Archive for March, 2009

Fidelity National Title Pays $365,000 To Resolve Rebating Charges; Scope of Permissible Rebating, However, Remains Unclear

Commissioner Poizner announced today that Fidelity National Title Insurance Company has agreed to pay $345,000 in penalties and $20,000 in attorneys fees and costs to resolve charges of illegal rebating between 2000 and 2002. According to the Department, Fidelity improperly extended printing costs, gifts, and travel and entertainment to lenders in return for referrals of [...]

March 30, 2009 Posted in: Blog Comments Closed

AB 1521 (Jones) Would Create New Disclosure Duties in Health Insurance Sales

AB 1521 (Jones), a bill introduced February 27 by Assembly Member David Jones, a Democratic candidate for Insurance Commissioner in 2010, would impose a substantively undefined, but ostensibly general, fiduciary obligation to their prospects on the part of agents or brokers who submit applications to health insurers and health maintenance organizations. Historically, absent contrary representations, [...]

March 30, 2009 Posted in: Blog Comments Closed

Legislation Re Commercial Free Speech Re Automobile Repairs

Our March 21 blog post discusses a regulation proposed by the Department of Insurance that would impact insurers’ commercial free speech rights in connection with automobile repair shops. CCR Section 2695.4, a component of the Fair Claims Settlement Practices regulations, requires insurers to provide claimants with information regarding the benefits available under the terms of [...]

March 27, 2009 Posted in: Blog Comments Closed

Are Insurers Required to Investigate Prior Carriers’ At-Fault Findings?

Early in the decade, Commissioner Garamendi sought to regulate residential property insurance underwriting by means of proposed regulations that would have, among other things, required insurers, before relying on a C.L.U.E. report, to “obtain further relevant information in addition to the material obtained from [an] insurance-support organization [such as C.L.U.E.].” These efforts were beaten back [...]

March 27, 2009 Posted in: Blog Comments Closed

May Insurers “Suggest” or “Recommend” Repair Shops?

On February 25, the Department of Insurance held a hearing on REG-2008-00036, which it believes is necessary to enforce Insurance Code Section 758.5. That code section bars insurers from requiring repairs be conducted at a “specific” shop, doesn’t allow insurers to “suggest” or “recommend” a “specific” shop unless asked or the claimant has been informed [...]

March 21, 2009 Posted in: Blog Comments Closed

CA Supreme Court To Take Up Stacking Decision

The California Supreme Court granted review yesterday of State of California v. Continental Ins. Co. (2009) 170 Cal. App. 4th 160, another case arising out of property damage at the Stringfellow dump site. The case involves coverage under excess general liability policies that were renewed and therefore extended over two and three-year policy periods. The [...]

March 19, 2009 Posted in: Blog Comments Closed

Commissioner Schedules Workers’ Comp Rate Hearing

Following the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau Governing Board’s vote to recommend a 24.4 percent increase in the Claims Cost Benchmark, Commissioner Poizner scheduled a hearing for  April 28 to investigate what he described as “skyrocketing” medical costs in the workers’ compensation system. In each of the last two years, the Commissioner has cut the [...]

March 18, 2009 Posted in: Blog Comments Closed

Troyk v. Farmers Group, Inc., et al

Troyk v. Farmers Group, Inc., et al (March 10) No. D049903 is the Fourth Appellate District’s reaffirmation, after rehearing, of the decision it handed down December 9, 2008 reversing a $115 million summary judgment against Farmers arising out of Farmers’ alleged failure to comply with Insurance Code Section 381, which requires a “statement of premium” [...]

March 10, 2009 Posted in: Blog Comments Closed

CA Supreme Court Decision Re CGL Pollution Exclusion

The California Supreme Court has handed down an important CGL pollution exclusion decision in State of California v. Allstate Insur. Co., et al; State of California v. Underwriters at Lloyd’s of London, et al, No. S149988 (March 9). The case arises out of the State of California’s efforts to obtain coverage for its liability stemming [...]

March 9, 2009 Posted in: Blog Comments Closed

Fairbanks v. Los Angeles Superior Court (Farmers New World Life)

A blog post by Proposition 103 sponsor Harvey Rosenfield at The UCL Practitioner website anticipatorily concedes defeat in Fairbanks v. Los Angeles Superior Court (Farmers New World Life Ins. Co.), No. S157001, the California Supreme Court case heard yesterday that will determine the applicability of the Consumer Legal Remedies Act (CLRA) to insurance. Rosenfield argues [...]

March 5, 2009 Posted in: Blog Comments Closed

In Re Tobacco Cases II

In Re Tobacco Cases II, No. S147345, the California Supreme Court case that will determine whether Proposition 64’s “injury in fact” requirement applies to class members as well as class representatives, was heard today. Most observers seem to think the Court will hold that the requirement does; less clear from the oral argument is how [...]

March 3, 2009 Posted in: Blog Comments Closed

Broberg, et al v. The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, et al

Broberg, et al v. The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, et al (March 2) 2009 DJDAR 2983 is a carefully-crafted decision from Division Seven of the Second Appellate District holding that a life insurance company’s disclaimers provided insufficient inquiry notice to trigger the running of the statute of limitations on a UCL claim. Guardian [...]