The California Association of Realtors is suing Blue Shield of California, claiming the health insurance provider canceled its members’ coverage without proper cause. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, stems from a dispute that arose in December, when Blue Shield sent the association a letter notifying that it would not renew coverage for about 5,500 realtors and their families – about 8,000 people – after the association’s current contract with the health insurer expires May 31. Blue Shield’s reason for this action was because the number of members signed up for coverage had fallen below a set threshold required under their contract with the association. The association also filed an injunction seeking to stop Blue Shield from dropping coverage for its members. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for next month.

Realtors and the National Association of Realtors have been repeatedly wrong in predicting that the California Housing Market has “bottomed out”, according to the HouseFalls.com blog:

Why is California so important? Simple, according to the article “one out of every nine people in America” lives here…. With tightening lending standars on the way – the question is really how will people who can’t afford their ARMS when they mature qualify for a refinance of their homes. Simple answer, they won’t – and will likely lose their homes. With all of this news, it’s interesting that Realtors, and the National Association of Realtors (NAR), are saying that the market has already bottomed.

Hello false hopes campaign. If we’ve seen the bottom, why are things just getting worse? Oh, but I’m forgetting – they said the market had bottomed last month, and the month before, and the month before … Isn’t it high time someone calls B.S. on them? How about if any of us buys a house, and it loses equity because of the market – the NAR will refund us the difference?

The California Chamber of Commerce has issued a press release announcing its now brand identity, “CalChamber” and the public unveiling of the the organization’s new logo on its website, www.calchamber.com. CalChamber President and CEO Allan Zaremberg announced that the California Chamber of Commerce has adopted CalChamber as an organization name and is projecting an entirely new brand identity, “We at CalChamber are very excited about our new brand identity,” said Zaremberg. “The new logo reflects our mission of helping California business do business. Combined with the modernized reference to our name, it highlights the way we serve our member businesses: as an effective advocate for policies to keep them competitive and as a reliable source of offerings to keep them in compliance with California’s complex laws and regulations.”