Latest California Headlines

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

CDI Fines Agents over Workers’ Comp Policies

Jan 25 2005 // California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi has imposed discipline upon two agents and the companies they work for over their marketing of an illegal tribal-based insurance product. The actions taken by the...

Wood Joins Acordia’s West Region

Jan 25 2005 // Chicago-based Acordia Inc., a Wells Fargo Company, announced that H. David Wood has accepted the position of senior vice president, regional managing director of Acordia’s West region. Wood will assume the leadership...

Can it Happen Here’ Tsunamis a Possible Threat to West Coast

Jan 24 2005 // Southeast Asia’s devastating tsunami has left many wondering if the threat could hit close to home. The reality is that tsunamis, in fact, have already made their mark on the West Coast, and the threat still remains...

People & Places

Jan 24 2005 // Tony Casabat Redwood City, Calif.-based ABD Insurance and Financial Services hired Tony Casabat as senior vice president/sales executive for the company’s Employee Benefits practice. Casabat, a longtime lead sales...

Ring Member Awaits Extradition From Calif. to Face Slip-and-fall Fraud Charges

Jan 24 2005 // A 30-year-old man wanted in Florida since 1995 on numerous felony charges for his alleged role in his family’s nationwide “slip-and-fall” insurance fraud scheme is in custody in California awaiting...

Calif. Governor Appoints Berte to CalPERS Board

Jan 24 2005 // Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that Marjorie Berte, 52, of San Francisco, has been appointed to the Public Employees’ Retirement System Board, according to the Los Angeles Times. Berte is currently vice...

Back to the Basics

Jan 24 2005 // E&S Industry Returns to Familiar Ground Neither wind, nor rain nor the dark cloud of standard carriers returning to the marketplace will keep excess and surplus insurance writers from maintaining profitability. From...

Insurance Marketing and Communications

Jan 24 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...

Seabright Files IPO; Plans to Write Comp in California

Jan 20 2005 // Seattle-based Seabright Insurance Holdings Inc. raised $78.8 million in their initial public offering Jan. 20, with shares priced at the high end of the expected range, Reuters reported. Seabright recently entered the...

California Injured Workers Organize Group

Jan 19 2005 // A new political action committee of injured workers launched a statewide campaign to voice their concerns on workers’ compensation issues, according to the Sacramento Bee. VotersInjuredatWork.org will demonstrate...

Applied Underwriters Adopts Proposed Calif. Rate Reduction for Workers’ Comp

Jan 19 2005 // Applied Underwriters, a provider in integrated workers’ compensation solutions, adopted the January rate reduction recommended by the California Workers Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau. After a strong 2004,...

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...