Calabasas, Calif.-based Lionheart Insurance Services has hired Russ McFarren as an excess and surplus broker. He began his insurance career in Ohio and relocated to Los Angeles in 1963 with the Pacific Indemnity Insurance Company. He has also served with …
USI Holdings Finalizes Purchase of Calif. P/C Operation
USI Holdings Corporation announced the closing of the acquisition of Burlingame, Calif.-based retail property & casualty firm operating as Winthrop Insurance Plans. This operation has been providing employee property & casualty solutions to middle market businesses in the San Francisco …
Allianz and Fireman’s Fund Affirmed
A.M. Best Co. affirmed the financial strength rating of “A” (excellent) and assigned issuer credit ratings of “a” to Allianz Insurance Group of Burbank, Calif., which consists of Allianz Global Risks US Ins. Co. and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Allianz Underwriters …
Former Insurance Broker Pleads Guilty
The California Department of Insurance announced that Mark Jerome Gentry of Antioch, Calif., entered a guilty plea on June 23, 2005 to multiple counts of grand theft in the Contra Costa County Superior Court. Gentry was sentenced to three years …
Editor’s Note: Doggie Discrimination
There’s a bill circulating around the California legislature that would allow cities and counties to be able to restrict dog breeds deemed “malicious and dangerous,” by requiring owners to spay and neuter their dogs, and prohibit breeding. SB 861, introduced …
Debate Over Mandating Home Sprinklers About to Heat Up
Fire safety could become a hot topic in communities across the country as officials debate whether to adopt newly proposed rules requiring fire sprinklers in all new construction of one- and two-family dwellings. The revised national building and fire safety …
Mother-Daughter Team Arrested
Two Kern County farm labor contractors surrendered to authorities July 12 after a two-year investigation found that they had allegedly under-reported their business’ payroll by $1 million. The investigation began after a routine audit by State Compensation Insurance Fund that …
Is the New “American Dream” Owning a Converted Apartment?
When I first heard from someone I knew that was excited about purchasing an apartment that had been “converted” into a condominium, it really piqued my curiosity. Excited? Purchased? Apartment? Converted?? I needed to look at this situation a little …
Missouri Insurance Agent Sentenced in Tax Scheme
A former Missouri tax preparer and insurance agent was sentenced in federal court for his role in a scheme that involved phony tax shelters. Donald Hicks, 72, was sentenced to five years of probation by U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan, …
Ivan Costliest U.S. Hurricane in 2004
Flooding from Hurricane Ivan’s rain and storm surges prompted more than a billion dollars in claims, making it the costliest hurricane of 2004, U.S. officials said. Ivan’s damage also made it the third most costly natural disaster in U.S. history, …