q3 Numbers; Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend

Nov 14 2005 // California-based PAULA Financial has reported net income for the third quarter of 2005 of $218,000 or $0.03 per share compared to $142,000 or $0.02 per share for the 2004 period. For the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2005,...

California Commissioner Calls for 15.3 Percent Workers’ Comp Rate Decrease

Nov 11 2005 // California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi has recommended a 15.3 percent decrease in the state’s workers’ compensation pure premium rates. This is his fifth consecutive decrease, which will bring the...

Cambridge General Agency Opens Central California Office

Nov 10 2005 // Paul Janofsky, executive vice president of Cambridge General Agency, has announced the company has opened its fifth branch office in California. Cambridge General is a licensed surplus lines brokerage, managing general...

People & Places

Nov 7 2005 // Barbara Carey ACE USA announced two appointments in its ACE Casualty Risk Unit. William Hazelton has joined as senior vice president and underwriting manager for ACE Environ-mental Risk, and Mitchell Schmidt is now senior...

CA Insurers Turn Out in Record Number to Help Nonprofits

Nov 7 2005 // An unprecedented number of California insurance industry professionals volunteered their time to charitable projects for the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation’s recent 8th Annual Volunteer Week. The 2005...

Calif. Court Rules Illegal Immigrants Can Get Workers’ Comp

Nov 7 2005 // Illegal immigrants injured on the job are entitled to workers’ compensation benefits despite their legal status, a California state appeals court recently ruled. The 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled in a case...