Latest California Headlines

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

New York Says It’s Ready for Ebola, but Many Health Workers Aren’t So Sure

Oct 22 2014 // Millicent Gist, a receptionist at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, was surprised to hear her facility was an officially designated hospital for people suspected of having Ebola in New York City.That’s...

Kentucky OxyContin Case Against Purdue Pharma Leads Fight Over Opioid Abuse

Oct 22 2014 // No one rises as Circuit Judge Steven Combs enters his courtroom in Pikeville, Kentucky.Combs wears a white shirt and yellow tie, no robe. Lawyers approach the bench as their cases are called, shake the judge’s hand...

California Jury Finds Toyota Seatbelt Caused Woman’s Paraplegia

Oct 21 2014 // A California Superior Court jury has found Toyota Motor Corp. liable for causing devastating injuries to a young woman in a crash that occurred in Monterey over four and a half years ago in a verdict rendered late...

Southern California Agent That Sold Bogus Policies Sentenced

Oct 21 2014 // Dean Joseph Basler, 58, of Ventura, Calif. pleaded guilty to two felony counts of embezzlement associated with more than $250,000 in premiums that Basler received for homeowners insurance policies.According to the...

Southern California Docs Bribed To Use Unsafe Spine Screws, Suits Claims

Oct 20 2014 // A former Southern California hospital executive is being sued by more than two dozen people who claim he ran a scheme that bribed surgeons to implant counterfeit screws in their patients’ spines, causing pain and...

California Earthquake Authority to Sell $350M of Bonds

Oct 20 2014 // The California Earthquake Authority, the largest seismic insurer in the U.S., is selling $350 million in bonds to strengthen its ability to pay claims, after the state’s first death due to a quake in 11 years.The...

Does Prop 103 Violate Itself?

Oct 20 2014 // The history of the American administrative state has been filled with attempts to introduce “rationality” and “discipline” to circumstances in which markets, left to their own devices, allegedly...

Southern California Agent Arrested for Scamming Insurers for $1.4M

Oct 20 2014 // Eric Lee, 64, of Orange County, Calif., was arrested in late September by the California Department of Insurance and charged with 20 felony counts, including grand theft and allegedly providing false or misleading...

California Costliest State for Workers’ Comp, Report Shows

Oct 20 2014 // A state-by-state ranking of workers’ compensation premiums, one that states reportedly use as a motivational call to improve their systems, seems to call for even more reform of California’s recently reformed...

People – West

Oct 20 2014 // Salt Lake City, Utah-based The Buckner Co. has named Robert F. Atwell as the firm’s healthcare practice leader.Atwell’s primary focus will be on serving the region’s healthcare community. Atwell has 40...

Mandates, Subsidies and Political Semantics

Oct 17 2014 // When the U.S. Supreme Court decided the fate of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate in 2012, the nation was gripped by an intimate and personal political drama worthy of Broadway or, at least, General...

Homeowners Sue Golf Course For Negligence in California Fire

Oct 17 2014 // A group of homeowners has sued a golf course owner for negligence, stemming from a wildfire that destroyed eight houses, two businesses and an apartment complex near San Diego.The lawsuit filed last week in San Diego...

States’ Efforts on Climate Change Adaptation: Half Full or Half Empty?

Oct 16 2014 // Who hates that glass-half-full analogy?I’m guessing more than half of you, but let’s not let that stand in the way of using the clichéd-to-death philosophical quandary to illustrate a point being made by a new...

WSS Lets Lions Loose in Southern California

Oct 16 2014 // When Richard Polizzi, chairman of Western Security Surplus Insurance Brokers Inc. in Pasadena, Calif., adopted the lion as part of his logo, he never imagined just how popular that little company mascot would become in the...

California Has Another Great ShakeOut

Oct 16 2014 // At 10:16 a.m. on Thursday employees at Golden Bear Insurance Co. were all under their desks practicing good risk management.Oct. 16 marked another Great ShakeOut event in California. According to California Insurance...

Sindle Joins Hub International Commercial Division California

Oct 16 2014 // Hub International Insurance Service Inc. has named Christopher Sindle a sales consultant in the commercial division based in Folsom, Calif. In addition to his commercial brokerage production role, Sindle will serve as a...

California No-Bid Health Contracts Draws Probe

Oct 15 2014 // California’s health insurance exchange is facing calls for a state investigation of its contracting practices, while a state senator urged the agency to account for deals that steered millions of dollars to a firm...

EPIC in California adds Walker as Director of Healthcare Compliance

Oct 15 2014 // Edgewood Partners Insurance Center has named Christopher Walker director of healthcare compliance and associate general counsel in employee benefits.Walker will be based in EPIC’s San Francisco, Calif. headquarters...

Experts: Insurance Distribution Future Online and Personalized

Oct 14 2014 // The future of insurance distribution was discussed at the CPCU Society’s annual All Industry Day in California on Tuesday.The day-long conference at the Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City included panels on the...

EPIC Co-founder Dan Francis to Leave the California Firm

Oct 14 2014 // San Francisco, Calif.-based Edgewood Partners Insurance Center Co-founder and Executive Chairman Dan Francis is leaving, the firm announced on Tuesday.His departure is effective Nov. 1, according to EPIC. “In leaving...