Latest California Headlines

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

AIA: Applicant Attorneys Trying to Roll Back Workers’ Comp Reforms

Jan 19 2005 // The California Applicant Attorneys Association is trying to roll back the major workers’ compensation reforms enacted in 2003 and 2004 by exploiting injured workers in weekly press conferences throughout the state,...

Alliance Stands Firm as CDI Continues to Redefine Broker/Agent Fiduciary Duties

Jan 18 2005 // As the coalition of industry associations, spearheaded by the American Agents Alliance, continues to dig its heels in the sand against a California Department of Insurance assault on brokers and agents, the...

Calif. Governor Predicts 30% Increase in State’s Costs Despite Reforms

Jan 16 2005 // California’s workers’ compensation costs are going down, even if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget proposal includes big increases in the state’s costs for the program. The Republican...

Safety Should be Primary Concern in Wake of California Storms, Says ACIC

Jan 13 2005 // In the aftermath of the Southern California storms, flooding and mudslides that have already claimed at least 10 lives, insurers are urging residents to exercise caution in cleanup now that the storms are...

CRM Appoints New Claims Account Coordinator

Jan 13 2005 // Irvine, Calif.-based Compensation Risk Managers of California, LLC (CRM) has announced the appointment of Edward Low as the firm’s new claims account coordinator for California. Low has extensive experience in...

Calif. City Sues Attorney for Failure to Have Insurers Clean-up Town’s Pollution

Jan 12 2005 // The city of Lodi, California, announced it’s suing the attorney responsible for a plan to clean up the town’s soil and water which instead left residents with millions in legal fees and groundwater that is...

Calif. Mudslide Claims Lives; Heavy Rains Continue

Jan 11 2005 // Any fears of a drought this year in California are likely going by the wayside. Heavy rains hammered the state again on Tuesday as authorities reported four people were killed and more are missing in a mudslide in La...

Zurich, Calif. Commissioner Settle Case Involving Liquidation of Superior Nat’l, Centre Insurance Cos.

Jan 11 2005 // Zurich Financial Services Group (Zurich) announced that the Insurance Commissioner of the State of California, as liquidator of the Superior National Insurance Companies (the “Liquidator”), and Centre Insurance...

Surplus Line Premiums Top $5.5 Billion

Jan 11 2005 // Ted Pierce, executive director of the Surplus Line Association of California (SLA) released the annual filed premium analysis demonstrating that $5,518,895,627 in surplus line insurance premiums were processed in 2004. The...

Bass Underwriters Opens Northern California Office

Jan 11 2005 // Florida-based Bass Underwriters Inc. has announced that the opening of their Northern California division that provides service to California. The office is located at 3433 American River Drive, Suite A, Sacramento, CA...

AIA: Attorneys Call for Workers’ Comp Rate Regulation

Jan 7 2005 // Democratic lawmakers and attorneys are using the recently implemented workers’ compensation reforms as a tool in their game to undermine Gov. Schwarzenegger’s track record, according to the American Insurance...

Calif. Commissioner Announces Restitution Settlement for Some San Diego County Fire Survivors

Jan 6 2005 // Standing with survivors of the devastating 2003 Southern California wildfires, Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi and San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis on Jan. 6 announced a $128,707.92 settlement with a...

California Approves Workers’ Comp Self-Insurance Group for Private Schools

Jan 6 2005 // Facing the ever-increasing workers’ compensation costs, a group of private schools recently was approved by the California Department of Industrial Relations, Office of Self-Insurance Plans to begin operating a...

Calif. Chiropractor, Two Associates Nabbed in Workers’ Comp Scam Costing More than $10 Million

Jan 6 2005 // A Modesto, California chiropractor and two employees were arrested early Thursday on charges that they repeatedly billed for services that were unnecessary or never rendered from 1996 through 2004, potentially costing...

Governor’s Plan Putting Calif. Workers’ Comp Market on Right Track, Says ACIC

Jan 5 2005 // Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan for reform of the troubled California workers’ compensation system is already putting the state’s system on more stable footing, according to the state’s...

Calif. Agent Arraigned on Charges Stemming from Bogus Insurance Certificates Scam

Jan 4 2005 // A Stockton insurance agent allegedly working with a revoked license was arraigned Jan. 4 in San Joaquin County Court on 111 felony counts following an eight-month investigation by the California Department of Insurance...

Calif.-based Battistini & Canfield, Thoits Insurance Merge

Jan 3 2005 // Santa Cruz, Calif.-based Battistini & Canfield Insurance Services is merging with Thoits Insurance of Mountain View, Calif.; one of the countries’ largest 100 percent employee-owned insurance firms. The combined...

GARAMENDI ANNOUNCES RESULTS OF LOW COST AUTO OUTREACH CAMPAIGN:

Jan 3 2005 // Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi announced the initial results of the aggressive outreach campaign launched in August 2004 to enroll eligible Los Angeles drivers in the California Low Cost Auto Insurance Program...

EVEREST NATIONAL INSURANCE ANNOUNCES CALIF. WORKERS’ COMP PROGRAM:

Jan 3 2005 // Everest National Insurance Company announced it has been writing California workers’ compensation business on a direct retail business since October 2003 from its Western Regional Office in Orange, Calif. During its...

Insurance Marketing and Communications

Jan 3 2005 // How to Produce Client Seminars As we develop our marketing and communications plans for 2005, one of the most effective ways a broker can provide a customized service to its clients is by producing educational seminars on...