Latest California Headlines

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

California Mobile Home Residents Awarded $34M in Suit over Living Conditions

Nov 30 2018 // A jury has awarded $34 million in damages to 51 current and former residents of a Southern California mobile home park they say is rife with problems including sinkholes, sewage backups and rats.The Los Angeles Times...

California Regulator Requiring PG&E to Implement Safety Recommendations

Nov 29 2018 // California’s top utilities regulator on Thursday ordered the embattled power utility Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to implement safety recommendations the agency’s staff outlined in an independent third-party...

Survey from Regulator of Largest U.S. Insurance Market Shows More Coal Divestment by Insurers

Nov 29 2018 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones on Thursday revealed he’s had some success with his 2018 Climate Risk Carbon Initiative Coal Divestment Follow-Up Survey.Jones said the results of the survey reflect an...

Insurtech Oyster Opens up Its Pay-as-You-Go Workers’ Comp Model in California

Nov 29 2018 // A new insurtech wants to provide pay-as-you-go workers’ compensation to as many small businesses in California as possible, and it hopes to use the momentum it’s built following a quiet launch in the East...

California OKs $16.3M Rate Reduction for Earthquake Policyholders

Nov 29 2018 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has approved a rate reduction for California Earthquake Authority residential earthquake policyholders that he says will bring millions of dollars in premium savings for 10s of...

USG Names Sewell AVP in Southern California

Nov 29 2018 // USG has named Larry Sewell business development assistant vice president in the Irvine, Calif. branch. Sewell will support the overall effort to expand USG’s Southern California footprint. He will also be a part of...

Moody’s Says California Wildfire Losses Will Impact P/C Insurer, Reinsurer 4Q Earnings

Nov 29 2018 // Moody’s has released estimates showing property/casualty insurers and reinsurers total insured losses at $10 billion $15 billion from the California wildfires, which destroyed more than 20,000 residential and...

Fitch Warns of Negative Credit Effects on Reinsurance from California Wildfires

Nov 28 2018 // The “downside credit risks” from the California wildfires are the most pronounced for investor-owned utilities, which could face large liabilities if IOU equipment is found to have ignited the fires.And...

Small Quake Rattles West Central California Valley

Nov 28 2018 // A magnitude-4.0 earthquake rattled the rural west side of the San Joaquin Valley early, the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed. No damages were reported. The USGS reported the temblor occurred at 5:07 a.m. on Tuesday and was...

NAS Names D’Anna Chief Financial Officer in California

Nov 28 2018 // NAS Insurance Services LLC has expanded its senior management team with several new appointments, including naming Marcus D’Anna chief financial officer. D’Anna’s appointment as CFO comes after five years...

PG&E Decided Not to Cut Power as Winds Raged Before California Wildfire

Nov 28 2018 // In the days before California’s deadliest wildfire erupted near a PG&E Corp. power line during a windstorm, the company kept a close eye on the weather, warned customers it might shut off electricity in the area,...

Managing Natural Disasters Becomes Priority for Nation’s Governors

Nov 28 2018 // Governors have a wide range of priorities they want to tackle in the coming year, from tax reform to education. Yet it’s a topic that receives less attention on the campaign trail and in their speeches that could...

Report Puts Losses from California Wildfires at $15B to $19B

Nov 27 2018 // Total losses from the wildfires in Northern and Southern California could reach from $15 billion to $19 billion, a report out on Tuesday shows.The report from industry data provider CoreLogic shows total losses from the...

Bill to Give PG&E Relief from California Wildfire Burden Nears, But Long-Term Fix Elusive

Nov 27 2018 // PG&E Corp., suspected of starting California’s deadliest wildfire, may soon get help from state lawmakers – just not the help it most wants.An assemblyman plans to introduce a bill in January that would give...

Arthur J. Gallagher Acquires Buckman-Mitchell in California

Nov 26 2018 // Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired Buckman-Mitchell Inc., with offices in Visalia and Fresno, Calif.Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Clifford Dunbar, Judy Fussel, Brent Swanson, Todd Williams, Stephan...

WSS Names Singer Senior Vice President in California

Nov 26 2018 // WSS has named Tami Singer senior vice president of the commercial lines department. Singer will work out of the Sherman Oaks, Calif. office. She has more than 30 years of insurance experience with a focus on E&S. She...

Wildfire Relief for PG&E in California May Not Include Fix Utility Wants

Nov 26 2018 // PG&E Corp., suspected of starting California’s deadliest wildfire, may soon get help from state lawmakers – just not the help it most wants.As early as Dec. 3, a lawmaker plans to introduce a bill that would...

Report by 13 U.S. Agencies Warns of Dire Economic Effects from Climate Change

Nov 25 2018 // As California’s catastrophic wildfires recede and people rebuild after two hurricanes, a massive new federal report warns that these types of disasters are worsening in the United States because of global warming....

Judge Picks First Case for Trial in Federal Monsanto Weedkiller Litigation

Nov 21 2018 // A U.S. judge overseeing the federal litigation against Bayer AG’s Monsanto unit over glyphosate-based weed-killers allegedly causing cancer on Tuesday selected the first case to be tried in federal court in February...

A.M. Best Assesses Wildfires’ Effect on Home Insurance Market, Insurers’ PG&E Exposure

Nov 20 2018 // Roughly one-in-10 insurers have exposures to PG&E bonds, which could potentially used to payout on losses from the California wildfires, according to ratings agency A.M. Best.It was recently determined that a second...